Member of the Order of Canada

• Awarded on: May 2, 2013
• Invested on: May 07, 2014

For nearly 25 years, Édith Cloutier has been working to improve the lives of Aboriginal people, particularly those in urban settings. Executive director of the Val-d’Or Native Friendship Centre, she has transformed it into a service hub and a cultural anchor for the region’s First Peoples. Under her leadership, the Centre has become a model and one of the most important such centres in Canada. Also serving as president of the Regroupement des centres d’amitié autochtones du Québec, and the first Aboriginal woman to have chaired the board of a Quebec university, she played a key role at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue in developing culturally relevant services that foster academic success, including the First Peoples Pavilion.