Honourable senators, on April 30, we lost France Geoffroy. The vast majority of you have probably never heard of her. She was a fighter, a pioneer, a great artist and an outstanding Canadian.

At 17, France Geoffroy was planning to train as a dancer when a diving accident left her a quadriplegic. Wheelchair-bound, she decided to challenge the limits of dance. She is largely responsible for the development of integrated dance in Canada, an art form that brings artists with disabilities and those without together on stage. Her choreography, which featured dancers executing unusual movements, transformed audiences’ perception of people’s bodies. Her work was a celebration of inclusion and diversity. For dancers with and without disabilities, as well as audiences, the experience was transformative.

She leaves behind an enduring legacy as an artist and as an advocate who fought to gain recognition for integrated dance in the dance community itself. In 2000, France Geoffroy founded Corpuscule Danse, and she spent the next 20 years as the company’s executive and artistic director and as a dancer. Thanks to her perseverance, the Canada Council for the Arts now recognizes integrated dance as a legitimate art form.

In recent years, she focused on teaching, including at summer camps for children with disabilities.

Our paths crossed often through my husband, who also works in the arts. He was moved by the clarity of her artistic vision and her bold choreographies. We were not close, but since we live in the same neighbourhood, we would meet two or three times a year at La Fontaine Park, and each time the conversation was warm, easy and natural. France was very funny and always genuine.

France wrote to me several times over the past year. She was suffering terribly. She had tried everything and, above all, wanted to die with dignity. In her final letter to me, dated February 8, she wrote, and I quote:

I can only hope to have the opportunity to leave my body and depart this world with as much dignity and grace . . . as I had on stage.

France, we promised to have a coffee this summer at La Fontaine Park. I am going to have a coffee for the two of us, my wonderful France, as I think of you and thank you for everything you have done. Thank you.