Sudbury Senator Josée Forest-Niesing has passed away

UPDATED:  This report has been updated as of 1:30 p.m.

Sudbury senator Josée Forest-Niesing has died, Sudbury.com has learned.

Forest-Niesing, 56, had been admitted to hospital in October to be treated for COVID-19. She was released from hospital on Nov. 14 to recover at home.

A statement from her staff last week advised that Forest-Niesing had been fully vaccinated, but had an autoimmune condition that affected her lungs for more than 15 years. 

Her passing has prompted a statement of condolence from Nickel Belt MP Marc Serré who had known Forest-Niesing for many years.

"My family and I are heartbroken to hear of the tragic passing of my colleague and friend the Honourable Senator Josee Forest-Niesing.  I wish to offer my most sincere condolences to her husband Robert, her children and her entire family,"  Serré said in an emailed statement.  

"I have had the pleasure of knowing Senator Forest-Niesing personally and professionally. Coming from the same neighbourhood in the 90s I saw firsthand her drive and dedication to her family and her community as we advocated together to save a local school that  our children attended. Her ambition to help others was embedded in her DNA. She shared her father Norm Forest's Passion for their Francophone heritage and its preservation," he added.

He described her as "a tireless advocate along with her husband Robert to help the most vulnerable. Not one to sit on the sidelines she wore many hats -- judge community pioneer, Senator, wife and mother."

Niesing's biography from the Canada Senate webpage revealed she was a lawyer by profession. The bio said she began her career in family law and continued to specialize in estate law, real property law, insurance law, civil law, education law and employment law.

Forest-Niesing led numerous cases through trial in Sudbury and surrounding jurisdictions, as well as in Toronto. In addition, she has been a Superior Court of Justice Small Claims Court judge and a member of several professional associations and committees.

The webpage said Forest-Niesing was proud to be Franco-Ontarian and to have recently discovered her Métis heritage. She was very dedicated to, and had passionately defended and promoted, access to justice in both official languages throughout her career. In addition to practicing law for nearly 20 years at a law firm providing services in French, she had contributed to her community as a member or chair of numerous boards of directors, including the Art Gallery of Sudbury, the Carrefour francophone de Sudbury, and the University of Sudbury. She was also appointed to the Ontario Arts Council in January 2018, said the website.

As a student, she was a member of the Association des juristes d’expression française de l’Ontario (AJEFO). She became a member of its board of directors, eventually serving two terms as its president. She subsequently joined the board of directors of the Fédération des associations de juristes d’expression française de common law in order to pursue the same objectives on a national level. 

She was the founding chair of the Centre canadien de français juridique as well as chair of the Ontario Bar Association’s Official Languages Committee.

Forest-Niesing was also a recipient of the AJEFO’s Order of Merit and was inducted into the University of Ottawa’s Common Law Honour Society.