Editing Anne Cools

{{Short description|Canadian senator (born 1943)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name             = Anne Cools
| image            = <!-- only free-content images are allowed for depicting living people - see [[WP:NONFREE]] -->
| term_start       = January 13, 1984
| term_end         = August 12, 2018
| birth_name       = Anne Clare Cools
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1943|08|12}}
| birth_place      = [[Barbados]], [[British West Indies]]
| party            = [[Independent Senators Group]] (2016–2018)
| otherparty       = [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] (1984–2004)<br />[[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative]] (2004–2007)<br />[[Independent (politician)|Non-affiliated]] (2007–2016) 
| office           = [[Senate of Canada|Senator]] from [[Ontario]]<br />([[Canadian Senate divisions#Ontario regional division|Toronto Centre-York]])
| nominator        = [[Pierre Trudeau]]
| appointed        = [[Edward Schreyer]]
| spouse           = Rolf Calhoun
}}

'''Anne Clare Cools''' (born August 12, 1943) is a Canadian retired senator and the longest serving member of the [[Senate of Canada]]. As a social worker, Cools was a pioneer in the protection of women from domestic violence, running one of the first domestic violence shelters in Canada.

==Personal life and education==
Cools was born and raised in [[Barbados]], as the daughter of pharmacist Lucius Unique Cools and Rosita Gordon Miller Cools, who owned a sugar plantation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Roy |first=Lynette |title=Three Canadian Women in Canadian Politics |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=0968409954 |location=Toronto}}</ref> Both her grandfather and an uncle were politically active on the island. When she was four years old, two of her siblings died. In Barbados, Cools attended Queen's College Girls School. In 1957, when she was 13 years old, her family immigrated to Canada, where she studied at Thomas D'Arcy McGee High School in Montreal. Cools received a B.A. degree in social sciences, sociology and psychology from [[McGill University]]. Cools is married to business consultant Rolf Calhoun. Her personal interests include classical music, playing the piano, reading, gardening and dogs.<ref name=SenatorCools-Biography>{{cite web|title=Senator Anne C. Cools Toronto - Ontario: Biography|url=http://senatorcools.sencanada.ca/Biography|website=Senator Cools|access-date=January 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084228/http://senatorcools.sencanada.ca/Biography|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=Encyclopedia>[https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/cools-anne Cools, Anne], Contemporary Black Biography, Encyclopedia.com, 2019.</ref><ref name=TorontoDV>TorontoDV, [https://torontodv.com/?page_id=202 Biography of The Hon. Senator Anne Cools]</ref>

=== Early career ===
Early in her career, Cools worked as a student coordinator, responsible for supervising students and training them to be social workers. She was employed by the University of Toronto, in the Faculty of Social Work from 1978-1978; by the Ryerson Polytechnic Institute (now Toronto Metropolitan University) from 1978 to 1980. She worked at Seneca College from 1977 to 1989.<ref name=":0" />

== Advocacy ==
=== Racism ===
In February 1969, Cools participated in a 13 day long [[civil disobedience]] [[Sir George Williams affair|sit-in]] at [[Sir George Williams University]] (later [[Concordia University (Montreal)|Concordia University]]), where over 400 students occupied the computer center to protest the school's inadequate handling of complaints of [[racism]] against a professor. When the [[riot-police]] stormed the building, some floors were set on fire, computers were destroyed and computer cards and paper rained down from the 9th floor onto the street below, where there was a counter-demonstration chanting "let the niggers burn". While Cools was nowhere near the 9th floor, she was one of 97 students arrested, and unlike most of them, Cools refused to plead guilty to be set free, instead, she served two months in jail. About the affair, she has said "it took me a long time to recover... it shocked me to my core". In 1981, she was granted the pardon by the National Parole Board of Canada.<ref name=":0" />

