Sheila Finestone was a notable politician from Montreal who dealt with a range of cultural and multicultural issues, from the protection of human rights to the promotion of equality for women and minorities.
Finestone was first elected in 1984 as a Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party for the Mount Royal riding, a riding she would hold for more than a decade. Between 1984 and her appointment to the Senate in 1999, Finestone held a wide range of critical positions in the public and philanthropic spheres.
In the 1990s, Finestone was appointed as Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women. She served as President of the Canadian Inter-Parliamentary Union, and was active in promoting human rights and women’s rights. She was a founding member of the Board of Alliance Quebec. She served as the first Anglophone President (1977-1980) of the 130,000 member coalition, “La Federation des Femmes du Quebec,” was Past President of the Women’s Federation of Allied Jewish Community Services and Combined Jewish Appeal, as well as Neighbourhood House Services of the YM-YWHA.
She was also the driving force behind the establishment of the Centre Communautaire Juif. Finestone was a member of the Board of Trustees of AJCS and the YM-YWHA. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation, the Quebec Heart Foundation, the Information and Referral Centre of Greater Montreal, La Fondation Therese-F. Casgrain, and the Shawbridge Youth Centres.
Finestone was Vice President of the Caldwell Residence for the Well Aged, and is currently a member of the Joint Committee on Ashkenazi-Sephardic Relations (CJC-AJCS). At CJC, Finestone is or was a member of the CJC Joint Public Relations Committee, the National Law and Social Action Committee, and an advisor to the Status of Women Committee of CJC; member of the Coalition for Pension Reform, the Coalition against Media Violence and the Interfaith Task Force for Soviet Jewry. She has chaired committees which have presented briefs to federal and provincial parliamentary commissions on a wide range of issues, including the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Proposed Revisions to the Labour Code, the Civil Code, the Federal Criminal Code and the Youth Protection Act, the Royal Commission on the Status of Women and the Service de la Garde d’Enfance.
As political attaché to the Quebec Liberal Party leaders Claude Ryan, Gerald D. Levesque and Robert Bourassa, Finestone had the special responsibility of informing them of the concerns of the minority communities. She served on the Quebec Liberal Party Policy Commission and is/was Chairman of the Commission on Aging. Prior to this, she was the first Director of Youth Protection for Jewish Family Services. Finestone retired from politics in 2001.
Special thank you to the Jewish Public Library Archives.