Born and educated in Moncton, New Brunswick, Claudette Bradshaw began her career at the forefront of the community-based, non-profit sector as the Program Director for the Moncton Boys and Girls’ Club. Six years later, she founded and became Executive Director of the Moncton Headstart Early Family Intervention Centre, which designed and ran programs for high risk children and their families. She became a passionate advocate and speaker for adult literacy, at-risk children and youth and those suffering from foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. She also initiated the first licensed day care in New Brunswick.
In 1997, Claudette was elected Member of Parliament for the riding of Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe, which she represented from for almost a decade. During that period, she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for International Cooperation, Minister Responsible for the Francophonie and then Minister of Labour and was named Federal Coordinator on Homelessness a position she held for 6 years.
In 2006, she retired from federal politics and returned to the non-profit sector in her home province where she was appointed to the New Brunswick Premier’s Task Force on the State of Community Non-profit Agencies. In 2007, she was named Coordinator for the Mental Health Commission of Canada, implementing a research project focusing on chronic mental illnesses and homelessness. Claudette is currently the coordinator for the Moncton At Home/Chez Soi project spearheaded by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, a project which is aimed to provide practical, meaningful support to Canadians experiencing homelessness and mental health problems. The smallest of the five At Home/Chez Soi sites, Moncton presented a unique opportunity to study the issue of mental health and homelessness within the context of a smaller urban centre and its surrounding rural population.
During her 46 year career, Claudette has served in many organizations which focus on issues relating to welfare, crime prevention, homelessness, mental health and early childhood. She has also been named Honorary Chair of the Literacy Conference. Her work and community involvement has earned her a series of distinguished awards from the Boys and Girls Club of Canada, the Moncton Chamber of Commerce, the New Brunswick Child Welfare Association, Family Service Canada and the Rotary Club. She also received the Médaille Richelieu International and an honorary doctorate in social work from the Université de Moncton.