Emilie Guimond-Bélanger

Emilie Guimond-Bélanger is an anti-globalization student activist and Quebec politician. A member of Québec solidaire, she was co-spokesperson during Françoise David's absence from June to August 2011.

Biography

Guimond-Bélanger holds a bachelor degree in Social Work from Laval University, with experience from internships in India and Ghana.

In 2007, after a trip to India where she encountered poverty, she met Amir Khadir and decided to join Quebec Solidaire. Invested in this party, she was a candidate in the 2008 general election in Beauce-Nord, achieving 1.04% of the vote. In 2008, she was elected head of Québec solidaire's National Women's Commission.

On June 27, 2010, while participating in the 2010 G20 Toronto summit protests as a party representative, she was arrested and detained for 60 hours under conditions that raised a number of public issues. After her release, she spoke of police abuses perpetrated during her detention.

On March 27, 2011, at the sixth congress of Québec solidaire, Françoise David announced that she was leaving her position as spokesperson for Québec solidaire until August, in order to devote herself to writing a book. Guimond-Bélanger was then named spokesperson until her return, and therefore assumed the function alongside Amir Khadir. At the end of August, David returned and Guimond-Bélanger became a member of the national assembly of the party.

In the fall of the same year, Guimond-Bélanger took part in Occupy Québec, inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

In the Quebec election campaign of 2012, Guimond-Bélanger was candidate for Québec solidaire in Jean-Talon got 6% of the votes..