Caroline St-Hilaire has completed 20 years of active politics, including 11 on the federal scene. For the last eight years, she has held the seat of the first woman mayor of Longueuil. Since 2017, the woman who had a copyright management company has devoted herself to her third career, communications.

Her television debut was on the show La Joute on LCN. She also joined QUB Radio as a radio host and columnist. "I didn't leave my life as a politician because I didn't like it anymore or because I was disappointed, but because I felt like I had covered everything and needed to do something else on a personal level. My new responsibilities allow me to continue talking about it, but with greater freedom of speech."

Opening up about your disability

It was when Se faire entender , her biographical book published at the end of her last term as mayor, was published that the majority of Quebecers learned that Caroline St-Hilaire was deaf.

“I never hid it, but I never promoted it either,” she says. “When I was a federal MP, I made statements in sign language every month. I got involved in organizations. When I lost all hearing in both ears in 2007, I couldn’t see myself making a press release to announce it. My entourage knew and understood why I was taking one seat rather than another or why I was leaving places that were too noisy. That was enough for me.”

When it came time to reveal herself to author Geneviève Lefebvre for her book, she decided to tell the story of the significant encounter she had with a young deaf woman who wanted to understand how it was possible to achieve all her dreams – even that of becoming mayor – despite her disability.

"I didn't think my condition would generate so much interest and curiosity. The truth is that 10% of the population is deaf and it's not going to get better. However, it's an invisible disability. Even Maka (Kotto, her husband) had trouble realizing it at first, as he wrote in his column . I felt that I had a responsibility: to talk about it, to popularize it, to explain. Just as my husband is a black man in politics, I am a deaf public woman. If we see more different models, we will realize that diversity in politics is possible."

Mourning

While she acknowledges that her disability has presented many challenges in politics (the rallies, the subtleties, the spontaneity), she readily suggests that it also offered certain advantages. “I lip-read, so I could read the lips of opponents in the chamber. Through intuition, I have also become very adept at reading non-verbal communication, looks.” In short, she has managed to de-dramatize it, even laugh about it. “Yes, because it’s not dramatic! In the morning, if I don’t have my hearing aids, I’m sipping my coffee and my husband arrives, I’m sure to explode! I haven’t heard anything and he forgets! It requires constant adjustments.”

Her first and greatest loss came in her youth: giving up figure skating. "I was competing a lot. At the time, there were no hearing aids. I could no longer hear the music and be in the right rhythm. So much so that one day, my father said to me: I think we're going to stop there. To this day, that remains my greatest sorrow."

Life after politics

Despite these difficulties, if there was a time when she would have liked to jump back into the political arena, it was during this pandemic. "I felt a push to make my contribution, but I'm done mourning, I've truly moved on." Now that she's returned to her first love, entrepreneurship, Caroline St-Hilaire is proud to have been able to demonstrate that there is life after politics. "I succeeded in my bet to put myself in danger and find other strings to my bow. It would have been easy to not risk anything professionally and financially, but I wanted to show that I know how to do something else. I miss the people of Longueuil, that's for sure, but I'm proud to have shown my children that it is possible to get out of your comfort zone and be successful. Comfort traps the light-hearted , my husband repeats."

"The thing I am most proud of, after 20 years in politics, is that no one has been able to take away my integrity. I gave everything I had and I did not leave a negative image. I experienced 11 years in opposition and 8 years in power. If I had remained in opposition, I might have developed bitterness."

Looking back, Caroline St-Hilaire is happy to have had the means to achieve her ambitions.

Hear it on QUB Radio

See her at La Joute

Read it at Éditions Libre Expression