Rosie Awori (LJI)
With the passing of Sonya Biddle on January 20, our community and Montreal lost a vibrant and engaging personality that stamped her name on the landscape of this city as an actress, community worker, culture ambassador and politician.
Biddle, daughter of Montreal jazz icon Charles Biddle, emerged as a political force on the municipal scene when she defeated incumbent Sam Boskey in the Notre Dame de Grace district in the 1998 elections, running for Pierre Bourque’s Vision Montreal Party.
In office, she championed the City’s acquisition of the Cinema 5 building on Sherbrooke Street in NDG visioning it as an eventual cultural and arts centre.
However, the project was never able to access the necessary funds to be renovated.
In 2000, Sonya was part of the municipal group under Mayor Bourque, who visited Trinidad and Tobago as part of a research expedition on carnival.
She was defeated by Marcel Tremblay in the 2001 elections.
In the 1980s Sonya burst on the scene as a powerful stage actress with performances in various BTW productions. She also performed with other production companies including the Fool House Theatre Corporation, which she founded with her husband Allan Patrick.
Biddle also appeared in several films.
She was 64 years old.
