Mr. Speaker, as Women's History Month in Canada draws to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize, with some emotion, a few of the women who marked Brossard—Saint-Lambert's history.
The women I would like to honour warrant our gratitude and admiration. Through hard work, conviction and sheer stubbornness, they moved mountains of resistance to change.
In 1965, Olga Melikoff, Murielle Parkes and Valerie Neale were the activist mothers who moved to create bilingual education in a Saint-Lambert elementary school. Thus was born French immersion in Canada.
In 1983, Georgette Lemieux-Lepage became Brossard's first female mayor. A caring and spirited woman, she was the driving force behind the creation of Brossard's library in 1976. In 1989, she spearheaded the movement to have Brossard declared a multicultural city, the first city in Canada to be given that designation.
Unfortunately, I do not have time to talk about all of the women who make Brossard—Saint-Lambert such a progressive riding, but I want all the women in my riding to know how very grateful I am to them.