she served as mayor of ottawa from 1978 to 1985. as mayor she convened a convention on the issue of homosexuality six months after taking office, in 1978. in 1979, she led project 4000, in which ottawa residents sponsored 4,000 vietnamese, cambodian and laotian refugees. she died in the fall of 2008. ottawa today still has a large vietnamese community. in 2005, she appeared on the vietnamese diaspora music variety show paris by night 77 as part of a show commemorating the 30th anniversary of the fall of saigon. she was interviewed and given a plaque for her support for vietnamese refugees.