===Domestic violence===
As a social worker, Cools was one of the pioneers in the protection of women from domestic abuse. In 1974, Cools moved to [[Toronto]] where she founded and served as the executive director for ''Women in Transition Inc.'', one of the first shelters for domestic violence victims in Canada. With a high demand for its services, Cools obtained funding for and opened a second shelter in 1987.  She co-organized Canada's first domestic violence conference, ''Couples in Conflict''.<ref name=Encyclopedia/><ref name=TorontoDV/>

Cools has presented evidence that men and women are equally capable of domestic violence and aggression, which is not a gendered characteristic, but a human pathology of intimacy. In January 2016, in a ''[[Canadaland]]'' audio podcast interview with [[Desmond Cole]], Cools supported and cited the work of the English domestic violence pioneer and expert [[Erin Pizzey]], when she claimed that women are equally violent as men in [[domestic violence]] conflicts.<ref name=TorontoDV/><ref name=Canadaland-DomesticViolence-2016/>

===Child custody===
Cools is a strong advocate for children's rights, that they after divorce should have continuing relationships with both mothers and fathers, and the importance of fathers for the children's development. In the 1990s, Cools was instrumental in the creation of and served on the Senate/[[House of Commons of Canada|House]] Special Joint Committee on Child Custody and Access, which in December 1998 issued its report, ''[[For The Sake Of The Children (Report)|For the Sake of the Children]]''. A principal recommendation of this report was that following a relationship breakdown, [[shared parenting]] should be presumed to be in the best interests of the child.<ref name=Encyclopedia/><ref name=TorontoDV/><ref name=iPolitics>{{cite web|first=Sarah|last=Turnbull|url=https://ipolitics.ca/article/one-one-senator-cools-months-departure-upper-chamber/|title=One-on-one with Senator Cools: Taking a bold stance in the Red Chamber|publisher=iPolitics|date=February 9, 2018|access-date=April 18, 2025|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210004625/https://ipolitics.ca/article/one-one-senator-cools-months-departure-upper-chamber/|archivedate=February 10, 2018}}</ref><ref name=ForTheSakeOfTheChildren-1998>{{cite web|last1=Pearson|first1=The Honourable Landon|last2=Gallaway, M.P.|first2=Roger|title=For the Sake of the Children: Report of the Special Joint Committee on Child Custody and Access|url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=1031529&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=36&Ses=1|website=[[Parliament of Canada]]|access-date=January 5, 2016|date=December 1998}}</ref> She was candid in her criticism of the Liberal government of Prime Minister [[Jean Chrétien]] when proposed legislation to be introduced in the House of Commons was shelved after intense lobbying by women's groups.<ref>Robert Franklin, [https://nationalparentsorganization.org/blog/20398-shared-parenting-issue-comes-to-canadian-tv Shared Parenting Issue Comes to Canadian TV], National Parents Organization, April 17, 2013.</ref>

===Feminism===
While a strong advocate for women and domestic violence victims, she has also criticized certain aspects of the feminist movement, e.g. stating that "this feminism that has grown up suddenly in the last few years, where all virtue and goodness are stacked up on the side of women, and all evil and violence is stacked up on the side of men—well, human nature doesn't work that way."<ref name=Encyclopedia/> 

===Community outreach===
In addition to her work as social worker, Cools was actively involved in several community organizations. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Black Education Project, a volunteer-run organization created to address racial inequalities in [[Education in Toronto|Toronto's education system]]. She also served on the board of [[Black Theatre Canada]], the Pauline McGibbon Cultural Centre, and the Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto.<ref name=":0" /> 

==Political career==
===National Parole Board===
From 1980 to 1984, Cools served on the National Parole Board of Canada, which is the parole board for federal prisoners.<ref name=TorontoDV/>

