Alumnae

List of 1 news stories.

• Trafalgar Students Don’t Just Learn History - They Make It.

  10/15/2025
  Version française ci-dessous
  
  It was recently announced by the city of Montreal that trailblazing feminist and union organizer Madeleine Parent, Class of 1936, will be honoured with a metro station in her name. Departing from the tradition of naming stations after nearby streets, the future Blue Line stations will pay tribute to communities that have shaped Montreal’s history while highlighting the significant contributions of women like Madeleine Parent to Quebec’s social, cultural, and economic development.
  
  Madeleine Parent ’36 came to Trafalgar School to improve her English and immediately embodied Trafalgar’s tradition of fearless, forward-thinking women. After graduating from Trafalgar, she studied sociology at McGill University, where she quickly became engaged in social causes. A “fighter” even in her youth, Parent joined the Canadian Students Assembly to advocate for access to bursaries for underprivileged families and became active in Catholic associations before entering the protest branch of the student movement.
  
  Her passion for justice only deepened after graduation from McGill University. At a Civil Rights League meeting, Parent met union organizer Léa Roback, who drew her into the labour movement. Despite the male-dominated world of unions, she rose to become secretary of the organizing committee for the Montreal trades and labour council. Over the decades, Parent fought tirelessly on many fronts: she co-founded the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC), represented Québec from 1972 to 1983, defended Indigenous women’s rights, and campaigned for equal pay.
  
  For its 125th anniversary, Trafalgar School published 125 Women of Trafalgar, honouring its most notable alumnae, and Madeleine Parent was proudly among them. ​Susan Stevenson, Chair of the Trafalgar-Ross Foundation had the opportunity to interview Madeleine. "I was told I'd have 10 minutes with her, and we spoke for an hour and a half. She was just absolutely sensational, even in her old age. She had a lot to say and was happy to talk about Trafalgar, sharing that she came here to learn English, which ultimately gave her so much more flexibility and capability in her leading of the union movement at Dominion Textile."
  
  Parent has already had her remarkable contributions celebrated throughout Quebec, with the Madeleine Parent Bridge on Autoroute 30 in Beauharnois, a park along the Lachine Canal in Montreal’s Sud-Ouest borough, a public urban space in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, and a Canada Post stamp issued in her honour in 2023.
  
  Even in her later years, Parent never stopped standing up for what she believed in, petitioning against a mandatory lights-out rule at her senior’s residence, proving that her courage and spirit were lifelong.
  
  Madeleine Parent’s legacy is a reflection of Trafalgar’s motto:  Success Nourishes Hope. The values she championed continue to shape every Trafalgar graduate who goes on to lead with purpose, using their success not only to achieve, but to uplift others and give back to their communities all over the world.
  Lire en français