Régine Laurent

Régine Laurent, the first Black woman to have led Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), is a trailblazer and model of female leadership. Deeply committed and highly thought of by Quebecers, she has an impressive track record. Indeed, the National Assembly unanimously recognized her «outstanding achievements» as president of the FIQ. 

Régine Laurent began her career as an orderly at Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal while completing her diploma of college studies in nursing at Cégep du Vieux Montréal between 1976 and 1979. After graduation, she continued to provide nursing care at the Santa Cabrini Hospital for about 30 years. She then served as the president of FIQ from 2009 to 2017, where she made her mark with her union activism and innovative approach to associative democracy. In 2014, she helped create the SABSA clinic, the first outreach nurse clinic to work with marginalized populations in Quebec City’s inner city.

Invested and determined, Régine Laurent has spent her career defending social justice and society's most vulnerable, which earned her the 2017 PDF Québec award for her contribution to women's rights. In 2019, she agreed to chair the Special Commission on the Rights of Children and Youth Protection, known as the Laurent Commission The Commission report, which led to a reform of Québec's youth protection system, was also unanimously acclaimed. 

A unifying and inspiring figure, Régine Laurent was made an honorary member of Ordre des travailleurs sociaux et des thérapeutes conjugaux et familiaux du Québec in 2021. A year later, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Université du Québec en Outaouais. Today, she is a speaker and political analyst on LCN's Le Bilan, and a member of the TVA Group Board of Directors.

Université Laval is awarding an Honorary Doctorate in Political Science to Régine Laurent in recognition of the significant impact her work has had on public policy and democratic life in Québec.