PATRICA EILEEN SMART

1940 - 2024

(née Purcell) It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Patricia Smart, on December 12, 2024. She left this world peacefully, with close family by her side. Pat was a leading scholar of Quebec literature and women's writing, a lifelong political activist and a beloved wife, mother, grandmother and friend. Patricia Smart was born in Toronto in 1940 to newspaperman Gillis Purcell and Charlotte Fleming. Her passion for Quebec culture was kindled when she spent a summer in Ste-Anne-de-la-Pérade as a teenager, with her sister, Judy. Patsy graduated in 1961 from St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, where she met her husband, John. After earning a master's degree at Université Laval, she completed her doctorate at Queen's University while caring for her two young children. In 1971, she joined the Department of French at Carleton University, where she taught until her retirement in 2005. Her book, Écrire dans la maison du père (translated as Writing in the Father's House) received the Governor General's Award in 1988. She also published books on novelist Hubert Aquin, the women of the Refus Global movement, and the autobiographical writing of Quebec women. Patricia was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2004 and received the Medal of Quebec's Académie des lettres in 2015. She was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 1991. With her husband, John, Pat was committed to working for social democracy and for Canadian cultural and economic independence from US influence. In 1968, Pat and John were among the founders of the Waffle movement, a wing of the New Democratic Party devoted to the creation of an independent socialist Canada. Many of the connections they made during the Waffle years became warm, sustaining lifelong friendships. Pat was the loving wife of the late John Smart; beloved mother of Mary Ann (Daniel Brownstein) and Michael; and devoted grandmother of Clara and Thomas. Predeceased by brothers, Peter and Bob; and sister, Judy (Hamelin); and mourned by her sister, Sue Purcell in Montreal, as well as many nieces and nephews. We will treasure the memory of her boundless energy, her openness to new ideas and experiences, and the intensity and focus she brought to conversation. A funeral will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 11th, at Canadian Martyrs Church, 100 Main St., Ottawa. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory to Carleton's Department of French or the Douglas Coldwell Layton Foundation would be appreciated.