View source for Hedy Fry

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Honourable]]
| name                = Hedy Fry
| honorific-suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|MP|size=100%}}
| image               = Fry 2025.png
| caption             = Fry in 2025
| parliament1         = Canadian
| riding1             = [[Vancouver Centre]]
| minister1           = 
| term_start1         = October 25, 1993
| term_end1           = 
| predecessor1        = [[Kim Campbell]]
| successor1          = 
| birth_date          = {{Birth date and age |1941|08|06}}
| birth_place         = [[San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago]]
| successor           = 
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| profession          = Physician
| party               = [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]]
| residence           = [[Vancouver]], British Columbia, Canada
| footnotes           = 
| office2             = Chairwoman of the [[Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage|Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage]]
| term_start2         = February 4, 2016
| term_end2           = 
| minister2           = [[Mélanie Joly]]
| predecessor2        = [[Gord Brown]]
| successor2          = 
| office3             = [[Minister responsible for the Status of Women (Canada)|Chairwoman of the Standing Committee on <br />Status of Women]]
| minister3           = [[Rona Ambrose]]
| term_start3         = 5 February 2009
| term_end3           = 20 June 2011
| predecessor3        = [[Yasmin Ratansi]]
| successor3          = [[Niki Ashton]]
| office4             = [[Minister of State|Minister of State (Multiculturalism and Status of Women)]]
| primeminister4           = [[Jean Chretien]]
| term_start4         = 25 January 1996
| term_end4           = 27 January 2002
| predecessor4       = [[Sheila Finestone]]
| successor4          = [[Claudette Bradshaw]]
| relations           = [[Pete Fry]] (son)
}}

'''Hedy Madeleine Fry''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|MP}} (born August 6, 1941) is a Canadian politician and physician, and is currently the longest-serving female [[House of Commons of Canada|Member of Parliament]].<ref name="Vsun" /> A member of the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Party]], she has won eleven consecutive elections in the constituency of [[Vancouver Centre]], starting with the [[1993 Canadian federal election|1993 election]], when she defeated incumbent [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Kim Campbell]].

==Early life and career==
Fry was born in [[San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago]]. She is of [[Scottish Canadians|Scottish]], [[Spanish Canadians|Spanish]], [[Indo-Canadians#Indians from the Caribbean|Indian]], and [[Chinese Canadians|Chinese]] ancestry.<ref>{{cite tweet|user=hedyfry|number=55464839086227456|date=2011-04-05|title=#netculture Great event. Trying to figure out my ethnic background. How's east-indian, chinese, scottish, spanish?}}</ref> After declining an English Literature scholarship to the [[University of Oxford]], Fry earned her equivalent of a BA in Science in one year and then went on to receive her medical training at the [[Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland|Royal College of Surgeons]] in [[Dublin]], [[Ireland]].<ref name="Vsun">{{cite news|last1=Hume|first1=Stephen|title=Canada 150: 'Underestimate Hedy Fry at your peril'|url=https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/canada-150-underestimate-hedy-fry-at-your-peril|work=Vancouver Sun|date=March 20, 2017}}</ref> She immigrated to Canada in 1970 and established a practice in [[Vancouver]].

Fry worked at [[St. Paul's Hospital (Vancouver)]] for 23 years. She served as president of the British Columbia Federation of Medical Women in 1977, the Vancouver Medical Association from 1988 to 89, and the [[BC Medical Association]] from 1990 to 91. In addition, she chaired the Canadian Medical Association's Multiculturalism Committee from 1992 to 1999. She volunteered as a Tawny Owl as a member of the [[Girl Guides of Canada]], leading a Brownie group.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://openparliament.ca/debates/2003/2/19/hedy-fry-1/|title=Hedy Fry, "Guide and Scout Week" on Feb. 19th, 2003 {{!}} openparliament.ca|website=openparliament.ca|language=en|access-date=2018-11-30}}</ref> Fry was also a host on the nationally televised CBC show Doctor Doctor.

==Political career==
Fry sought the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Party]] nomination for [[Vancouver Centre]] in the lead-up to the [[1993 Canadian federal election|1993 federal election]], defeating lawyer David Varty and college lecturer John Lang. She was elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada]], defeating [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Kim Campbell]]. Fry was the fifth person to unseat a sitting prime minister, and the first to do so in their first run for office. Fry has been re-elected in every subsequent election ([[1997 Canadian federal election|1997]], [[2000 Canadian federal election|2000]], [[2004 Canadian federal election|2004]], [[2006 Canadian federal election|2006]], [[2008 Canadian federal election|2008]], [[2011 Canadian federal election|2011]], [[2015 Canadian federal election|2015]], [[2019 Canadian federal election|2019]], [[2021 Canadian federal election|2021]] and [[2025 Canadian federal election|2025]]).

===Chretien and Martin governments===
She served as [[Parliamentary Secretary]] to the Minister of National Health and Welfare from 1993 until 1996 when she was appointed to the [[Canadian Cabinet|Cabinet]] as [[Secretary of State (Canada)|Secretary of State]] for Multiculturalism and [[Minister responsible for the Status of Women (Canada)|Status of Women]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/Profile?personId=5951 | title=Profile }}</ref>

In 2002,  Fry apologized to the people of [[Prince George, British Columbia]] after she said in the House of Commons that “crosses are being burned on lawns as we speak”.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/minister-apologizes-for-cross-burning-remarks-1.279168|title = Minister apologizes for cross burning remarks|date = 22 March 2001|access-date = 27 October 2015|publisher = [[CBC News]]}}</ref> Fry did not remain a minister after cabinet was [[Cabinet shuffle|shuffled]] in 2002.

