Shaughnessy Cohen

Elizabeth Shaughnessy Cohen (Template:Nee Murray; February 11, 1948 – December 9, 1998) was a Canadian politician who represented the riding of Windsor—St. Clair for the Liberal Party of Canada from 1993 until her death in 1998.<ref name=death> Template:Cite news</ref>

Background

She was born in London, Ontario, and grew up in Thamesville.<ref name=newkids> Template:Cite news</ref> She studied English literature and sociology at the University of Windsor,<ref name=newkids/> and taught at St. Clair College before returning to law school.<ref name=newkids/> She married Jerry Cohen, a psychology professor, in 1971.<ref name=newkids/> She had originally intended to keep her own surname, but opted to take her husband's name when she realized it would make her both Irish and Jewish.<ref name=death/>

She was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1979,<ref name=charm> Template:Cite news</ref> and worked as a lawyer until her election to Parliament.<ref name = "Seeks 1988 Nomination"> Template:Cite news</ref>

Political career

1988 and 1993 Federal Elections

Cohen stood as the Liberal candidate in Windsor—St. Clair in the 1988 election, but lost to New Democratic Party incumbent Howard McCurdy.<ref name = "McCurdy Wins 1988"> Template:Cite news</ref> However, in the 1993 election, Cohen defeated McCurdy for the seat.<ref name = "Cohen Wins Seat"> Template:Cite news</ref> Following the election, she was briefly the subject of controversy when she and her husband were sued for $200,000 in unpaid debt, but Cohen blamed the situation on the costs of conducting a political campaign and the controversy soon subsided after she agreed to a debt consolidation plan.<ref name=newkids/>

Member of Parliament

Her first political action after being sworn in as a Member of Parliament was a letter requesting that the federal government building in Windsor be named after former MP Paul Martin, Sr.,<ref name = "Cohen Sworn In"> Template:Cite news</ref> a request which the government accepted.<ref name = "Martin Federal Building> Template:Cite news</ref> After the first sitting of the new parliament in January 1994, Cohen was the first newly elected MP to be subjected to a critical profile in Frank, although both Cohen and the Windsor Star criticized the profile's accuracy.<ref name = "Frank Magazine"> Template:Cite news</ref>

In February 1994, Cohen was appointed to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources and Development.<ref name = "On Committee 1994"> Template:Cite news</ref> In June, she was one of several Liberal MPs, alongside Jean Augustine, Barry Campbell, Bill Graham and Hedy Fry, who privately intervened with Ontario Liberal Party leader Lyn McLeod to encourage her not to withdraw the party's support of the Equality Rights Statute Amendment Act (Bill 167).<ref name = "Same-sex Bill"> Template:Cite news</ref> In August, she was appointed co-chair with Herb Gray of a parliamentary subcommittee to investigate allegations against the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, including the role of Grant Bristow as an informant.<ref name = "CSIS Probe"> Template:Cite news</ref>

On the final day of the 1995 Ontario provincial election campaign, Cohen was one of several MPs, alongside Jane Stewart, Paddy Torsney, Benoît Serré and Stan Dromisky, who made speeches in the federal House of Commons campaigning on behalf of McLeod's Ontario Liberal Party and against the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Mike Harris.<ref name ="Cheerleading for McLeod"> Template:Cite news</ref>

In September 1995, she was one of only a few MPs to vote in favour of Réal Ménard's private member's motion calling on the government to recognize same-sex marriage.<ref name = "Gay-spouse Motion"> Template:Cite news</ref>

In January 1996, she travelled to the Middle East as an election monitor for the Palestinian Authority election.<ref name = "Palestinian Elections"> Template:Cite news</ref> In March, she was appointed to and named as chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice.<ref name = "Chair of Justice Committee"> Template:Cite news</ref> In this capacity, she conducted a review of the federal Young Offenders Act, which led to reforms announced by Justice Minister Anne McLellan in 1998.<ref name = "YOA Reform"> Template:Cite news</ref>

She was re-elected in the 1997 election by a narrower margin, due to a significant resurgence in support for the New Democratic Party.<ref name=tightrace> Template:Cite news</ref> Her NDP challenger was Joe Comartin.<ref name=tightrace/> In her second term, she identified one of her key goals as advocating for a crossnational environmental project to clean up pollution in the Detroit River.<ref name = "River Cleanup"> Template:Cite news</ref>

