Heidi Rathjen graduated from École Polytechnique de Montréal in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. Instead of pursuing a career in engineering, Ms. Rathjen became involved in the political struggle for better gun control following the December 6, 1989 massacre at her university. Indeed, a year after the tragedy at her school on December 6, 1989, she co-founded (with Wendy Cukier) the Coalition for Gun Control, for which she acted as Executive Director until the day after the passage of the Arms Act in December 1995.
She maintains her commitment to better gun control by volunteering as spokesperson and lead organizer of PolySeSouvient, a movement that brings together the many witnesses and victims of the Polytechnique tragedy (among others) who continue to support better gun control, notably to ensure the adoption of Quebec’s Firearms Registration Act, and at the federal level Bill C-71 (2019), the prohibition of some 2000 assault weapons (2000) and most recently the adoption of Bill C-21 (2023).
In 1996, after a long battle for gun control at the federal level, Ms. Rathjen co-founded (with Louis Gauvin) the Coalition québécoise pour le contrôle du tabac (CQCT) and has been its co-director (with Flory Doucas) ever since. The Coalition, whose demands are supported by several hundred Quebec organizations and some two thousand individual supporters, was at the heart of the mobilization leading to the adoption of Quebec’s three tobacco control legislations: in 1998, 2005 and 2015. Ms. Rathjen has also contributed to the adoption of several other tobacco-related laws, regulations and tax measures at the provincial and federal levels.
For her efforts in public health and safety, Heidi has received two honorary doctorates, the National Assembly Medal, the Prix de la Justice from the Government of Quebec, the Meritorious Service Cross from the Government of Canada, the World Health Organization’s Tobacco Free Medal, a medal from the Senate of Canada, the Best Organizational Partner Award from the Quebec Association for Suicide Prevention, and the first Shirley Greenberg Award from the National Association of Women and the Law.
