Michael Canavan (politician)

Born in October 1924 in Derry, Canavan studied at St Columb's College in the city before entering business.^[1] By the 1960s, he owned a chain of bookmakers, a salmon-processing factory and a pub in the city.^[2] He was treasurer of the University for Derry Committee in 1965,^[1] and worked with John Hume to try to attract industry to the area.^[3]

An advocate of credit unions, Canavan founded the Derry Credit Union with Hume and chaired it from 1963 to 1966, following which he spent a year as a director of the Irish League of Credit Unions.^[1] In 1968, he was elected as Chairman of the Derry Citizens' Action Committee, and was subsequently prominent in the Derry Citizens' Defence Association and chaired the Derry Citizens' Central Council.^[1]

He entered electoral politics as campaign manager for Hume at the 1969 Northern Ireland general election. Hume stood in Foyle as an independent and was elected.^[4] The following year, Canavan was a founder member of Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and served as its security spokesman for many years.^[5]

At the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election, he was elected for Londonderry, and he held his seat in 1975 on the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention.^[6] However, he decided not to stand in the 1982 Assembly election, instead calling for the party to boycott to vote because there was no power-sharing in the proposed assembly.^[7] He remained active in the SDLP for some time, and chaired Derry's civic committee during the mid-1980s.^[8]

Canavan turned 90 in October 2014,^[9] and 100 in October 2024.^[10] His brother Ivor was a prominent member of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.^[11]