When [[Paul Martin]] became [[Prime Minister of Canada]] at the end of 2003, she was appointed [[Parliamentary Secretary]] to the [[Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship|Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]] with special emphasis on Foreign Credentials. After the [[2004 Canadian federal election|2004 election]], she was named Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development with special emphasis on the Internationally Trained Workers Initiative.

===In opposition===
In 2006, she defeated high-profile [[New Democratic Party]] activist and former MP [[Svend Robinson]] and in 2008 she defeated high-profile [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative Party]] candidate [[Lorne Mayencourt]]. On May 4, 2006, Fry became the 11th person, 3rd woman, and the only Westerner to officially enter the [[2006 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election|Liberal party leadership race]]. Fry launched her leadership campaign saying that Canada's diversity is its greatest competitive advantage - "our weapon of mass inclusion" - and called for a "non-ideological" approach to problem solving. She withdrew from the contest on September 25 and announced her support for [[Bob Rae]].

Re-elected in [[Vancouver Centre]] for a sixth term in 2008, Fry was appointed the Official Opposition Critic for [[Canadian Heritage]]. On November 21, 2008, Liberal leadership candidate [[Bob Rae]] announced that Fry would serve as his Campaign Co-Chair in [[British Columbia]].

Fry was re-elected in 2011 by a margin of approximately 2,000 votes.<ref>{{cite news
 |title=Fry breezes by NDP and Tory candidates
 |url=https://vancouversun.com/news/breezes+Tory+candidates/4716636/story.html
 |date=2011-05-03
 |work=[[Vancouver Sun]]
 |author=Lazaruk, S.
 |access-date=May 3, 2011
 |archive-date=2015-07-10
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710025849/http://www.vancouversun.com/news/breezes+Tory+candidates/4716636/story.html
 |url-status=dead
 }}</ref> When the Liberals lost power in 2006, Fry was named as Critic for [[Sport Canada]] in the Liberal [[shadow cabinet]]. In 2011, as the Liberals lost their designation as Official Opposition, Fry was named Liberal Critic for Health.

===Trudeau government ===
In the [[2015 Canadian federal election|2015 election]], Fry won her riding once more, becoming the oldest Canadian MP and the longest serving female MP. She received 56.1% of the vote, the highest popular vote share of her career. During the 42nd Parliament, she was appointed to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, which provides oversight to Canada's security services and requires a Top Secret security clearance.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2017/11/06/prime-minister-announces-new-national-security-and-intelligence|title=Prime Minister announces new National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians|date=2017-11-06|website=Prime Minister of Canada|language=en|access-date=2019-12-05}}</ref>

In the 2019 Election, Fry once again won her riding for a 9th consecutive term.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/new-mps-class-of-2015-1.3281771|title = Meet the Class of 2015: Notable rookies headed to Parliament Hill|date = 22 October 2015|access-date = 22 October 2015|publisher = [[CBC News]]|last = Tasker|first = John Paul}}</ref> Fry served as a member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, and the Special Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oscepa.org/news-a-media/press-releases/press-2010/hedy-fry-appointed-new-special-representative-on-gender-issues|title=Hedy Fry appointed new Special Representative on Gender Issues|website=www.oscepa.org|access-date=2019-12-05}}</ref> Fry was re-elected again in the 2021 Election

Fry heads Canada's delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, and is the Special Representative for gender issues, a  role she has held since 2010.

===Carney government===

On April 28, 2025, Fry won her riding for the eleventh consecutive term, receiving 55.2% of the vote, the second highest popular vote share of her career.<ref>{{cite web | title=Hedy Fry of the Liberals wins 11th consecutive election in Vancouver riding &#124; Urbanized | url=https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/hedy-fry-vancouver-centre-liberals-2025-victory }}</ref>

==Family==
Fry has three adult sons and four grandchildren. Her eldest son, [[Pete Fry]], was elected to [[Vancouver City Council]] in the [[2018 Vancouver municipal election|2018 municipal election]].

==Electoral record==
{{2025 Canadian federal election/Vancouver Centre}}
{{2021 Canadian federal election/Vancouver Centre}}
{{2019 Canadian federal election/Vancouver Centre}}
{{2015 Canadian federal election/Vancouver Centre}}
{{2011 Canadian federal election/Vancouver Centre}}
{{2008 Canadian federal election/Vancouver Centre}}
{{2006 Canadian federal election/Vancouver Centre}}
{{2004 Canadian federal election/Vancouver Centre}}
{{2000 Canadian federal election/Vancouver Centre}}
{{1997 Canadian federal election/Vancouver Centre}}
{{1993 Canadian federal election/Vancouver Centre}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.hedyfry.com/ Official site]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060616001820/http://howdtheyvote.ca/member.php?id=109 How'd They Vote?: Hedy Fry's voting history and quotes]
*{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=5951}}

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{{Canadian federal ministry navigational box header|ministry=26}}
{{ministry box sub-cabinet posts
|post1         = Secretary of State (Multiculturalism) (Status of Women)
|post1years    = 1996–2002
|post1note     =
|post1preceded = [[Sheila Finestone]]
|post1followed = [[Jean Augustine]]
}}
{{S-end}}

{{Current Members of the Canadian House of Commons}}
{{Chrétien Ministry}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Hedy}}
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Indo-Trinidadian descent]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Chinese descent]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Spanish descent]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian physicians]]
[[Category:Women members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Members of the 26th Canadian Ministry]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:Politicians from Vancouver]]
[[Category:Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Trinidad and Tobago people of Indian descent]]
[[Category:Women in British Columbia politics]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian women politicians]]
[[Category:Women government ministers of Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian women physicians]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]