Mylène Freeman

Born in Stouffville, Ontario, she is fluent in both French and English.^[1] She grew up fluently bilingual; she is the daughter of an Irish Canadian father and a French Canadian mother.^[2]

She holds a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University, where she studied political theory. She was co-president of the university's New Democratic Party student group and co-ordinator of the university's Women in House program, which has young women shadow female MPs in hopes of fostering their interest in getting involved in politics.^[1]

In the 2009 Montreal municipal election, Freeman stood on behalf of Projet Montréal in Outremont as a candidate for borough councillor in Claude-Ryan.^[1][2]

Freeman defeated Bloc Québécois MP Mario Laframboise by 8,000 votes in Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel in the 2011 federal election.^[1] She was one of five McGill students, alongside Charmaine Borg, Laurin Liu, Matthew Dubé and Jamie Nicholls, elected to Parliament in the 2011 election following the NDP's unexpected mid-campaign surge in Quebec.^[1] In 2015, NDP leader Tom Mulcair named her to the shadow cabinet as critic for the status of women. She succeeded Niki Ashton, who was reassigned to be critic for Aboriginal affairs.^[3]

Amid a drop in support for the NDP in the 2015 election, Dubé was re-elected while Freeman and the other three were defeated. Following her defeat, Freeman went on to pursue doctoral studies at the University of Virginia.^[4]

Source: Elections Canada^{[link removed]}