Gisele Lalonde, champion of Montfort Hospital, dead at 89

Gisèle Lalonde, President of SOS Montfort, smiles at a news conference in Ottawa Friday Dec. 7, 2001 after the Ontario court of appeal ruled in favor of the hospital. (Tom Hanson/CP PHOTO)

Gisèle Lalonde, the former mayor of Vanier and the woman who led the campaign to save the Montfort Hospital from closure, has died.

The hospital issued a statement on social media Wednesday morning.

“Mrs. Gisèle Lalonde, activist and leading figure of SOS Montfort, passed away last night. It is with great sadness that we learned the news. We offer our sincere sympathies to her loved ones, everyone who collaborated with her, and all the people she was close to,” the statement said.

The Montfort said the Montfort flag and the Franco-Ontarian flags in front of the hospital and at the monument de la Francophonie will be flown at half-mast until sunset on the day of her funeral, which has not been announced.

Lalonde was a teacher in the Ottawa area before becoming mayor of Vanier in 1985. She was a longtime advocate for francophone education in Ontario and led the S.O.S. Montfort campaign, which aimed to protect Ontario’s only francophone academic hospital from closure in the late 1990s.

The University of Ottawa, called her a pioneer and an important figure for all francophones. Lalonde received a diploma from the university's École normale in 1951. The university awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2016.

She became a Member of the Order of Canada in 2003 for her efforts in championing Francophonie.

An Ottawa school, école secondaire publique Gisèle-Lalonde, is named after her and she has been the recipient of numerous other honours.

Lalonde was 89.

Ottawa mayor Jim Watson tweeted in French Wednesday offering condolences to Lalonde’s friends and family, calling her a “true force of nature” and adding that her death is a huge loss for Ottawa and Canada. Flags at City Hall and the Richelieu-Vanier Community Centre will be flown at half-mast in Lalonde’s honour.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau commented on Lalonde's passing in a tweet, saying the francophone community is stronger because of her efforts.