Josée Forest-Niesing

Forest-Niesing's grandmother, Agnès Lafond, was a member of the Abénakis de Wôlinak First Nation.^[2] She first attended Collège Notre-Dame before getting under undergraduate degree in law, justice, and political science at Laurentian University.^[3] She then studied law at the University of Ottawa.^[3] She was called to the Ontario Bar in 1990.^[4] As a lawyer, she was a partner in the firm Lacroix Forest LLP where she specialized in family law, civil litigation, education law, and employment law.^[4] A trial lawyer from Sudbury, Ontario, she served on the boards of the Art Gallery of Sudbury, the Carrefour Francophone de Sudbury, the University of Sudbury and the Ontario Arts Council.^[5] Prior to her appointment as senator, she was a judge for the Superior Court of Justice Small Claims Court.^[6]

She was an advocate for the use of the French language and helped get funding for Laurentian University's French-language programs after it was about to be cut.^[2] Among other actions, she did as a senator, she helped update Senate committee mandates and indigenous rights.^[2]

Forest-Niesing was hospitalized due to COVID-19 in October 2021; she had an autoimmune condition affecting her lungs, which increased her vulnerability to the virus.^[7] She was discharged on November 14, but died a few days later on November 20, 2021, at the age of 56.^[7] Forest-Niesing had two children with her husband, Robert.^[8]

• Josée Forest-Niesing – Parliament of Canada biography