Anne Cools facts for kids

Anne Clare Cools (born August 12, 1943) is a Canadian who used to be a senator. She was the person who served the longest in the Senate of Canada. As a social worker, Anne Cools was a leader in helping women who faced family violence. She even started one of the first shelters in Canada for people experiencing this.

About Anne Cools

Early Life and Education

Anne Cools was born and grew up in Barbados. Her father, Lucius Unique Cools, was a pharmacist, and her mother, Rosita Gordon Miller Cools, owned a sugar plantation. Her grandfather and an uncle were also involved in politics in Barbados.

When Anne was 13, in 1957, her family moved to Canada. She went to Thomas D'Arcy McGee High School in Montreal. Later, she studied at McGill University, where she earned a degree in social sciences, sociology, and psychology. Anne Cools is married to Rolf Calhoun, a business consultant. She enjoys classical music, playing the piano, reading, gardening, and dogs.

Early Career as a Social Worker

Early in her career, Anne Cools worked as a student coordinator. She helped supervise students and trained them to become social workers. She worked at the University of Toronto from 1978 to 1978. She also worked at Ryerson Polytechnic Institute (now Toronto Metropolitan University) from 1978 to 1980. From 1977 to 1989, she was employed at Seneca College.

Advocacy and Important Work

Fighting for Fairness

In February 1969, Anne Cools took part in a 13-day student protest at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University). Students were upset about how the school handled complaints of racism against a professor. Anne Cools was one of 97 students arrested during this protest. Unlike many others, she chose not to plead guilty and spent two months in jail. She later said this experience deeply affected her. In 1981, she received a pardon from the National Parole Board of Canada.

Helping Families in Need

As a social worker, Anne Cools was a pioneer in helping people affected by family violence. In 1974, she moved to Toronto. There, she started and led Women in Transition Inc., which was one of Canada's first shelters for victims of family violence. Because many people needed help, she got funding and opened a second shelter in 1987. She also helped organize Canada's first conference on family violence, called Couples in Conflict.

Anne Cools has shared her view that both men and women can be involved in family conflicts. She believes that aggression is a human issue, not something specific to one gender. In 2016, she supported the work of Erin Pizzey, another expert, who also believed that women can be as violent as men in family conflicts.

Supporting Children's Rights

Anne Cools strongly believes in children's rights. She thinks that after parents separate, children should continue to have relationships with both their mothers and fathers. She also highlights how important fathers are for a child's growth.

In the 1990s, Anne Cools played a key role in creating a special committee in the Senate and House of Commons. This committee looked into child custody and access. In December 1998, they released a report called For the Sake of the Children. A main idea from this report was that after parents separate, it's usually best for children to have shared parenting. She openly disagreed with the government when proposed laws based on this report were put aside.

Views on Feminism

While Anne Cools has always been a strong supporter of women and victims of family violence, she has also shared her thoughts on some parts of the feminist movement. She once said that it's not fair to think that all good things come from women and all bad things from men, because human nature doesn't work that way.

Community Involvement

Besides her work as a social worker, Anne Cools was active in many community groups. She was on the Board of Directors for the Black Education Project. This group worked to fix unfairness in Toronto's education system. She also served on the boards of Black Theatre Canada, the Pauline McGibbon Cultural Centre, and the Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto.

Political Journey

National Parole Board

From 1980 to 1984, Anne Cools was a member of the National Parole Board of Canada. This board makes decisions about releasing federal prisoners on parole.

Running for the House of Commons

Anne Cools tried twice to become a member of the House of Commons of Canada for the Liberal Party of Canada. She did not win the Liberal nomination in 1978 for the Rosedale area. Her campaign was shown in a 1979 film called The Right Candidate for Rosedale. She ran again in 1979 and won the nomination, but she was defeated in both the 1979 and 1980 elections by David Crombie.

Becoming a Senator

In 1984, Anne Cools was chosen to join the Senate of Canada. This decision was made by Governor General Edward Schreyer, based on the suggestion of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. She became the first Black person to serve in the Canadian Senate. She represented the Toronto-Centre-York area.

Over time, Anne Cools became more critical of the Liberal governments led by Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. She also had different views on same-sex marriage. On June 9, 2004, she announced that she was changing parties to join the Conservative Party of Canada.

In 2006, Anne Cools was removed from her committee duties for the Conservative Party after she questioned a new government bill. In 2007, she left the Conservative party group. She then served as a Senator who was not part of any specific group from 2007 until 2017. In 2017, she joined the Independent Senators Group.

Anne Cools was the longest-serving member of the Senate from September 26, 2011, until she retired on August 12, 2018. She is known as the first Black female Senator in North America. When Charlie Watt retired, Anne Cools was the last Senator still serving who had been appointed by Pierre Trudeau.

See also

• Canadian titles debate
• Lists of Canadian senators
• List of Ontario senators
• Ninth Floor, a documentary about the 1969 student protest