Sad to report the death of
Patricia Dumas in Ottawa on March 28, 2013. Patricia was DG
Communications in DOC in the 80s and with Cancom as DG
Communications from 1995-2001.
John Gilbert
April 6, 2013
In Ottawa, on March 28th,
2013, Patricia succumbed to the after-effects of a cerebral hemorrhage,
reuniting with her parents, Angelina McKoy and Johnny Dumas, her sister Evelyn
and her brother John Michael. Her extraordinary vitality and her generosity will
continue to inspire those who were lucky to know her, and particularly those she
loved above all, her children Louis, Jean-Michel (Marie-Maude Fleury Labelle)
and Julie Paré, their father Paul, her dear grandchildren Olivier, Mia, Azèla,
Léonie, Alexandre, Samuel, Éloïze and Dalia, her sisters Carmel (Daniel Rioux)
and Teresa (Claude Couture).
A natural achiever, she was successful
in the performing arts before becoming a remarkable political journalist and
then attaché. After retiring from politics, she became a professional translator
and was in the midst of completing her doctoral degree in that field when she
was struck down at a shocking speed, to the dismay of her many friends who will
miss her lively and authentic companionship.
Family and friends are welcome to
celebrate her memory on Tuesday, April 9th, between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. in the
Salon of the National Arts Centre. Her remains will be put to rest next summer
in the Gaspé, in the village of St-Georges-de-Malbaie where she was born.
Published in The Ottawa Citizen on
Apr. 6, 2013

Patricia Dumas:
1943-2013
Journalist, activist
‘fought for equal rights her whole life’
By Louisa
Taylor, Ottawa Citizen April 25, 2013

Patricia Dumas
Patricia Dumas, Quebec-born
actress, journalist, press secretary and translator, helped to found Equal
Voice, an organization dedicated to increasing the number of women running for
elected office.
An actress, journalist,
political staffer and translator, Patricia Dumas lived her unconventional life
at high intensity and top speed, deeply engaged politically and socially while
raising three children as a single mother. Even as she passed the age when
most people retire, Dumas didn’t slow down. Just a few months ago, at the age
of 70, Dumas was still translating tens of thousands of words a week while
pursuing her PhD at the University of Ottawa, being a doting grandmother and
making plans to travel to Europe this year. Her sudden death on March 28 has
left her friends and family in shock.
“She was always burning,
burning, burning, this big streak of light,” in the lives of those around her,
said her eldest son, Louis Paré. “She was always super passionate about
everything, and just go, go, go. Just looking at her work you would get
exhausted.”
Dumas was from the tiny Gaspé village
of St-Georges-de-Malbaie, one of four sisters born to a French father and
Irish mother in a home where political debate and both official languages
flourished. Dumas married artist Paul Paré at age 18, fresh out of convent
school. They had three children in a few short years, but Dumas chafed against
the idea that she should stay at home. Instead, she studied theatre and opera
at the Conservatoire d’art dramatique in Quebec City and acting in Montreal.
After the marriage ended, Dumas moved to Toronto and worked for Radio Canada
and Le Devoir covering Ontario politics, while also writing and performing in
plays in the city’s French theatre scene and seeing Louis and twins
Jean-Michel and Julie through their teens.
It was in the press gallery at Queen’s
Park that former Toronto Star reporter Rosemary Speirs became friends with
Dumas.
“She was a quintessential Red Tory,”
said Speirs. “She had the romantic desire to improve things and a lot of
sympathy for ordinary people and their lot in life, but she was also very
realistic, a lifelong Progressive Conservative.”
Dumas became press secretary for Roy
McMurtry on his leadership campaign in 1984. The following year she moved to
Ottawa to work in federal politics. Dumas was press secretary or chief of
staff for several cabinet ministers, including Flora MacDonald. She later
became chief of staff to Lucien Bouchard, a job she held when the legendary
Quebec politician resigned from former prime minister Brian Mulroney’s cabinet
over the implementation of the Meech Lake Accord.
Dumas moved
into the federal public service in senior communications positions,
followed by a stint in the private sector doing
communications and government relations for Cancom. In 2001 Dumas
started her own translation business. Around that time, she joined Speirs and
other political and media veterans to start Equal Voice, an organization
dedicated to increasing the number of women running for elected office. Dumas
was part of the original steering committee and later the driving force behind
an online campaign school for women.
The work with Equal Voice was a
natural extension of her own experience at home and in politics, said Louis.
“She fought for equal rights her whole life. It started when she left home at
18, and later she always maintained she had to be stronger than a man to
survive with three kids by herself.”
Dumas loved to travel. In 1989 she
completed the 10-month National Defence College for senior federal officials,
an elite — and now defunct — government program that took participants across
Canada and around the world to study Canada and its place in global affairs.
Later, when Jean-Michel became an actor and a clown, Dumas travelled to see
him perform all over the world.
“She encouraged me every second of my
life and didn’t stop till the end,” recalled Jean-Michel.
Dumas was generous to a fault, and
known in her family as “Grandmaman Gateau” for her habit of bringing piles of
gifts to her grandchildren.
“When she had all of nothing, Patricia
was still inviting you over for a bottle of wine and deep discussions about
politics and life and lots of laughs,” said Speirs.
After getting a masters in translation
in 2005, Dumas maintained her base in Toronto and then began a PhD at the
University of Ottawa in 2009. She was in Ottawa when she fell ill in early
March and was diagnosed with leukemia. Three weeks later, she was dead
following complications from a cerebral hemorrhage.
Dumas is survived by her three
children, two sisters and countless friends. In May, there will be a tribute
to Dumas at the Théâtre Français de Toronto. In July, friends and family will
bury her ashes in St-Georges-de-Malbaie.
“She did what she wanted to do all her
life,” said Jean-Michel, “and most of it was for others.”

