Anne C. Cools

Anne Clare Cools (born 1943) is a member of the Canadian Senate. Born in Barbados she is the first black person to be appointed to the upper house. Her family immigrated to Canada in 1957 when Cools was 14 years old and settled in Montreal. Attending McGill University to study social work in the 1960s she became involved in radical campus politics. In 1969 was a participant in a 10 day sit-in at Sir George Williams University (later Concordia University) protesting alleged racism at the school. The action ended with $2 million worth of damage to computer equipment. Though not accused of damaging property herself, Cools was sentenced to four months imprisonment for participating in the sit-in.\n \nIn 1974, Cools moved to Toronto where she founded one of the first battered women's shelters in Canada, Women in Transition Inc., serving as its Executive Director. She was twice a candidate for the Canadian House of Commons on behalf of the Liberal Party of Canada. Running in the Toronto riding of Rosedale she was defeated in both the 1979 Canadian election and 1980 Canadian election by Progressive Conservative David Crombie losing by less than 2,000 votes on her second attempt. In 1984 she was appointed to the Canadian Senate by then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. In the 1990s Cools became an increasingly outspoken conservative, particularly on social issues such as father's rights, divorce and "family values" causing her critics to accuse her of being anti-feminist. She also became increasingly critical of the Liberal governments of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin and on June 8, 2004 she announced that she was crossing the floor to join the Conservative Party of Canada.

External links

\n*Senator Anne Cools official website\n*Hurricane Anne 1997 profile published in Chatelaine.