Gabrielle Bouchard

Gabrielle Bouchard is the past President of the Fédération des femmes du Québec, the first trans woman to lead the feminist organization. Born in 1968 in Québec City, Bouchard grew up in a small community in Abitibi, in northern Québec, at a time when there was limited understanding of 2SLGBTQI+ realities. After high school, she served in the Canadian Navy for three years out of Esquimalt, British Columbia, before relocating to Montréal and working as an IT project manager for 15 years. A thrill-seeker by nature, she was an avid skydiver during the early 2000s. Bouchard later studied at Concordia University and went on to become the Peer Support and Trans Advocacy Coordinator with the Centre for Gender Advocacy. She holds a certificate in restorative justice from Simon Fraser University, and in 2015 was a co-recipient of the Quebec LGBT Council’s prestigious Honoris Prize. Bouchard, as FFQ President, was recognized as an eloquent speaker, passionate advocate for trans people, and outspoken feminist, and she points to her efforts to end forced sterilization of trans people in Québec as her greatest achievement prior to her election to the FFQ.

“Our battles are more difficult to fight when starting from a marginalised position. That being said, I would like to avoid reproducing previous errors. For example, white women were granted the right to vote well before Indigenous women in Québec. I do not want to leave people behind. My job is to educate people. It is an important job that will advance the feminist movement.”