Beatrice Keleher-Raffoul
Lifetime Contribution
Beatrice is a passionate advocate for women, a gifted and valuable community contributor, and an advocate for democracy at the local, provincial, national and international level.
Beatrice has been active in encouraging and supporting women to run for public office. She has been on the Board of the Famous Five Foundation and is currently Chair of the local organization of which she has been a member since its inception in 1997. Their leadership resulted in The Women Are Persons Monument being erected on Parliament Hill in 2000. They were leaders in lobbying for the Famous Five image on the Canadian five dollar bill as well the recent change to the National Anthem. Beatrice is also a member of the Enbridge Famous Five Luncheon and Speakers Series
Beatrice has worked as a volunteer in federal, provincial and municipal elections, taking on roles of increasing responsibility from going door to door, to managing campaigns, to training people, to coordinating regions and speaking out about the importance of voting and voter participation in the process no matter the political persuasion.
Beatrice has worked to support democracy as a member of the Board of the Forum of the Federations. Her strong belief in the democratic process has been applied to the international stage. She was engaged as an election’s expert in the work of the Electoral Complaints Commission of Afghanistan for the Presidential and Provincial Council Elections of 2009. Beatrice worked with Afghans in developing the proof of fraud and mentored teams in that process. She also worked with a group of Algerian visitors (some Parliamentarians and other representatives of civil society) on work conducted in the roles of constituency offices and how advocacy can be conducted in a transparent manner in areas of public policy.
Beatrice has been an active volunteer in her community in a variety of organizations including the Glebe Report Association as a member of the Board and Chair of the 50th Anniversary celebration, SALUS as a member of the Annual Fundraising team for Soirée Salus, the Glebe Centre as a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of its Fundraising Campaign, the Ottawa International Jazz Festival as a member of the Board, the March of Dimes as a canvasser, the Canadian Music Competition (Ottawa) as a member of the Board, the Glebe Community Association as President during the restoration of the Aberdeen Pavilion, a member of First Great Glebe Garage Sale Committee, the Canadian Cancer Society as a canvasser, and the Canada 125 – Organizing Committee as Community Liaison for the Ottawa/Hull Giant Neighbourhood Picnic on Victoria Island in June 1992
Beatrice has received many awards in recognition of her contributions to her community. These include the Ottawa Centre Canadian Leadership Award – an award presented by the Member of Parliament recognizing a constituent’s contribution to the Ottawa community, the Charlotte Whitton Award – municipal award for community involvement, the Queens Jubilee Medal, the Leading women, Building Communities Award, Government of Ontario, the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Governor General Volunteer Award, the Queens Platinum Jubilee Award.
In her professional career she has worked as a Senior Advisor to the Ministers of National Defence and Canadian Heritage; as Vice President, Canadian Film and Television Production Association; Vice President, Association of Canadian Academic Healthcare Organizations and Interim President/CEO of ACAHO during its successful merger with the Canadian Healthcare Association, later known as HealthCareCAN.
Beatrice Raffoul has helped make her community, her country and the world a better place.
