Thérèse Daviau, also known as Thérèse Daviau-Bergeron (1946–2002), was a Canadian politician, an attorney and a

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

lor in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Career

Daviau was born in 1946 and received a

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Some law degrees are professional degrees that are prerequisites or serve as preparation for legal careers. These generally include the Bachelor of Civil Law, Bachelor of Laws, an ...

from

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

. In the early seventies she became a founding member of the progressive ''

Montreal Citizens' Movement The Montreal Citizens' Movement (MCM, or RCM) was a municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It existed from 1973 to 2001. Origins The Montreal Citizens' Movement was founded shortly before the 1974 municipal elections by a vari ...

'', also known as ''Rassemblement des citoyens et citoyennes de Montréal (RCM)'' in French.

City councillor

Daviau was elected to Montreal's

in 1974 over opponents

Civic Party The Civic Party (CP) was a pro-democracy camp, pro-democracy liberalism in Hong Kong, liberal political party from March 2006 to May 2023 in Hong Kong. The party was formed in 2006 on the basis of the Article 45 Concern Group, Basic Law Ar ...

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

Aime Sauve with 17 other MCM candidates, and represented the district of Saint-Michel, but was defeated in 1978 when

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Jean Drapeau Jean Drapeau (; 18 February 1916 – 12 August 1999) was a Canadian politician who served as mayor of Montreal for 2 non-consecutive terms from 1954 to 1957 and from 1960 to 1986. Major accomplishments of the Drapeau Administration include ...

Civic Party of Montreal The Civic Party of Montreal () was a municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It existed from 1960 to 1994. Throughout its history, the Civic Party was dominated by the personality of its leader Jean Drapeau. Origins It was esta ...

took nearly all the seats at

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

. Daviau ran again in 1986 in the district of Saint-Jean-Baptiste and won. She was re-elected in 1990 and in 1994, representing the district of

Plateau-Mont-Royal Le Plateau-Mont-Royal () is a Montreal borough, borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The borough takes its name from its location on a plateau, on the eastern side of Mount Royal and overlooking downtown Montreal ...

Party leader

In 1998 Daviau became the RCM nominee for the mayoral election and

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

. Not long after though, she left the party and announced that she would support Jacques Duchesneau for mayor. She sat as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

and did not run for re-election in 1998.

Retirement

Daviau became the vice-president of a public relations firm and died on February 1, 2002.

Personal life

Daviau is the mother of Geneviève Bergeron, one of the 14 victims of the

École Polytechnique massacre École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

of December 6, 1989.

Honors

Biennally, since 2004, the City of Montreal recognizes a person's remarkable commitment and outstanding contribution to the community by awarding the Thérèse-Daviau Award. The citizen of the year award recognizes an individual who has distinguished themselves through their work in social development, sports and leisure, or culture, creating a significant contribution to improving the quality of life of Montrealers, or to advancing municipal democracy. Daviau was noted for these qualities over more than a quarter century, by defending the interests of Montrealers in municipal politics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daviau, Therese 1946 births 2002 deaths Montreal city councillors Lawyers in Quebec Université de Montréal alumni Women municipal councillors in Quebec 20th-century Canadian women politicians 20th-century Canadian women lawyers