Fonds paa-3827 - Claudette & Denis Tardif fonds

Claudette Tardif (nee Merkowsky) was born in Westlock, Alberta on July 27th, 1947, and obtained a B.Ed. in Secondary Education in 1968, a M.Ed. in Secondary Education Curriculum Studies in 1978 and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration in 1984 from the University of Alberta. She began teaching in 1968 as a high school teacher with the Edmonton Catholic Schools and the County of Leduc. Tardif then went on to teach at the Faculté Saint-Jean, University of Alberta in 1977, in the Education program as a sessional lecturer until 1981. From 1980 until 1987, she was the Director of the Education Program at the same institution. Tardif then went on to be an Assistant Professor from 1981 to 1985 and then an Associate Professor from 1985 to 1992. In 1991, she was promoted to Associate Dean of Education at the Faculté Saint-Jean while continuing her duties as a Professor. In 1995, she became Dean of the Faculté Saint-Jean and held this position until 2003 when she took on the role of Vice-President of the University of Alberta. On March 24th, 2005, Tardif was nominated to the Senate of Canada, representing the Liberal Party of Canada and was named the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in 2007 and held this position until January 29th, 2014. She then sat in the Senate Liberal Caucus until February 2nd, 2018 when she retired. While fulfilling her role as Senator, Tardif was President of the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages.

During her long career, Tardif received numerous awards that include: Officer of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic in 2016, Order of the Francophones of America in 2011, Order of La Pléiade in 2011, Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005, Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003, Woman of Vision Award in 2000 and Maurice-Lavallée Award in 1990 and 1997 for her numerous contribution to French education. In 2006, the University of Ottawa conferred Tardif an honorary doctorate. Finally, Tardif has contributed a vast amount of research, publications and presentations throughout her career. As of 2005, she published three books, 43 articles/book chapters, one major monograph and 12 reports for the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages.

Denis Tardif was born in Saint-Vincent, Alberta on May 30th, 1947. He studied at the Collège Saint-Jean from 1964 to 1967 and obtained a B.A. in Psychology. He then went on to the University of Alberta in 1967 to continue his studies in Psychology but changed his stream in 1968 and obtained a B.Ed. in 1970 and a M.Ed. in 1980. This led him to a career in teaching with the Leduc School Board at the Beaumont School where he taught 3rd to the 10th grade from 1969 to 1972. From 1972 to 1974, he became Deputy Director of the school. He then transferred to J.H. Picard School (now Maurice-Lavallée) with the Edmonton Catholic School Board from 1974 to 1979. Tardif then became Deputy Director for the French Directorate of Education for the Ministry of Education in the Alberta provincial government, and held this position from 1981 to 1986. In 1986, Tardif became General Director and then President for the Provincial French Canadian Association of Alberta (ACFA) to help further education rights and school management until 1989. Then, in 1994, Tardif conducted a provincial consultation and study, which gave rise to francophone school management. He followed this by becoming the first President of the North Central School Board until 1999. He concluded his career by becoming the first General Director of the Francophone Secretariat for the province of Alberta, which he occupied until 2013 when he retired.

Thoughout his career, Tardif contributed to numerous administrative councils such as: Chevalier de Colomb, Carrefour, Association des éducateurs bilingues de l’Alberta, United Way (Alberta Education), ACFA d’Edmonton – Comité de l’Éducation, Caisse Francalta, Centre d’expérience préscolaire, Alberta Teacher’s Association – French Council, Fédération des Francophones Hors Québec, Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta, Centre d’arts visuels de l’Alberta and the Conseil scolaire du centre nord #4.

Claudette and Denis Tardif were married on December 28th, 1968 and had three children, Claudine born 1972, Natalie born 1974 and Pierre born 1977. They also have six grandchildren.