Anne Cools
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Anne Clare Cools (born 1943) is a member of the Canadian Senate. Born in Barbados she was the first black person to be appointed to the Canada's upper house.
Her family immigrated to Canada in 1957 when Cools was 14 years old, and settled in Montreal. Attending McGill University to study social work in the 1960s, she became involved in radical campus politics. In 1969, she was a participant in a 10-day sit-in at Sir George Williams University (later Concordia University), protesting alleged racism at the school. The action ended with $2 million worth of damage to computer equipment. Although not accused of damaging property herself, Cools was sentenced to four months imprisonment for participating in the sit-in.
In 1974, Cools moved to Toronto where she founded one of the first shelters for abused women in Canada, Women in Transition Inc., and served as its Executive Director.
She twice sought election to the Canadian House of Commons as a candidate of the Liberal Party of Canada. Running in the Toronto riding of Rosedale, she was defeated in both the 1979 and 1980 elections by Progressive Conservative candidate David Crombie. On her second attempt, she lost by fewer than 2,000 votes.
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In 1984, she was appointed to the Canadian Senate by then– Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. In the 1990s, Cools became an increasingly outspoken conservative, particularly on social issues such as fathers' rights, divorce and "family values", causing her critics to accuse her of being anti-feminist. She also became increasingly critical of the Liberal governments of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, and of the same-sex marriage. On June 8, 2004, she announced that she was crossing the floor to join the Conservative Party of Canada.
She has designated herself as representing the Senate division of Toronto-Centre-York.
See also
External links
- Senator Anne Cools (http://sen.parl.gc.ca/acools) official website
- Hurricane Anne (http://sen.parl.gc.ca/acools/news00/huricane_anne.htm) 1997 profile published in Chatelaine.