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The Honourable Louise Marguerite Renaude Lapointe, 1974-1979

The Senate commissions a portrait of every Speaker in recognition of the procedural and protocol importance of that role — a tradition that predates Confederation.  

The subject of this portrait, the Honourable Renaude Lapointe, was the first French-Canadian woman to be appointed Senate Speaker. She was also the second woman to serve as Speaker, her predecessor, Muriel McQueen Fergusson, having been the first. 

Before her appointment to the Upper Chamber in 1971, Ms. Lapointe worked as a journalist in Quebec for more than three decades — at a time when women had been largely shut out of the industry. She applied her post-secondary education in music to her writing, working as a music and drama critic at a newspaper. Throughout her career, she worked as a reporter for newspapers, magazines and radio in Montréal and Québec City. 

Ms. Lapointe served as Speaker from 1974 to 1979 and retired from the Senate in 1987. 

The artist, Barbara Tarnowska (1911-1984), was born in Poland.  

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