Paltiel, Freda L., 1924-2003 : Freda Paltiel, civil servant, was born in Montreal in 1924 and was educated at Queen's University, McGill University and the Hebrew University Medical School, Israel, where she received her Masters of Public Health in 1966. She worked as a research associate to the Royal Commission on Health Services, and the Senate Committee on Aging, and the Canadian Welfare Council where she produced a book on poverty. She joined the federal civil service in 1967 as Senior Research Officer in the Department of National Health and Welfare. In 1971 she received a special assignment to act as coordinator, Status of Women for the Privy Council Office to coordinate the implementation of some of the recommendations in the Royal Commission on the Status of Women's Report. In 1973 she returned to the Department of National Health and Welfare as the Special Adviser, Status of Women to the Minister of Health and Welfare. She retired from this position in 1993.
A recognized authority in the fields of health and social policy, Freda L. Paltiel had devoted two decades to conceptualization, policy and program development to bring about gender equality and social equity in Canada and internationally.
She was the author of pathfinding reports and studies of voluntary organizations (for the Royal Commission on Health Services); social security; aging; poverty; psychosocial aspects of occupational health; rehabilitation; mental health; science policy; family health; family violence; day care and sex roles in modern and developing society.
In 1969-70 on a Canada Council grant, she studied the topic of Employed Women with Family Responsibilities in Europe, and later as a World Health Organization (WHO) Mental Health Fellow, she studied New Frontiers in Mental Health in Europe. She was an action-oriented researcher and advocate of mental health, working with community and professional groups.
As Canada's first Coordinator, Status of Women, in the Privy Council Office she was responsible for advising the Cabinet on the implementation of the Report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, laying the ground work for Canada's systematic approach to the issues discussed therein. Her report, "Status of Women in Canada 1972" was tabled in Parliament.
She chaired the Canadian Task Force on Family Violence Against Women. She chaired a Health and Welfare Canada task force on reproductive health. She was the federal representative and the first chair of the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Working Group on Women's Health, which released a policy development document: Working Together for Women's Health. She served as Adviser to the WHO, on Women's Health and Development (WHD) and on Family Health. She chaired the Executive Subcommittee on WHD of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) in Washington D.C., on which she served as the Canadian representative. She served as Vice-President on the UN Expert Group Meeting on Social Support Measures for the Advancement of Women, where she presented a case study on Canada. She also drafted the discussion paper for the WHO expert group consultation, "Family Health: New Perspectives and Emerging Needs for the Nineties" in which she participated.
Paltiel served on many boards and committees, including the Board of Trustees of Queen's University and the Canadian Mental Health Association. She was a member of the editorial board of the journal entitled 'Women and Health', an honourary national Vice-President of Women's Canadian ORT and a member of the Board of ZONTA. She established endowments in Women's Health and Development at McGill, Queen's, and the Hebrew universities. In addition, she is and was involved in many voluntary activities internationally and nationally.
As a delegate to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and the Nairobi World Conference, 1985, she proposed the concept and was a drafter of the "Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women to the Year 2000". She represented Canada at the World Population Conference in Bucharest, the OECD, the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, International Social Security Association and regularly represented Canada at PAHO directing council meetings. She actively networked with international organizations, and was involved in the creation of the Canada's National Committee for UNIFEM.
Following her retirement she was named to the Medical Research Council Advisory Committee on Research of Women's Health and to the Advisory Committee of DES Action Canada. She was the 1993 designated recipient of the Queen's University Alumni Achievement Award and was Visiting Scholar at Queen's. She was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1993. As visiting lecturer at the Hebrew University School of Public Health, she taught a course on Women, Health and Development. She also was the author of 'Hand in Hand', a tribute to the accomplished wives of Israeli ambassadors to Canada.
Freda Paltiel was the widow of Professor Khayyam Z. Paltiel, Political Scientist, (MG 30, E 519) and the mother of four children. She died in Ottawa on 28 March 2003.
