Member of the Order of Canada

• Awarded on: May 8, 2003
• Invested on: February 20, 2004

Gisèle Lalonde has spent her life championing and promoting Francophone society in Ontario. As president of the Association française des conseils scolaires, she worked to establish school governance by and for Francophones. Twice elected mayor of the City of Vanier, she also founded the Association française des municipalités de l'Ontario and served as its first president. More recently, this woman of deep conviction turned her efforts to saving the Montfort Hospital, the province's only Francophone teaching hospital. The hospital's survival represents a historic victory for Francophone communities across the country.