Michael Canavan (born October 1924) is a former Irish nationalist business owner and politician.
Born in Derry, Canavan studied at St Columb's College in the city before entering business.[1] By the 1960s, he owned a chain of bookmakers, a salmon-processing factory and a pub in the city.[2] He was treasurer of the University for Derry Committee in 1965,[1] and worked with John Hume to try to attract industry to the area.[3]
An advocate of credit unions, Canavan founded the Derry Credit Union with Hume and chaired it from 1963 to 1966, following which he spent a year as a director of the Irish League of Credit Unions.[1] In 1968, he was elected as Chairman of the Derry Citizens' Action Committee, and was subsequently prominent in the Derry Citizens' Defence Association and chaired the Derry Citizens' Central Council.[1]
Canavan entered electoral politics as campaign manager for Hume at the 1969 Northern Ireland general election. Hume stood in Foyle as an independent and was elected.[4] The following year, Canavan was a founder member of Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and served as its security spokesman for many years.[5]
At the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election, he was elected for Londonderry, and he held his seat in 1975 on the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention.[6] However, he decided not to stand in the 1982 Assembly election, instead calling for the party to boycott to vote because there was no power-sharing in the proposed assembly.[7] He remained active in the SDLP for some time, and chaired Derry's civic committee during the mid-1980s.[8]
Canavan turned 90 in October 2014.[9] His brother Ivor was a prominent member of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.[10]
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References
- ^ a b c d Ted Nealon, Ireland: a Parliamentary Directory, 1973–1974, p.199
- ^ Peter Pringle and Philip Jacobson, Those are Real Bullets, Aren't They?, p.31
- ^ Paul Routledge, John Hume: a Biography, p.57
- ^ Raymond McClean, The road to Bloody Sunday, p.64
- ^ John Potter, Testimony to Courage
- ^ "Londonderry 1973–1982", Northern Ireland Elections
- ^ Sydney Elliot et al, The 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly election, p.23
- ^ Northern Ireland Assembly: Official Report of Debates, vol.15 (1985), p.70
- ^ McKinney, Seamus (17 February 2015). "'University aim backfired' claim". The Irish News. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
- ^ Niall Ó Dochartaigh, From Civil Rights to Armalites, p.100
This page was last edited on 16 December 2021, at 16:03