Maria Chaput

Background On January 29, 2014, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau announced all Liberal Senators, including Chaput, to be removed from the Liberal caucus, and would continue sitting as Independents. The Senators continued to refer themselves as the Senate Liberal Caucus even though they were constitutionally no longer members of the parliamentary Liberal caucus.

Chaput announced her retirement from the Senate on February 4, 2016, effective March 1, 2016, due to kidney health issues that she had been managing for "a few years." Despite her doctor's recommendation, she held off retirement until the Liberals won the 2015 federal election saying: "I just didn't want to give my seat to Stephen Harper. That's what I told my doctor and he said, 'Well, that's your decision,' and I said 'Exactly.'" She supported Trudeau's move to a non-partisan senate appointment process.

Chaput was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2022 and was made a member of the Order of Manitoba in 2025.