On June 22, 1997, Gérard Pelletier disappeared. A witness as much as an actor in Canadian social and political evolution, Gérard Pelletier’s work was characterized in particular by his commitment to the development of the French fact in Canada.
Committed journalist
” Canada has just lost one of the missing figures in its recent history. Gérard Pelletier died this morning from cancer. “
It is with these sentences that the host of the Newscast Céline Galipeau announces, on June 23, 1997, the death of Gérard Pelletier.
The following biography, presented by journalist Christine St-Pierre, covers the main stages of Gérard Pelletier’s life.
In 1947, he became a daily journalist The duty.
In 1949, Gérard Pelletier covered the asbestos workers’ strike in Asbestos for this newspaper.
He uses this platform to denounce the anti-union attitude of the government of Maurice Duplessis and the brutality of the police repression against the asbestos strikers.
In the 1950s, Gérard Pelletier published a series of resounding articles.
The latter describes the situation of those who are called the orphans of Duplessis.
In these articles, Gérard Pelletier condemns the mistreatment inflicted, through negligence and prejudice, by the government of Maurice Duplessis on the wards of the state.
The publication of these articles is a milestone in the history of investigative journalism in Quebec.
From 1961 to 1965, Gérard Pelletier was editor-in-chief of the daily The Press.
He was dismissed from his post because the newspaper’s management found him too sympathetic to the grievances of journalists when they went on strike in 1965.
Gérard Pelletier does not deny the information.
Defender of French-speaking minorities in Canada
In 1965, journalist Gérard Pelletier began a new career in Ottawa.
Federal elections have just been announced.
Gérard Pelletier decides to enter the political arena with the Liberal Party of Canada led by Lester B. Pearson.
But he won’t go there alone.
Alongside him are two comrades in the fight: trade unionist Jean Marchand and law professor Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
The three men particularly wanted to ensure respect for the French-speaking populations who had hitherto been ignored or under-represented in the Canadian federal apparatus.
In English Canada, they are nicknamed: The French Power.
In Quebec, the editorialist of the newspaper The duty Claude Ryan calls them the three doves.
It is an appropriate name for those who have made it their mission to calm the often stormy relations between English Canada and French Canada.
In April 1968, Pierre Elliott Trudeau succeeded Lester B. Pearson as Prime Minister of Canada.
In July 1968, he appointed Gérard Pelletier Secretary of State of Canada and Minister of Communications.
The new minister then worked on the drafting, then the adoption by the Parliament of Canada, of an Official Languages Act.
This law will make French and English the two official languages of the country.
However, the legislative project was complex and did not pass like a letter in the mail in the public opinion of English Canada.
On May 25, 1969, Gérard Pelletier is the guest of the show two plus one, hosted by journalists Louis Martin and Jean V. Dufresne.
During this interview, of which we are presenting an excerpt, the Minister shows that he was attentive to the concerns of the opposition and the Canadian provinces regarding the possible application of the Official Languages Act.
Amendments were adopted, recalls Gérard Pelletier, in particular to better protect the rights of Francophone minorities in urban areas, which improved the scope of the bill.
The informed observer also points the tip of his nose when Gérard Pelletier analyzes the reasons for the reluctance of certain English-speaking provinces regarding the bilingualism proposed by his bill.
Diplomat in the service of Canada
On October 20, 1975, Gérard Pelletier arrived at Charles-de-Gaulle airport.
He comes to Paris as Canada’s ambassador to the French Republic.
At the airport, he granted an interview to journalist Jean Charpentier from the Radio-Canada news service.
One can notice, listening to this interview, the treasures of diplomacy and hushed language that Gérard Pelletier must deploy in his new role.
The position of ambassador is essential in Canadian foreign policy.
Gérard Pelletier must defend the interests and prerogatives of Canada with the French Republic.
However, there has long been a war, more or less latent, between the Canadian Embassy and the General Delegation of Quebec in Paris, the diplomatic branch of the Government of Quebec in France, to constitute the main interlocutor of the State French
The nuanced remarks of Gérard Pelletier clearly show the balancing act that he will have to deploy from 1975 to 1981 on French soil.
This experience would serve him well when he was Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations from 1981 to 1984.
A discreet man, with a more self-effacing character than Jean Marchand and Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Gérard Pelletier left an important legacy to Canadian society and particularly to French-speaking Canadians.
Radio CanadaMartin Leclerc
Source: Radio-Canada
