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Maria Mourani

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Maria Mourani
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Ahuntsic
In office
23 January 2006 – 19 October 2015
Preceded byEleni Bakopanos
Succeeded byMélanie Joly
Personal details
Born (1969-05-19) 19 May 1969 (age 55)
Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
NationalityCanadian
Political partyBloc Québécois (2006–2013)
Independent (2013–2015)
New Democratic Party (2015-present)
ResidenceMontreal
Alma materUniversité de Montréal
ProfessionPolitician, criminologist, parole officer, rehabilitation counsellor, researcher, sociologist, teaching assistant, consultant

Maria Mourani (born 19 May 1969) is a Canadian politician who was elected as a 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] In 2017, she became the Quebec representative in the Permanent Delegation of Canada at UNESCO.

Before politics

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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.

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 was a co-founder and a 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

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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 11 December 2011.[8]

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

On 18 December 2013, Mourani surprised citizens by announcing that she had renounced sovereigntism. She now believed that Canadian federalism was the best way to protect minority rights, and argued that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was best suited to protect "the Quebec identity and all citizens of Quebec." She also accused the PQ of running its election campaign "on the backs of believers."[10][11][12]

On 19 November 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 21 January 2015 she was acclaimed the NDP's candidate in the renamed Ahuntsic-Cartierville for the 2015 Canadian federal election,[15] but lost her seat to rival Liberal candidate Mélanie Joly.[citation needed]

After the 2015 elections, she opened a consultancy office Mourani-Criminologie on criminology with a concentration on issues of organized crime and gangs, juvenile delinquency, human trafficking, prostitution and international terrorism. She is a member of the Quebec Professional Order of Criminologists.[16]

On 25 October 2017, the Quebec government nominated Mourani as the Quebec representative in the Permanent Delegation of Canada at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris replacing Julie Miville-Dechêne. She assumes her position starting 5 December 2017.[17]

Bibliography

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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

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2015 Canadian federal election: Ahuntsic-Cartierville
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Mélanie Joly 26,026 46.8 +15.7 –
New Democratic Maria Mourani 16,684 30.0 +0.1 –
Bloc Québécois Nicolas Bourdon 7,346 13.2 -15.1 –
Conservative Wiliam Moughrabi 4,051 7.3 -1.3 –
Green Gilles Mercier 1,175 2.1 +0.7 –
Rhinoceros Catherine Gascon-David 285 0.5 – –
Total valid votes/expense limit – 100.0     $220,041.13
Total rejected ballots – – –
Turnout – – –
Eligible voters 82,863
Source: Elections Canada[18][19]
2011 Canadian federal election: Ahuntsic
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Bloc Québécois Maria Mourani 14,908 31.80 -7.68
New Democratic Chantal Reeves 14,200 30.29 +21.32
Liberal Noushig Eloyan 13,087 27.91 -10.68
Conservative Constantin Kiryakidis 3,770 8.04 -2.32
Green Ted Kouretas 620 1.32 -1.25
Rhinoceros Jean-Olivier Berthiaume 299 0.64 –
Total valid votes/expense limit 46,884 100.00
Total rejected ballots 516 1.09 -
Turnout 47,400 64.98 -0.66
Bloc Québécois hold Swing -14.50
2008 Canadian federal election: Ahuntsic
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Bloc Québécois Maria Mourani 18,815 39.48 +0.57 $53,286
Liberal Eleni Bakopanos 18,392 38.59 +1.30 $51,887
Conservative Jean Précourt 4,937 10.36 -1.89 $56,496
New Democratic Alexandra Bélec 4,276 8.97 +1.07 $6,663
Green Lynette Tremblay 1,228 2.57 -1.10 $20
Total valid votes/expense limit 47,648 100.00 – $82,379
Total rejected ballots 523 1.09
Turnout 48,181 65.64
Bloc Québécois hold Swing -0.40
2006 Canadian federal election: Ahuntsic
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Bloc Québécois Maria Mourani 19,428 38.91 -2.34 $69,180
Liberal Eleni Bakopanos 18,594 37.24 -6.51 $64,168
Conservative Etienne Morin 6,089 12.25 +7.01 $16,100
New Democratic Caroline Desrosiers 3,948 7.90 +1.70 $4,702
Green Lynette Tremblay 1,836 3.67 +0.99 $411
Total valid votes/expense limit 49,895 100.00 $77,453
Bloc Québécois gain from Liberal Swing -2.1
2004 Canadian federal election: Ahuntsic
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Eleni Bakopanos 21,234 43.75 -10.13 $59,946
Bloc Québécois Maria Mourani 20,020 41.25 +9.02 $53,286
New Democratic Annick Bergeron 3,013 6.20 +4.33 $3,308
Conservative Jean E. Fortier 2,544 5.24 -3.85 $39,703
Green Lynette Tremblay 1,301 2.68 +0.57 $2,388
Marijuana F.X. de Longchamp 314 0.64 –
Marxist–Leninist Marsha Fine 102 0.21 -0.09
Total valid votes/expense limit 48,528 100.00 $77,288
  Liberal hold Swing -9.6


2003 Quebec general election: Acadie
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Yvan Bordeleau 23,211 70.39 −4.80
Parti Québécois Maria Mourani 6,702 20.33 +1.22
Action démocratique Jean-Pierre Chamoun 2,253 6.83 +2.18
Bloc Pot Jonathan Bérubé 440 1.33 –
Independent André Parizeau 161 0.49 –
Marxist–Leninist Linda Sullivan 111 0.34 –
Equality Marina Paümann 95 0.29 –
Total valid votes 32,973 99.05 –
Total rejected ballots 316 0.95 –
Turnout 33,289 65.66 −12.39
Electors on the lists 50,699 – –

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "MOURANI, Maria, B.A., M.A." Library of Parliament. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  2. ^ "Bloc MP helps police make big pot bust". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 26 March 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Shooting not expected to spark Montreal street war". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 7 January 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Quebec Votes 2003 - Riding: Acadie". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2003. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  5. ^ "Bloc to seek party status, new leader: MP". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  6. ^ "MP Maria Mourani bids for Bloc Québécois leadership". CBC News. 21 September 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  7. ^ Authier, Philip (4 October 2011). "Daniel Paillé throws hat into Bloc ring". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 9 October 2011.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ "Daniel Paille new leader of Bloc Quebecois". CBC News. 11 December 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  9. ^ Mas, Susana (13 September 2013). "Bloc Québécois expels MP over secular charter comments". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  10. ^ Bourgault-Côté, Guillaume (18 December 2013). "Mourani "n'est plus indépendantiste"" (in French). Le Devoir. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  11. ^ https://www.dropbox.com/s/9vk38kel5eonpq4/Lettre%20Maria%20Mourani_18%20dec%202013.pdf Mourani's Letter to the Public
  12. ^ Canadian Press. "Maria Mourani, who quit Bloc Quebecois over Quebec values charter, says she is no longer a sovereigntist". National Post. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  13. ^ "Maria Mourani, ex-Bloc MP, to join NDP". CBC News. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  14. ^ "Former Bloc member Maria Mourani join NDP — but not as MP". Toronto Star. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  15. ^ "Maria Mourani, Ex-Bloc MP, To Run For NDP In Montreal". Huffington Post. 21 January 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  16. ^ "Mourani Criminologue Official website". Mouranicriminologue.com. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  17. ^ "Former Bloc MP Maria Mourani appointed Quebec's representative to UNESCO". CTV Montreal. 26 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  18. ^ "Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Ahuntsic-Cartierville". Elections.ca. 30 September 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  19. ^ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
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