{{Short description|Canadian politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Maria Chaput | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|size=100%|CM|OM}} | image = Maria Chaput.jpg | caption = Senator Maria Chaput | image_size = | office = Canadian Senator <br> from Manitoba | appointer = Adrienne Clarkson | predecessor = | successor = Marilou McPhedran | term_start = December 12, 2002 | term_end = March 1, 2016 | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1942|5|7}} | birth_place = Sainte-Anne-des-Chênes, Manitoba, Canada<ref name = CC/> | death_date = | death_place = | spouse = | party = Liberal <small>(until 2014)</small><br />Independent Liberal<br /><small>(2014-present)</small> | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Maria Emma Chaput''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CM|OM}}<ref name = CC>{{cite web | url=https://www.gg.ca/en/order-canada-appointees-december-2022 | title=Order of Canada appointees – December 2022 | website=The Governor General of Canada | date=29 December 2022 | access-date=29 December 2022 }}</ref> (born May 7, 1942) is a former member of the Senate of Canada representing the Senatorial Division of Manitoba. She is the first franco-Manitoban woman to be appointed to the upper house of the Parliament of Canada.
==Background== On January 29, 2014, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau announced all Liberal Senators, including Chaput, to be removed from the Liberal caucus, and would continue sitting as Independents.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/justin-trudeau-removes-senators-from-liberal-caucus-1.2515273 |title=Justin Trudeau removes senators from Liberal caucus |date= January 29, 2014 |first=James |last=Cudmore |publisher=CBC News |access-date=December 10, 2021}}</ref> The Senators continued to refer themselves as the Senate Liberal Caucus even though they were constitutionally no longer members of the parliamentary Liberal caucus.<ref name=expuls>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/trudeau-to-boot-senators-from-liberal-caucus-in-bid-to-restore-senate-independence/article16567413/ |title=Trudeau's expulsion catches Liberal senators by surprise |access-date=January 29, 2014|newspaper=Globe and Mail|date=January 29, 2014}}</ref>
Chaput announced her retirement from the Senate on February 4, 2016, effective March 1, 2016, due to kidney health issues that she had been managing for "a few years." Despite her doctor's recommendation, she held off retirement until the Liberals won the 2015 federal election saying: "I just didn't want to give my seat to Stephen Harper. That's what I told my doctor and he said, 'Well, that's your decision,' and I said 'Exactly.'"<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/maria-chaput-resigns-1.3433295 |title=Manitoba Senator Maria Chaput resigns, says kept seat to fight Harper |date=February 4, 2016 |publisher=CBC News |access-date=December 10, 2021}}</ref> She supported Trudeau's move to a non-partisan senate appointment process.
Chaput was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2022 and was made a member of the Order of Manitoba in 2025.<ref name=CC/>
==References==
<references /> * {{cite web| title=Senators - Detailed Information - Maria Chaput| work=Parliamentary Internet Site| url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/senmemb/senate/isenator_det.asp?senator_id=2751&sortord=N&Language=E&M=M| access-date=June 6, 2005| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030609154843/http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/senmemb/senate/isenator_det.asp?senator_id=2751&sortord=N&Language=E&M=M| archive-date=June 9, 2003}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20131225054635/http://www.mariachaput.ca/ Senator Maria Chaput] (copy archived December 25, 2013)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaput, Maria}} Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:Liberal Party of Canada senators Category:Canadian senators from Manitoba Category:People from Ste. Anne, Manitoba Category:Franco-Manitoban people Category:Women members of the Senate of Canada Category:Women in Manitoba politics Category:21st-century members of the Senate of Canada Category:21st-century Canadian women politicians Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:Members of the Order of Manitoba