Marion Dewar
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Marion Dewar CM |
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|---|---|
Marion Dewar
|
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| Member of the House of Commons of Canada | |
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In office 1987–1988 |
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| Preceded by | Ian Deans |
| Succeeded by | Beth Phinney |
| Constituency | Hamilton Mountain |
| President of the New Democratic Party | |
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In office 1985–1987 |
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| Preceded by | Tony Penikett |
| Succeeded by | Johanna den Hertog |
| 52nd Mayor of Ottawa | |
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In office 1978–1985 |
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| Preceded by | Lorry Greenberg |
| Succeeded by | Jim Durrell |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Marion Bell February 17, 1928 Montreal, Quebec |
| Died |
September 15, 2008 (aged 80) Toronto, Ontario |
| Political party | New Democratic Party |
| Spouse(s) | Ken Dewar (1951-2003) (his death) |
| Relations | Paul Dewar (son) |
| Children | 5 |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Marion Dewar, CM (February 17, 1928 – September 15, 2008) was a prominent member of the New Democratic Party (NDP), mayor of Ottawa from 1978 to 1985 and a member of the Parliament of Canada from 1986 to 1988.
Dewar was born Marion Bell in 1928 in Montreal, the daughter of Agnes and Wilson Bell. She was raised in the town of Buckingham, Quebec, just outside Ottawa. She graduated from Saint Joseph's School of Nursing in Kingston, Ontario, in 1949 and was a nurse in the Ottawa region until 1952. She married civil servant Ken Dewar in 1951 and went into public health with the Victorian Order of Nurses. A devoted Roman Catholic, she would have 5 children, the last in 1963. She later studied nursing science and public health at the University of Ottawa, and was a public health nurse from 1969 to 1971.
Dewar became an Ottawa alderman for Britannia Ward in 1972 and was elected Deputy Mayor in 1974, a position she held until 1978. In 1977 she ran unsuccessfully for the Ontario New Democratic Party in the provincial election in the riding of Ottawa West. She was elected mayor in 1978.
She served as Mayor of Ottawa from 1978 to 1985. As mayor she convened a convention on the issue of homosexuality six months after taking office, in 1978. In 1979, she led Project 4000, in which Ottawa residents sponsored 4,000 Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian refugees. She died in the fall of 2008. Ottawa today still has a large Vietnamese community. In 2005, she appeared on the Vietnamese diaspora music variety show Paris By Night 77 as part of a show commemorating the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. She was interviewed and given a plaque for her support for Vietnamese refugees.
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