Madame Raymonde Folco (Laval--Les Îles)
Biography
Raymonde Folco was re-elected to the House of Commons representing the Liberal Party of Canada in the riding of Laval-Les Îles in the general election of October 14, 2008. She was first elected in the former riding of Laval-Ouest in 1997 and re-elected in November 2000, in June 2004 and again on January 23, 2006 in the new riding of Laval-Les Îles. Formerly a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, she resigned from that position to run in the federal election. Madame Folco was for three years Vice President, and President for five years of the Conseil des communautés culturelles et de l’immigration, an agency of the Quebec Government. In this capacity, she succeeded in making the Quebec government’s approach to the setting of immigration levels both realistic and humanitarian. She also campaigned for a revision of legislation governing sponsored wives and domestic servants, and played a very active role in the Conseil’s work on accommodating intercultural relations and religious practice. Over the years, Madame Folco has taught at Concordia University, McGill, the Université de Montréal, the Université du Québec à Montréal and Memorial University in Newfoundland. At the start of her career she taught in Jamaica and Australia. Madame Folco has served as a UN observer for the legislative elections in the Ivory Coast; as delegate of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (Washington DC) on a mission to the Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo; and as government delegate to the Organisation of American States on a mission to observe the legislative elections in the Republic of Haiti. She also occupied for one year the position of cultural delegate with the Commonwealth Institute (Great Britain). She was the leader of the Canadian mission to Chiapas (Mexico) for the legislative elections of 1998. She was the sole official Canadian observer to the East Timor Referendum of 1999. In 2005, she took part in a conference on the role of Members of Parliament in the improvement of the policy in the fight against HIV/ AIDS in Senegal and its impact on women. Madame Folco was named Liberal Immigration Critic from June 2006 to January 2007 and Official Languages & La Francophonie Critic from January 2007 to October 2007. In the most recent shadow cabinet shuffle in January 2009, the Laval-Les Îles Member is now the Official Opposition Critique for La Franphonie and Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills Development and Persons with Disabilities. She is also Chair of the Canadian Association of Parliamentarians for Population and Development (CAPPD) and the Canada Caribbean-Parliamentary Friendship Group. Past responsibilities include: the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates and the Special Legislative Committee on Bill C-20. Chair of the Liberal Caucus Immigration Committee, Chair of the Quebec Caucus of the Liberal Party of Canada, Chair of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills Development, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Immigration and Citizenship, member of the Sub-Committee on International Trade, Trade Disputes and Investment and Co-Chair of the Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages of the House of Commons. She was a member of the Executive Board of the Liberal Party of Canada (Quebec) and the Executive of the Liberal Party of Canada. From 2000 to 2003, she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources Development. Madame Folco represents the Liberal Party of Canada at Liberal International from 2000 to 2004. She was elected Vice President at the Congress in Dakar, Senegal in 2003. Madame Folco has a BA from the University of Melbourne (Australia); a BA in linguistics from the Université du Québec à Montréal and an MA from Concordia University in Montreal.
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