Speaker of the Senate
Biography
The Honourable Raymonde Gagné
Speaker of the Senate
The Honourable Raymonde Gagné, C.M., O.M., Speaker of the Senate and Senator for Manitoba, the province where she was born, in St-Pierre-Jolys. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (1976), a Certificate in Education (1977) from Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Université de Moncton (1983), and has held roles in the field of education for over 35 years, ranging from teacher to university president.
Deeply connected to her alma mater, she served as President of the Université de Saint-Boniface (USB) from 2003 to 2014. During this time, she spearheaded the institution’s transition from a college into a full-fledged university. She also oversaw the largest fundraising campaign in the institution’s history to support the construction of a new health sciences building, to expand research capacity and to enhance the scholarship and bursary program.
As President of USB, the Honourable Raymonde Gagné was a member of the Council of Presidents of Universities of Manitoba and served as chair in 2012. She also served on the Senate of the University of Manitoba.
Prior to her tenure as President, she held a number of key positions, including Director of New Programs, Director of the Community College and of the Continuing Education Division of USB, as well as Professor in Business Administration.
Prior to her arrival at USB, she worked as a high school teacher and principal in Manitoba, and as a consultant in regional and industrial expansion in New Brunswick.
Throughout her career, the Honourable Raymonde Gagné has served on numerous organizations and boards, both in Manitoba and elsewhere in Canada. She served as President of the Association des universités de la francophonie canadienne from 2005 to 2009, was a member of the Advisory Committee on Official Languages for the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada from 2007 to 2009, and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Consortium national de formation en santé, which she co-chaired from 2009 to 2014.
She was appointed to the Senate on April 1, 2016. As a member of the Senate, she has served on a number of committees, including the Official Languages Committee, the Agriculture and Forestry Committee, Transport and Communications Committee and the Special Committee on Senate Modernization.
In January 2020, she became Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate (Deputy Leader), a position she held until her appointment on May 12, 2023, as the 46th Speaker of the Senate, becoming the third woman to hold this office.
The Honourable Raymonde Gagné is the first Speaker of the Senate of Canada — and of the Parliament of Canada — to have received the Order of Canada before her term, and is also a member of the Order of Manitoba and a recipient of the Prix Riel.
