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= Maria Fitzpatrick = From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search Maria Michelle Fitzpatrick (born February 18, 1949) is a Canadian politician and athlete who was elected in the 2015 Alberta general election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the electoral district of Lethbridge-East until 2019. Fitzpatrick represented Lethbridge-East as a member of the Alberta New Democratic Party, the first in that electoral district's history. To this day she still holds records in Newfoundland track and field sprinting.

Contents

 * 1Background
 * 2Political career
 * 2.1Roles in the Provincial Legislature
 * 2.2Key Roles
 * 2.3Other Advocacy
 * 3Electoral history
 * 3.12019 general election
 * 3.22015 general election
 * 4Post-political career
 * 5Resources

Background[edit]
Fitzpatrick was born on February 18, 1949 to Thomas and Rita Fitzpatrick in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. She is the second eldest of five siblings. After attending Catholic school throughout her childhood, she attended Memorial University of Newfoundland from 1966-1972 before receiving her diploma in Adult Education from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia in 1988. She is a former sprinter who competed in the Canada Summer Games, Canadian Track and Field Championships, National University Indoor Championships, Halifax Highland Games, Antigonish Highland Games, and Royal Canadian Legion Provincial Championships. In 1969, she was named the first female Athlete of the Year for St. John's. She later coached various track and field teams in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Alberta. In 2005, she was named to the Newfoundland and Labrador Athletics Association Hall of Fame.

On September 5, 1972, Fitzpatrick married at the age of 23, three months after meeting her husband at a track and field meet at the Eastern Canada Championships. Later, her and her husband moved to his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. Less than a year after, she became the victim of domestic violence, surviving physical, financial, and emotional abuse, rape, two miscarriages, and threats to her and their children's lives. After finding her husband holding her children and mother-in-law at gunpoint, Fitzpatrick made the decision to leave. On July 19, 1981, Fitzpatrick took her two daughters- aged 5 and 8- and boarded a Greyhound bus to embark on a 62-hour bus ride to Yellowknife, North West Territories, where her sister lived.

Initially beginning her career in security, Fitzpatrick then moved into a position with Transport Canada before settling into a three-decade long career with Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), which eventually brought her to Alberta in 1988. While working there, she became the union representative for two locals. It is there that she became involved in handling sexual harassment complaints within the union, after having dealt with it herself in prior work. For twenty years within CSC, Fitzpatrick worked as parole officer in both community and institutional settings in Red Deer, Edmonton, and Ottawa, before settling in Lethbridge. In her spare time, Fitzpatrick served as the Territorial Track Coach for the 1985 NWT Track and Field Team.

Prior to politics, Fitzpatrick was active in community services, such as Ottawa United Way, Public Service Alliance of Canada, the National Association of Federal Retirees, and the Yellowknife Sports Medicine Council. On top of being an advocate for domestic violence, Fitzpatrick has also participated in numerous womens' and political action committees furthering human rights. Further, Fitzpatrick was the chair of the Lethbridge Regional Women's Committee, the vice-president of the Canadian Federation of University Women, and an event organizer for the Ottawa Regional Women's Committee.

Political career[edit]
Fitzpatrick won the provincial NDP nomination over two other candidates, Tom Moffatt and Kris Hodgson with over 65% of the vote of party members.

On May 5, 2015, Fitzpatrick was elected to represent the Alberta riding of Lethbridge-East in 2015. Her main priorities as Lethbridge-East's representative were to protect the public sector, improve the city's hospital, create jobs and attract investment in the community, improve classrooms, and advocate for local priorities and shorten commutes with a new bridge on Highway 3.

Roles in the Provincial Legislature:

 * From 2015-2019, Fitzpatrick was a member of the Standing Committee on Alberta's Economic Future
 * From 2015-2019, Fitzpatrick was a chair/deputy chair of the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing

Domestic Violence:
On November 16, 2015, during debate on fellow NDP MLA Deborah Drever's private bill (Bill 204) to improve supports for victims of domestic violence, Fitzpatrick spoke in the legislature about her own experience having been married to an abusive husband in the 1970's. She earned a standing ovation in the legislature for her speech, and the bill unanimously passed second reading soon afterward. Bill 204 would allow victims of domestic violence to break their leases without financial penalty, thereby making it easier for them to escape abusive situations, which Fitzpatrick herself faced. Her speech and the following CBC News story covering it was shared 1,505 times within 48 hours of her reading. The NDP government further committed 15 million dollars to combat domestic violence. Fitzpatrick's speech transcript:"'''On September 5, 1972, five days after I was married, I realized that there was a problem but could not put my finger on it. Words were spoken, and I felt a shiver on my back and a knot in my stomach. I didn't know it then, but the trap was being set, and I was the game. The trap was released to some degree on Sunday, July 19, 1981, almost nine years later, when my daughters and I got on a Greyhound bus for a very difficult 62-hour journey across the country, ending in Yellowknife. The trap was finally broken in May of 1992 when I learned that my ex-husband was dead, and I could stop looking over my shoulder. My support for this bill comes from the middle of this experience in this trap, a trap that was, intentionally or unintentionally, supported by society. Silence, blame, guilt, and little to no support grew this injustice for decades if not centuries. Three times I left with my kids, twice I went to shelters, and twice I was forced to return or live on the street. Both times I returned, and the violence got worse, and the threats, which he could have carried out at any time, became more frequent and more intimidating. Broken bones, black eyes, sexual assault, and two miscarriages as a result of this abuse were only some of the physical atrocities I had to endure. I did not have this kind of experience in my life before I was married, so I was not prepared for it nor for how I could protect my children and myself. I prayed. I asked God: “Why is this happening to me? I'm a good person. I've never intentionally hurt anybody or anything in my life.” Someone said to me: God helps those who help themselves. I figured I needed to do something, and I did. I finally got away to a women's shelter and tried to figure out what to do and where to go. Suffice to say, this attempt was unsuccessful as the limit at the shelter was two weeks, and I had nowhere to go. At the end of the two weeks I was forced to return. he next time I left I was a little more prepared. I had contacted a lawyer before I left. I saved some money and then left again when I saw the chance to run. I met with the lawyer, but I couldn't get a court date for a month. The time in the shelter was only three weeks. Again I had to go back. There were no supports left after the shelter. This time the abuse was so bad that I thought I would be killed, especially when I awoke from a very tentative sleep with a gun to the back of my head and the clicking sound of the hammer as the trigger was pulled. There were no bullets in the gun, and he laughed hysterically. He beat me, he raped me, and then he threatened that the next time there would be bullets and that he would kill our daughters first to hurt me and then kill me. I knew it would be just a matter of time before he followed through on these threats. I called the police as soon as I could, and he was arrested and then released on his own recognizance, and a restraining order was put in place. I gathered whatever I could, I begged some friends and family for some money to get out of there, and I called the police 16 times in two weeks before he was arrested again, not so much for assaulting me but because he broke the restraining order. This time he was held in remand until the issue was settled in court. In court he was found guilty and sentenced to a year in jail, but this sentence was suspended, all but the days he'd spent in remand. He turned, and as he was leaving the courtroom, he said that he would kill me. I asked the judge how he could let him go. The judge said to me: it's a marital issue; get a divorce, and leave. He proceeded then to give me a lecture on how much it was going to cost to keep him in jail. When I returned to my house, he was there, holding my children and my mother-in-law at the point of a gun. At the end of a four hour ordeal his mother rose and asked God to help us, and he ran from the house. We spent a few more days barricaded in the house before we finally had the opportunity to get out and get on that bus and run for our lives. This should never have happened to me or these situations to anybody else. My children have been scarred for their lives, and I will be horrified if anybody in this Chamber votes against this bill. Thank you.'''"In October 2016, Fitzpatrick announced the province's initiative to provide more funding to programs aiming to reduce child-abuse. The Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society, which focuses on providing stability within the homes of Indigenous families received 135,000, while the Crowsnest Pass Women's Center received 35,000 for its Mentoring Moms program.

Other Advocacy:
Fitzpatrick was a strong supporter for Alberta's 2018 minimum wage increase to $15 an hour due to the large number of those living in Lethbridge making less than that.

In 2016, Fitzpatrick openly supported the Lethbridge Youth Foundation and 5th on 5th Services' commitment to providing services for the city's at-risk youth.

In an interview with Lethbridge News Now, Fitzpatrick openly supported the services that ARCHES Supervised Consumption provided, Alberta's role in the ongoing climate crisis and the need to diversify its economy, and supports for LGBTQ+ students in Alberta.

In 2017, Fitzpatrick attended the Women's March in Lethbridge.

Post-political career
After losing her seat in the 2019 Alberta general election, Fitzpatrick returned to community services and advocacy. Further, she runs a weekly radio show called Maria's Musings on Jess FM in Lethbridge.

Resources

 * http://www.assembly.ab.ca/lao/library/egovdocs/2015/alyl/213027.pdf Page 11.
 * https://www.uleth.ca/notice/events/sacpa-are-alberta-government-guidelines-best-practices-respect-diverse-sexual-orientation#.XfE5UuhKiUk
 * https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/maria-fitzpatrick-domestic-abuse-1.3329912
 * https://www.nlaa.ca/hof/member.php?id=fitzpatrick_maria_m
 * https://twitter.com/statuses/1037767638087127045
 * https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-mla-maria-fitzpatrick-bill-204-1.3322053
 * https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/i-thought-i-would-be-killed-alberta-mla-delivers-gripping-legislature-speech-on-domestic-violence
 * https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-prison-guards-taped-sexual-phone-chats-highlight-culture-of-fear-1.3865242
 * https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/whistleblowers-call-sexually-explicit-recordings-at-edmonton-prison-dangerous-1.3861599
 * https://www.bridgecitynews.ca/2019-candidates/et
 * https://www.assembly.ab.ca/net/index.aspx?p=memberprofile&mid=0845
 * https://globalnews.ca/news/3023580/lethbridge-east-mla-announces-funding-for-southern-alberta-programs-to-help-prevent-child-abuse/
 * https://globalnews.ca/news/2863565/lethbridge-pub-owner-considers-cutting-staff-by-50-to-combat-minimum-wage-hike/
 * https://globalnews.ca/news/2918929/1-in-5-workers-in-lethbridge-make-less-than-15-an-hour-study/
 * https://globalnews.ca/news/1774033/fitzpatrick-earns-lethbridge-east-ndp-nomination/
 * https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2019/04/14/lethbridge-east-candidate-profile-maria-fitzpatrick-new-democratic-party/
 * https://www.assembly.ab.ca/Documents/isysquery/13076387-bb43-4da8-9441-cad7385aaa50/10/doc/
 * https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/11/17/he-beat-me-he-raped-me-alberta-ndp-politician-recounts-own-experience-of-domestic-violence.html
 * https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/proposed-alberta-bill-would-remove-barriers-for-those-fleeing-domestic-violence
 * https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/the-shocking-numbers-behind-alberta-mla-s-story-of-domestic-abuse-1.3323742
 * https://www.facebook.com/jessfm/videos/marias-musings/2427372354254055/