Death in House of Commons

On December 9, 1998, she collapsed in the House of Commons, just minutes after she had stood to address the House.<ref name = "Death - CBC News"> Template:Cite news</ref> Three MPs, that were doctors, rushed to her desk and performed CPR on her until paramedics took over about ten minutes later.<ref name= "Death in HOC"/> Reform Party MP Grant Hill was one of those doctors, and said she had a pulse when the paramedics rushed her to the hospital.<ref name= "Death in HOC"/> She had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and was pronounced dead soon afterward at Ottawa Civic Hospital.<ref name= "Death in HOC" > Template:Cite news</ref> She was the fifth MP in Canadian history to die on Parliament Hill, and the first ever to suffer a fatal health incident in the House of Commons chamber rather than in her office or on the wider Parliament Hill grounds.<ref name= "First die in HOC"> Template:Cite news</ref>

In the House the following day, MPs from all parties spoke in tribute to Cohen.<ref name = "MPs Eulogies">Template:Cite news</ref> Reform Party MP Randy White praised her personality as "a seemingly impossible combination of vigorous partisanship and open-minded friendship,"<ref name=tears> Template:Cite news</ref> while New Democratic Party leader Alexa McDonough paid tribute to Cohen's passionate belief in "the pursuit of justice for the rights of those who were not being fully respected."<ref name=tears/> Historian Charlotte Gray, a personal friend of Cohen's, revealed that Cohen had once filled the glass on Paul Martin's House of Commons desk with gin just before a budget speech,<ref name=death/> while Liberal Party strategist Jerry Yanover described her as "an up-front, in-your-face, old-fashioned Liberal, the kind that had principles and didn't compromise them."<ref name=charm/> Following the speeches, MPs unanimously agreed to immediately adjourn the House for the Christmas holiday, several days earlier than planned.<ref name=tears/>

Her funeral was held December 12,<ref name = "funeral coverage TORSTAR"> Template:Cite news</ref> with prime minister Jean Chrétien and almost the entire federal cabinet attending the service.<ref name = "funeral attendance"> Template:Cite news</ref> Over 800 people attended the funeral held at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Tecumseh.<ref name = "cremation and burial"> Template:Cite news</ref> She was cremated after the church ceremony and her ashes were buried on Pelee Island, Canada's most southern inhabited land.<ref name = "cremation and burial"/> Her gravesite can be found in the municipal cemetery.

Following her death, her widower Jerry Cohen ran for the Liberal nomination in the resulting by-election,<ref name = "Jerry Cohen Runs">

Template:Cite news</ref> but lost to city councillor Rick Limoges.<ref name = "Jerry loses nom race">

Template:Cite news</ref> Limoges won the by-election, narrowly defeating the NDP's Comartin by 91 votes, although Comartin defeated Limoges in the 2000 election.<ref name = "by-election"> Template:Cite news</ref>

Legacy

In 2000, the Writers' Trust of Canada instituted a literary award, the Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Writing, in her memory.<ref name = "Spirit Lives On"> Template:Cite news</ref> Journalist Susan Delacourt published a biography of Cohen, Shaughnessy: The Passionate Politics of Shaughnessy Cohen, the same year.<ref name = "Book Review"> Template:Cite news</ref>

Electoral record

Template:Canadian election result/top |- Template:Canadian party colour |New Democratic Party |Howard McCurdy |align="right"|18,915 Template:Canadian party colour |Liberal |Shaughnessy Cohen |align="right"|16,192 Template:Canadian party colour |Progressive Conservative |Bruck Easton |align="right"|8,453 Template:End

Template:Canadian election result/top |- Template:Canadian party colour |Liberal |Shaughnessy Cohen |align="right"| 22,958 Template:Canadian party colour |New Democratic Party |Howard McCurdy |align="right"| 8,871 Template:Canadian party colour |Progressive Conservative |Tom Porter |align="right"|4,553 Template:Canadian party colour |Reform | Greg Novini |align="right"|4,153 Template:CANelec Template:Canadian party colour |Natural Law |Stephanie Moniatowicz |align="right"|194 Template:Canadian party colour |Marxist-Leninist |Dale Woodyard |align="right"|61 Template:Canadian party colour |Abolitionist |Ayesha F. Bharmal |align="right"|52 Template:End

Template:Canadian election result/top |- Template:Canadian party colour |Liberal |Shaughnessy Cohen |align="right"|16,496 Template:Canadian party colour |New Democratic Party |Joe Comartin |align="right"|14,237 Template:Canadian party colour |Reform |Harold Downs |align="right"|5,899 Template:Canadian party colour |Progressive Conservative |Bruck Easton |align="right"|4,253 Template:CANelec Template:Canadian party colour |Marxist-Leninist |Dale Woodyard |align="right"|115 Template:End

External links

• Template:Canadian Parliament links