| Honorific-Prefix: | The Honourable |
| Patricia Bovey | |
| Office: | Senator for Manitoba |
| Nominator: | Justin Trudeau |
| Appointed: | David Johnston |
| Predecessor: | JoAnne Buth |
| Term Start: | November 11, 2016 |
| Term End: | May 15, 2023 |
| Birth Date: | 15 May 1948 |
| Spouse: | John Alexander Bovey (1934-2005); John Harvard (1938-2016) |
| Party: | Progressive Senate Group |
| Otherparty: | Independent Senators Group (2016–2020) |
| Occupation: | Art historian |
| Website: | www.patriciabovey.com |
Patricia E. Bovey LL.D, DCL, D.LITT, FRSA, FCMA, FDFS (born May 15, 1948) has contributed to the Canadian cultural scene as an advocate, museologist, gallery director and curator, professor and as a member of the country’s highest legislative body the Senate. She is an art historian from Manitoba who is a champion of the visual arts.[1]
Bovey was the curator of the Winnipeg Art Gallery (1970-1980), director of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (1980–1999) and the Winnipeg Art Gallery (1999–2004); and an art consultant (2004–2016). She founded and was the director/curator, of the Buhler Gallery in the St Boniface Hospital (2007–2016). She is a past chair of the board of governors of the University of Manitoba and a former member of the board of trustees for the National Gallery of Canada. She also sat on the board of the Canada Council for the Arts. She was appointed director emerita, Winnipeg Art Gallery in 2014.[2]
On October 27, 2016, Bovey was named to the Senate of Canada by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.[3] Bovey assumed her seat on November 10, 2016 as a member of the Independent Senators Group. On May 8, 2020, Bovey left the ISG and joined the Progressive Senate Group.[4] During her time in the Senate, Bovey fought for arts related causes such as reinvigorating the Portrait Gallery of Canada.[1]
Bovey retired from the Senate on May 15, 2023, upon turning 75, the mandatory retirement age for senators.
Bovey has served as the Chair of the Board of Governors of the University of Manitoba, and Board Chair of Emily Carr University, she served on the National Gallery of Canada's Board of Trustees; the Board of the Canada Council for the Arts; the Withrow/Richard Federal Task Force on National and Regional Museums; the Eckhardt-Gramatté Foundation Board; the Board of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra; and was a member of the Trudeau Foundation, and the Manitoba selection committee for both the Rhodes Scholarships and the Loran Scholarship. She is a past chair of the Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization.[8]
Bovey writes mainly on Western Canadian art.