Azilda Marchand

Life & Legacy

Azilda Lapierre Marchand (8 December 1918 – 9 May 2010) was a Quebec feminist, educator and social activist. A co-founder of the Association féminine d'éducation et d'action sociale (AFEAS), she served as its provincial president from 1970 to 1975. Her work focused particularly on women's access to education and on the social, economic and legal recognition of women's work, including unpaid work in the home and in family businesses.
Marchand served on Quebec's Conseil supérieur de l'éducation from 1972 to 1985 and on the Conseil du statut de la femme from 1975 to 1980. She participated in the preparation of the council's 1978 policy document Pour les Québécoises : égalité et indépendance. She received a Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case in 1984, was appointed a Knight of the National Order of Quebec and a Member of the Order of Canada in 1985, and received an honorary doctorate from the Université de Sherbrooke in 1987.