BPW Greater Sudbury has named Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas as its Woman of the Month.
Gélinas is chief opposition whip and provincial NDP health care critic. She is a health care professional and community leader.
She started her career as a physiotherapist working at the Sudbury Laurentian Hospital, now Health Sciences North.
After graduating from Laurentian University with a Master’s in Business Administration, she became a health care administrator. For many years, Gélinas worked as the executive director of the Community Health Centre in Sudbury.
Under her leadership, the centre expanded to many small and rural communities in the northeast, opened the Corner Clinic serving the homeless population and became the lead agency for the Sudbury Homelessness Network.
Since being elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 2007, Gélinas has been a strong advocate on health care issues.
She was instrumental in bringing forward private members bills, including the Skin Cancer Prevention Act (to regulate the tanning beds industry); the Smoke-Free Ontario Amendment Act (to ban flavoured tobacco); and the Healthy Decisions for Healthy Eating Act (to require restaurants to disclose calories on foods and drinks served), which all became law.
Gélinas is a yearly participant in girls’ government, where she encourages young women to enter politics and to become leaders in their community. She is committed to women rights. Gélinas lent her support to the 12 women on strike at the counselling centre in Sudbury in 2017.
More recently, she has advocated for better working conditions for female workers and better protection measures for workers in health care, with a focus on violence in their work place.
Gélinas has been very vocal about the level of care needed to meet the needs of residents of Long Term Care Homes. She introduced Private Members Bills to create Family Care Giver Day, recognizing that a large percentage of caregivers are women.
In terms of Francophone advocacy, she introduced legislation to make the French Language Services Commissioner an independent officer of the Legislature, which is now the law; and worked to establish the Université de l’Ontario.
Gélinas was also at the forefront to proclaim Nurse Practitioner Week in Ontario and the bill for the Representation Amendment Act, which brings the Wahnapitae First Nation back into the riding of Nickel Belt, which were both passed in the fall of 2016. Having both bills pass is not a common event in Ontario politics.
Gélinas has served in multiple voluntary roles. She has been the President of the Sudbury and Manitoulin District Health Council, President of the Francophone Reference Group of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, President of the Association of Ontario Health Centres now the Alliance for Healthier Communities, as well as a member of the United Way’s Citizen Advisory Panel.
“Women who enter politics in my experience do so to foster a greater change in the community and look to serve the public in selfless ways,” said Marianne Matichuk, president of BPW Greater Sudbury.
“BPW is very proud of the work that France has done on behalf of women and her tireless work to create changes for the better.”
