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Irene Mathyssen, an NDP politician who represented London, Ont., at the provincial and federal levels in a political career spanning nearly three decades, has died. She was 75.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Mathyssen’s family confirmed she died Monday at her home after a battle with cancer, surrounded by family, including her husband, Keith, and daughter Lindsay.<\/p>\n
Lindsay Mathyssen, who succeeded her mother as the MP for London-Fanshawe, called her mother an inspiration in a written statement shared Tuesday.<\/p>\n
“My mom was so much more than a mother,” she wrote. “She was someone I looked up to, someone who helped guide me through life, and someone whose strength and determination inspired me in ways words can never fully express.”<\/p>\n
Lindsay Mathyssen said her mother was dedicated to public service and committed to the causes she believed in.<\/p>\n
“She believed that our responsibility is to leave this world a better place than we found it,” she wrote. “That belief is part of her legacy, and I will do my best to honour it throughout my life.”<\/p>\n
Family friend Nadine Abi Raad said Mathyssen leaves behind a significant political legacy.<\/p>\n
“Irene was not an ordinary woman or politician,” Abi Raad said. “She was a fierce advocate for human rights, for education, for health care, for veterans. She has changed so many lives. She was very loved, very well regarded and respected. She left a special touch on all of us.”<\/p>\n
Abi Raad said Mathyssen entered politics after working as an elementary school teacher.<\/p>\n
Mathyssen was elected as the MPP for Middlesex in 1990 and served until 1995, when she was defeated by Progressive Conservative Bruce Smith.<\/p>\n
![\"Lindsay](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791947651_222_default.jpg\")
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Lindsay Mathyssen, right, in 2019 followed her mother Irene in representing the riding of London-Fanshawe. Irene Mathyssen died at home Monday after a battle with cancer. She was 75. (Kate Dubinski\/CBC)<\/p>\n
Mathyssen moved to federal politics in 2006, winning the riding of London-Fanshawe. She was re-elected three times before retiring from federal politics in 2019.<\/p>\n
Her daughter succeeded her in the riding, winning election in 2019 and re-election in 2021. Lindsay Mathyssen lost her seat to Conservative Kurt Holman in the 2025 federal election. <\/p>\n
Abi Raad said Mathyssen will be remembered for her commitment to social justice.<\/p>\n
“Irene had a lot of courage, she spoke out,” Abi Raad said. “She was a voice for those who didn’t have a voice. She fought for the most vulnerable people in the community.”<\/p>\n
Details about a celebration of life will be announced in the coming days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":932221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-932220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}