[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 25369]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



   TRIBUTE TO LISE THIBAULT, NEWEST MEMBER OF THE WORLD COMMITTEE ON 
                               DISABILITY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 27, 2000

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I want to call to the attention of my 
colleagues the selection of Ms. Lise Thibault as a member of the World 
Committee on Disability. Ms. Thibault brings to her new position some 
thirty years of leadership in the disability movement in her native 
country, Canada.
  When Lise Thibault was a teenager, she suffered a tobogganing 
accident that left her with a permanent disability; however, having to 
use a wheelchair has never slowed her down. She went on to become a 
wife, the mother of two, the grandmother of five, and a prominent 
public figure.
  Mr. Speaker, Ms. Thibault taught adult education and worked for the 
Canadian Broadcasting Company as a host and a researcher for programs 
about family and community issues. She was appointed to the Quebec 
Ministry of Education in 1977, became director-general of the Quebec 
Office for Persons with Disabilities, and Vice President of the Quebec 
Occupational Health and Safety Board (1987-1993). Throughout her life, 
she has been an active leader in the disabled community, serving as 
president and director general of the Quebec Bureau for the Handicapped 
and board member of the Canadian Red Cross.
  In 1994, Lise Thibault was given the YWCA's ``Woman of Merit'' award 
for her involvement in the community. That same year, she was named 
``Personality of the Year'' by Chatelaine Magazine. On January 30, 
1997, she was sworn in as Quebec's 27th Lieutenant Governor by Her 
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Ms. Thibault is the first woman and the 
first person with a disability to hold this office.
  Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me in welcoming this 
extraordinary warm-hearted woman who has dedicated herself to the well-
being of others, Ms. Lise Thibault, as a member of the World Committee 
on Disability.

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