Diane Lavallée, Public Curator

Profile

Diane Lavallée has been Public Curator since April 2006. In 2011, she accepted a second five-year mandate. In this capacity, she leads a governmental agency that is devoted to protecting the rights and safeguarding the autonomy of thousands of vulnerable persons in Québec. She is directly responsible for representing 12,000 persons who have been judged to be incapacitated.

Ms. Lavallée presided over the Fédération des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec from 1987 to 1993 before becoming a manager in Québec's senior civil service. She is renowned for her particular interest in defending individual and collective rights and, as a manager, for her vision and ability to mobilize people around common issues.

Career highlights

Ms. Lavallée holds a nursing degree, and completed graduate studies in public administration at the École nationale d'administration publique.

From 1977 to 1986, she worked as a nurse, eventually becoming president of the 12,000-member Fédération québécoise des infirmières et infirmiers. In 1987, she merged this organization with two other labour unions to form the Fédération des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec. She presided over this 45,000-member union until 1993.

From 1994 to 1999, she successively held the positions of Secretary General for the Status of Women and Assistant Deputy Minister for the ministère des Affaires municipales et de la Métropole. In 1999, she became president of the Conseil du statut de la femme, serving there until April 2006, when she was appointed Public Curator.

An experienced speaker, Ms. Lavallée has distinguished herself on the international scene as a chef de mission, observer and moderator. Of note are her participation in the 11e Congrès mondial des infirmières et infirmiers de l’espace francophone (Montpellier, France; May 2003), the Rencontres bilatérales sur la parité, la prostitution et la mondialisation (Paris, September 2002) and the 3e Colloque international des recherches féministes francophones (Toulouse, France; September 2002).

In March 2007, on the invitation of the Québec Minister of Health, she participated, as a representative of the public, in a France-Québec colloquium, where she delivered a speech entitled Performance des systèmes de santé : au risque des inégalités ?, on the impact of privatization on health care for the most vulnerable citizens.

In 2007, she was invited to give a speech on her life as a woman activist during a tribute organized by the Délégation générale du Québec in Paris. The same year she travelled to Bayonne, where she delivered a talk about the protection of vulnerable persons in Québec.

A recipient of numerous distinctions, in April 2005, she was awarded the YWCA's Grand Prize for her lifetime commitment to defending women's rights in Québec; and, in 2008, as part of the 400th anniversary of Québec City, she received the distinction of being named among 400 women who were celebrated for exerting a determining influence on the development of Québec society in the last century.

Ms. Lavallée has been actively involved in Centraide (United Way) campaigns from 2003 to 2006. She sat on the Board of Governors of the Fondation Communautaire du Grand Québec from 2002 to 2005 and on the board of directors of the Société des relations internationales de Québec (SORIQ) from 2002 to 2004. She has served since 2005 as a sponsor of the annual fundraising campaign of the Grande Marelle, a social re-integration program for homeless women in Québec City. A member of the board of directors of the Institut d'administration publique du Québec (IAPQ) for over three years, she has served as its chair since February 2011.