Maria Mourani

Maria Mourani
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Ahuntsic
In office 2006–2015
Preceded by	Eleni Bakopanos
Succeeded by	Mélanie Joly
Personal details
Born	(1969-05-19) May 19, 1969 Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
Nationality	Canadian
Political party	Bloc Québécois (2006-2013) Independent (2013-present)
Other political affiliations	New Democratic Party of Canada
Residence	Montreal
Alma mater	Université de Montréal
Profession	Criminologist, sociologiste, parole officer, rehabilitation counsellor, researcher, sociologist, teaching assistant

Maria Mourani (born May 19, 1969) was an independent Member of Parliament in the federal riding of Ahuntsic in Canada. She was formerly a member of the Bloc Québécois before leaving the party over its support for the proposed Quebec Charter of Values. She joined the New Democratic Party in November 2014 but was not a member of the party's caucus due to the party's policy against crossing the floor; she stood for the NDP in the 2015 Canadian federal election, but did not win. Mourani was the first woman of Lebanese origin elected to the Canadian House of Commons.^[1]

Before politics

Mourani was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.^[1] Of Lebanese descent, Mourani immigrated to Canada in 1988. She has held positions as rehabilitation consultant, professor, researcher, and parole officer.^[1] She is a former parole officer for Correctional Service of Canada. She is a former member of the Saint-Laurent volunteer action, Henri-Beaulieu school establishment council, Founoun artistic journal, Quebec Association of Criminologists, and the Reflection Committee and Social Action. She is the former President of the Bloc's citizen's committee and on the Parti Québécois riding executive in the provincial riding of Acadie and the Committee director of the PQ orientation congress. She was also a freelance writer for L'Avenir.

Maria Mourani is also the author of La face cachée des gangs de rue (October 2006), a book about street gangs in Montreal. She followed it up with a second book on street gang networks in Canada, United States and Central America entitled Gangs de rue inc. (September 2009).^[1][2][3]

She is co-founder and co-president of the Canadian Lebanese Friendship Association in the Canadian Parliament as well as the President of the Algerian Canadian Friendship Association.

On 15 August 2008, she was awarded an honorary medal in Beirut, Lebanon by the World Lebanese Cultural Union (WLCU).

Political career

In the 2003 Quebec election, she ran unsuccessfully as the PQ candidate in Acadie.^[4]

She was elected in the 2006 Canadian federal election and reelected in 2008 and 2011. She was consequently assigned as the Bloc Québécois Critic on Public Security and on the Status of Women in the Canadian Parliament.

After the 2011 federal election Mourani was one of only four Bloc Québécois MPs left in the House of Commons, the only Bloc member from the Montreal area, and the only female Bloc MP in the 41st Parliament.^[5]

She declared her candidacy in the Bloc Québécois leadership election that was held to choose a successor to Gilles Duceppe and ran on a platform of making the Bloc more independent from the Parti Québécois.^[6][7] She was defeated on the second ballot by former MP Daniel Paillé on December 11, 2011.^[8]

She was expelled from the Bloc Quebecois caucus on September 12, 2013, for opposing the Quebec Charter of Values and has subsequently sat as an independent.^[9]

On December 18, 2013, Mourani surprised citizens by announcing she was no longer in support of Quebec sovereignty and believed that Canadian federalism and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was better at protecting the Quebecois identity and the identity of all citizens of Quebec.^[10][11][12]

On November 19, 2014, Mourani announced that she would run for the NDP in the next election, though as per the party's policy on crossing the floor she remained an independent MP until the election.^[13][14]

On January 21, 2015 she was acclaimed the NDP's candidate in Ahuntsic-Cartierville for the 2015 Canadian federal election,^[15] but lost her seat to rival Liberal candidate Mélanie Joly.

Bibliography

Books

• La face cachée des gangs de rue, Les Éditions de l'Homme, 2006, 211 pages ISBN 978-2-7619-2253-1
• Gangs de rue inc. : leurs réseaux au Canada et dans les Amériques, Les éditions de l'Homme, 2009, 416 pages, ISBN 978-2-7619-2683-6

Others

• Rose Dufour, Ina Motoi (preface by Maria Mourani and Hélène Manseau), La femme, sa sexualité et son pouvoir sexuel: programme d'appropriation de sa sexualité, Les Presses de l'Université du Québec, 2011
• Notre indépendance: 28 Québécois s'expriment (collective book, under the direction of Catherine Fillion-Lauzièr, Stanké, 2012

Electoral record

References

External links

• Official site
• Maria Mourani – Parliament of Canada biography