Décès de la
journaliste et traductrice Patricia Dumas
Publié dans l'Express, l'Hebdo des
francophones du grand Toronto, le 2 avril 2013

Patricia Dumas
Ancienne journaliste à Toronto,
Patricia Dumas est décédée le 28 mars à l’Hôpital Civique d’Ottawa, à l’âge de
69 ans. Elle souffrait de leucémie et fut emportée par un accident vasculaire
cérébral. Elle devait soutenir, à l’automne, une thèse de doctorat en
traductologie à l’Université d’Ottawa.
Comédienne, auteure, journaliste et traductrice, Patricia Dumas était d’origine
gaspésienne. Elle était venue à Toronto comme courriériste parlementaire à
l’emploi du Devoir et de Radio-Canada. Par la suite, elle fut
directrice des communications pour la ministre Flora
MacDonald, puis chef de cabinet du ministre de l’Environnement Lucien
Bouchard.
Lorsque ce dernier quitta le gouvernement de Brian Mulroney pour siéger comme
indépendant et ensuite fonder le Bloc québécois, Patricia Dumas n’en fut pas
informée et ne put s’empêcher de ressentir une certaine trahison.
Passionnée d’histoire
Patricia Dumas a été une des rares femmes à avoir fait l’École militaire de
Kingston avec des hauts gradés militaires internationaux.
Passionnée d’histoire, elle avait presque terminé la rédaction d’une thèse sur
l’histoire de la traduction au Canada. Elle dirigeait depuis longtemps l’équipe
de traduction Dumas et Associés.
En 2004, elle avait soutenu une thèse de maîtrise au Collège Glendon de
l’Université York. Son mémoire s’intitulait «La naissance de la traduction
officielle au Canada et son impact politique culturel sous le gouvernement
militaire et civil du Général James Murray». Son directeur de thèse était Alain
Baudot, assisté de Jean Delisle et Yves Frenette.
Patricia Dumas était l’auteure de la pièce Fort Rouillé, texte mis en scène par
John Van Burek et présenté en mai 1984 par le Théâtre du P’tit Bonheur (devenu
le Théâtre français de Toronto).
On lui doit, entre autres, la traduction d’un essai de Marcel Martel et Martin
Pâquet, Langue et politique au Canada et au Québec (Boréal), sous le titre
Speaking Up. A History of Language and Politics in Canada and Quebec (Between
the Lines Press).
Femmes en politique
Patricia Dumas travaillait bénévolement pour Equal Voice, un organisme œuvrant à
l’élection d’un plus grand nombre de femmes sur la scène politique. Elle avait
créé le site Oser vous lancer (Getting to the Gate) pour donner aux femmes les
outils nécessaires afin de faire le saut en politique.
Claudia Lebeuf a été une amie de Patricia Dumas pendant plus de trente ans. «Nous
étions très proches et elle m’a tellement aidée dans ma vie canadienne. J’ai eu
beaucoup de chance de bien la connaître, et suis de tout cœur avec sa famille.»
Ancienne épouse de Paul Paré, Patricia Dumas était mère de trois enfants –
Louis, Julie et Jean-Michel Paré – et grand-mère de huit petits-enfants.
|