She was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, and graduated from McGill University with a degree in Physical Education.
Prior to being entering politics, she was the chairman of the Centretown Citizen's Community Association and the president of Heritage Ottawa.
[1] She was first elected to Ottawa city council in 1982 in a surprise victory over veteran alderman Joe Cassey.
She considered a bid for the mayoralty in 1991, but ended up supporting fellow progressive Nancy Smith who came in a strong second (36%) to Jacquelin Holzman (40%).
She was acclaimed in 1997 and retired from council in 2000 when the regional municipality was abolished and replaced with the new amalgamated City of Ottawa.