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First woman to sit on executive council of B.C. Federation of Labour and become president of the B.C. NDP.
Vancouver (20 Aug. 2009) — Joy Langan, a former NDP MP, labour activist and writer, who spent her life fighting for women’s rights and working people, has died after a long battle with breast cancer. She passed away July 30.
Langan began her career writing about women's issues for Vancouver newspapers, then joined the labour movement and entered politics.
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She became the first woman member of the B.C. Federation of Labour executive council and also the first woman to head the B.C. New Democratic Party.
In 1988, she was elected to Parliament as the NDP MP for Mission-Coquitlam and served as the party's national labour critic until 1993.
Dawn Black, who was elected to Parliament with her and is now an NDP MLA in Victoria, says her death leaves "a real void" in all who knew her.
“She was a woman who was so true to her principles and worked so hard for women’s equality and fairness for the working people. She was quite the role model,” Black told the Vancouver Sun.
Among the issues Langan took to heart and fought to advance were those involving women, families and child care. She also became an advocate in the battle against cancer.
After leaving politics, Langan served as a national representative for the Canadian Energy and Paperworkers’ Union (CEP), shifting her focus to help seniors and retired union members until her retirement last year.
A tribute to Langan on the CEP website last year described her as “an outstanding union representative, an articulate political and union leader, a loyal friend, a model feminist and an invaluable mentor to so many people in her career.”
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