Robert Roy Brassard (October 1, 1930 – October 17, 2008)Geddes, Ashley, "Outcry gets minister for seniors", ''Calgary Herald'' (Herald Edmonton bureau), September 5, 1991. pg. A.1.FRO
was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
MLA, and more recently a public school board member.
Provincial government
Brassard was elected as a member of the
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from sin ...
for
Olds-Didsbury
Olds-Didsbury was a provincial electoral district in central Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 1963 to 1997.
It is noteworthy as the l ...
in 1986, 1989, and 1993.
In 1991, the then premier of Alberta,
Don Getty
Donald Ross Getty (August 30, 1933 – February 26, 2016) was a Canadian politician who served as the 11th premier of Alberta between 1985 and 1992. A member of the Progressive Conservatives, he served as Energy Minister and Federal and Intergo ...
created a new ministry to deal with seniors affairs, selecting Brassard to be the minister. He had already dealt with senior issues while he was Associate Minister of Family and Social Services.
In 1996 Brassard announced he was retiring from provincial politics to spend more time with his family.
Local public school board
After Brassard retired from provincial politics, he became an elected trustee on, and chair of
Chinook's Edge School Division No. 73
Chinook's Edge School Division No. 73 or the Chinook's Edge Board of Education is a public school authority within the Canadian province of Alberta operated out of Innisfail.
See also
*List of school authorities in Alberta
The Canadian pro ...
, a public school district, in Ward 8
( Didsbury).Brost, Les, "Let trustee stay on public board", ''Calgary Herald'', April 3, 2006. p. A10. (editorial)
In 2005 Brassard found that because he was
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
he may not be able to remain on the board. According to the Alberta School Act, if an area has a Catholic separate school district, a Catholic person in the area can not belong to the public board. After Brassard had been elected to the board, local Catholics voted to make the area part of a Catholic Separate board (effective in 2005)."School board chair could lose job over religion" ''CBC News'', March 9, 2006.
That meant legally, Brassard was no longer allowed to remain on the public board. The board supported Brassard in calling this discrimination, and filing a human rights complaint with the provincial Human Rights Commission.
They have also requested the province change the School Act.
Brassard would be eligible to run for the Catholic school district. However, he said his children went to the public system, so that is where he felt he should serve.Gonzalez, Ramon "Trustee's religion threatens his job: Alberta School Act bars Roy Brassard from his Chinook Edge chair job" ''Western Catholic Reporter'', Week of March 20, 2000, last updated March 29, 2006.
Personal life
Brassard studied marketing at
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
's
Red River College
Red River College Polytechnic (RRC Polytech) is a List of colleges in Canada, college located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is the province's largest institute of applied learning and applied research, with over 200 degree, diploma, and cer ...
and business administration at the
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.