Helene Montreuil or Micheline Montreuil (born June 1952) is a Canadian lawyer, teacher, writer, radio host, trade unionist and politician. As a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

woman, she first became known for her legal struggles in front of the

Canadian Human Rights Tribunal The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (french: Tribunal canadien des droits de la personne, link=no) is an administrative tribunal established in 1977 through the ''Canadian Human Rights Act''. It is directly funded by the Parliament of Canada and i ...

, the Superior Court and the Court of Appeal in Quebec. She is also known for her involvement as a politician. From 1986 to September 9, 2016, she used the first name of Micheline as she was known as Micheline Montreuil. Since September 9, 2016, she uses only the first name of Helene and she is now known under the name of Helene Montreuil. In the following text, the first names Helene and Micheline are used depending about the time, the circumstances and the context. This text is a translation from the French page where you can find many external links, but mainly in French.

Biography

Helene Montreuil is born in 1952 in the city of Quebec, town of her family since 1637 and always her residence town. She is the daughter of Louis Papineau Montreuil and Lina Chicoine and she is the grand daughter of Yves Montreuil, public notary in Quebec city and of Leonie Papineau, on father's side, and of Georges Alfred Chicoine and Mary Lapointe, on mother's side. She is the third child of a four children's family : Louise, Georges, Helene and Jean. Helene Montreuil studied civil law at University Laval, common law at University of Manitoba and University of Ottawa, management at University Laval, industrial relations at University of Paris I - Pantheon-Sorbonne, and finally, ethics and education at the University of Quebec in Rimouski. She works mainly as a lawyer since 1976 and as a professor of law, management and ethics since 1978. On September 13, 2003, she married the lawyer and author Michèle Morgan at the Quebec City Palais des arts. The wedding was largely covered by the newspapers and the television. In 2006-2007, she worked as a lawyer at the Conseil de la justice administrative du Québec. Since 2007, she is back as a lawyer in private practise and teacher of

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

, law and management at the UQAR, the Université du Québec à Rimouski. She has written many books in law and management: * 1986 - Droit des affaires () * 1990 - Organisation et dynamique de l'entreprise» en collaboration () * 1991 - Initiation au droit commercial () * 1993 - Organisation et dynamique de l'entreprise - Approche systémique, en collaboration () * 1994 - Le droit, la personne et les affaires () * 2012 - Les affaires et le droit *2020 - ''Les affaires et le droit'', 2e édition () Her wife, Michele Morgan, has written nine books about happiness and the life after death: * Pourquoi pas le bonheur ? * Les Clés du bonheur * Dialogue avec l'âme sœur * Petits Gestes et Grandes Joies * Le Goût d'être heureux * Le Courage d'être heureux * Suivre le courant et découvrir l’essentiel de sa vie * La Belle de l'Au-delà *Isabelle In 1986, she began to use the first name « Micheline ».

Legal fights

In 1997, she begin a legal challenge against the Registrar of Civil Status of Quebec as she had not been permitted to legally change her name to Micheline. Following a

Court of Appeals A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

ruling, her request was finally accepted in 2002, but only for the name Micheline. She was obliged to gain one by one all her first names: Anne in 2008 and Hélène in 2011. (See Legal aspects of transsexualism.) Anyway, on May 13, 1998, Helene Montreuil decided to live only as a woman under the name «Micheline Montreuil». In 1998, the

National Bank of Canada The National Bank of Canada (french: Banque Nationale du Canada) is the sixth largest commercial bank in Canada. It is headquartered in Montreal, and has branches in most Canadian provinces and 2.4 million personal clients. National Bank is the ...

refused to hire Micheline Montreuil. In a judgment given on February 5, 2004, the

ruled that the National Bank of Canada had discriminated against her on the basis of her gender identity, despite the bank attributing it to over-qualification. Few years later, in a judgment given on November 20, 2007, the

ruled that the Canadian Forces Grievance Board had discriminated against her on the basis of her gender identity. Since September 9, 2016, she uses only the name «Helene Montreuil».

References

External links

Official website of Micheline Montreuil, the transgenderArticles in newspapers about the wedding of Micheline Montreuil

Official website of Me Helene Montreuil, lawyer

Official website of Mrs Helene MontreuilOfficial website of Helene Montreuil
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montreuil, Micheline Lawyers in Quebec Canadian LGBT politicians Living people Politicians from Quebec City LGBT lawyers Transgender politicians Transgender women Transgender writers Transgender academics Canadian women in federal politics Women in Quebec politics Canadian women lawyers 1952 births Canadian LGBT academics