=== Canadian House of Commons ===
She twice sought election to the [[House of Commons of Canada]] as a candidate of the [[Liberal Party of Canada]]. She lost the Liberal nomination in a highly contested race against [[John Robert Evans|John Evans]] for the 1978 by-election in [[Rosedale (electoral district)|Rosedale]]. <ref name=":0" />Her campaign for the nomination was documented in the [[National Film Board of Canada]]'s 1979 film [https://www.nfb.ca/film/right_candidate_for_rosedale/ ''The Right Candidate for Rosedale'']. She ran again in 1979, and won the nomination but was defeated in both the [[1979 Canadian federal election|1979]] and [[1980 Canadian federal election|1980 elections]] by [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] candidate [[David Crombie]].<ref name=iPolitics/>

=== Canadian Senate ===
In 1984, Cools was appointed to the [[Senate of Canada]] by [[Governor General of Canada|governor general]] [[Edward Schreyer]], on the recommendation of [[Prime Minister of Canada|prime minister]] [[Pierre Trudeau]], becoming the first black person in the Canadian senate. She had designated herself as representing the [[Canadian Senate divisions|Senate division]] of Toronto-Centre-York.<ref name=TorontoDV/>

Cools became increasingly critical of the Liberal governments of [[Jean Chrétien]] and [[Paul Martin]], and of [[marriage to the same gender in Canada|same-sex marriage]]. On June 9, 2004, she announced that she was [[crossing the floor]] to join the [[Conservative Party of Canada]].<ref name=iPolitics/>

In the fall of 2006, Cools was barred from her committee duties for the Conservative Party, after questioning a new government accountability bill. In 2007, Cools was ousted from the Conservative party group after accusing two fellow senators of having grabbed and assaulted her. She also mentioned that she had witnessed a senator hitting a child. She sat as a non-affiliated Senator from 2007 until 2017 when she joined the [[Independent Senators Group]].<ref name=Encyclopedia/><ref name=iPolitics/><ref name=LondonFreePress-Assault-2005>{{cite news|last1=Canadian Press|work=[[The London Free Press]]|url=http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2005/06/07/1074701-sun.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130115211129/http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2005/06/07/1074701-sun.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=January 15, 2013|title=Senator's Assault Claim Prompts Calls for Action|access-date=February 24, 2007|date=June 7, 2005}}</ref>

From the retirement of [[Lowell Murray]] on September 26, 2011, until her own retirement on August 12, 2018, Cools was the longest-serving member of the Senate. She is the first female black Senator in North America.<ref name=Canadaland-DomesticViolence-2016>{{cite news|last1=Sexton|first1=Kevin|title=Episode #: 34 A senator on mischief, mutiny and men's rights|url=http://canadalandshow.com/podcast/senator-mischief-mutiny-and-mens-rights|access-date=January 5, 2016|work=[[Canadaland]]|date=January 4, 2016}}</ref> With the retirement of [[Charlie Watt]], Cools was the last Senator appointed by [[Pierre Trudeau]] remaining in the Senate.<ref name=iPolitics/>

==See also==
* [[Canadian titles debate]]
* [[Lists of Canadian senators]]
* [[List of Ontario senators]]
* ''[[Ninth Floor]]'', documentary about the 1969 sit-in

==References==
<references/>

== External links ==
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=4845}}
* {{official website|http://senatorcools.sencanada.ca/}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cools, Anne}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Anti-domestic violence activists]]
[[Category:Barbadian emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Black Canadian politicians]]
[[Category:Canadian Anglicans]]
[[Category:Canadian female criminals]]
[[Category:Canadian prisoners and detainees]]
[[Category:Canadian senators from Ontario]]
[[Category:Canadian social workers]]
[[Category:Women members of the Senate of Canada]]
[[Category:Conservative Party of Canada senators]]
[[Category:Female critics of feminism]]
[[Category:Independent Canadian senators]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada senators]]
[[Category:Politicians from Toronto]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Canada]]
[[Category:McGill University alumni]]
[[Category:Women in Ontario politics]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian women politicians]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian women politicians]]
[[Category:Queen's College (Barbados) alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Senate of Canada]]
[[Category:21st-century members of the Senate of Canada]]