Pierre de Bané

Who is Pierre de Bané?

Pierre De Bané, PC, QC, LL.L, BA, DOC.SC.ADM. is a retired Canadian senator. He was the first person of Arab descent to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons in Matane and next Matapédia—Matane, and is a former member of the Canadian Cabinet.

De Bané was born in Haifa, Palestine to Lebanese parents. The family immigrated to Canada in 1947 to escape the looming war with his family to settle in Quebec. De Bané studied at Trois-Rivières Seminary, Collège St-Alexandre, University of Ottawa and from law at Laval University.

He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1968 general election, and serve as a Member of Parliament for sixteen years.

In 1978, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau appointed De Bané to the Canadian Cabinet as Minister of Supply and Services. He joined the opposition bench when the Liberals lost the 1979 election, but was reappointed to Cabinet as Minister of Regional Economic Expansion when the Liberals returned to power in 1980 election.

In 1982, De Bané became Minister of State for External Relations and, eight months later, he became Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. De Bané was named to the Senate by Trudeau days before he retired as Prime Minister.