The bubbly almost centenarian Janette Bertrand shares her knowledge and life experience with heart in a new book that she describes as “necessary”: One hundred years of love. True to herself, intelligent, honest, direct, she continues again and again, at 99 years old, to go to the front to support the social issues that are close to her heart. In this book, she speaks again and again about gender equality, old age and launches an urgent call for mobilization to change mentalities regarding old age.
• Also read: “We don’t give old people a voice,” denounces Janette Bertrand in her essay “One Hundred Years of Love”
How are you, Janette? “It’s not worse for 99 years! Hey my…,” she said in a telephone interview. From the outset, the great lady explains that One hundred years of love was born from a desire to talk about models. “Everyone on the street stops me and says, ‘You’re my role model. I want to grow old like you…”
“However, during the pandemic, we did not want to be old. It was terrible what happened to old people. They were neglected. They were not cared for. They didn’t even have their family to die.”
During the multiple confinements, Janette continued to work. “I kept doing things. It’s not my fault if people want to be like me… but I’ve found a balance: not talking too much about my ailments, being interested in others, working. While we are told that we must retire, I continue to work. That’s what makes you happy.”
No question of stopping
This great communicator is so keen to learn and share knowledge, memory and interpersonal skills, with kindness, that there is no question of stopping, no matter the obstacles.
“Whenever I lost shows – and I lost a lot – I always said to myself: do other things. I did other things to continue doing what I generally do, but in other ways.”
“Right now, there’s a strong movement of people in their late 60s going back to work, because they realize you can’t travel all the time, you can’t be valued doing nothing.”
Need to be valued
What she finds most important in her book is to remind us that human beings need to be valued, to be necessary, to be useful. “When you retire and decide to do nothing, you are more valued. So you become old very very quickly, because you are useless! That’s what I want to share with people.”
Write a book at 99
Was Janette thinking about writing a book at 99? “No! No way!” Yet…she did it. Although, physically, it was quite a challenge. “I continue to be valued. I am anti-the “we need to retire and stop working” trend. Anti-current.”
“As if we had not left the myth that comes from religion, of Eve with the temptation, that it was she, the cursed woman, who caused man to lose Paradise. And it stayed. Working is a penance, working is no fun. So we drag that out in other forms.”
It recalls the myth that Paradise is doing nothing. “Since we were punished by God, because Eve tempted poor Adam, we were not born to work. But you have to get that out of your head. If we don’t work, what use are we? You have to have a reason to get up in the morning.”
One hundred years of love
Janette Bertrand
Libre Expression Editions
144 pages
© Éditions Libre Expression
▶ In bookstores October 23.
- Janette Bertrand, a great communicator and prolific author, has received several awards and distinctions, including the 2021 Guy Corneau Hommage prize for her contribution to the well-being of men and the enhancement of the masculine reality within society.
- The show Janette Bertrand and her pearls of wisdom (Ici Première -) won the Silver Prize in the category of best special interview program at the New York Festivals Radio Awards.
- In 2023, she was named Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec.
- The year 2025 will be Janette Bertrand’s centenary and many activities are planned: play about her life, photo exhibition, special programs, etc.
- The Montreal Book Fair will inaugurate the Janette-Bertrand Prize in November.
“I will not give you a miracle recipe for staying young and healthy, I simply want to share with you what my long life has taught me. Growing old is something you learn, and the younger you start, the better.”
– Janette Bertrand, One hundred years of loveÉditions Libre Expression
“I want to be listened to, to be heard, to have importance in my family, in my work, in my environment. I want to be respected not because of my longevity but
because I am a mature person. It’s not because I limp, I’m half deaf, I’m quarter blind that my judgment is impaired.”
– Janette Bertrand, One hundred years of loveÉditions Libre Expression
“To grow old is to be alive. And as long as there is life, there is hope. If we cannot escape death, we can choose how to live our old age. I want to keep the freedom to do what I want even if I’m wrong. I want to be allowed to take risks. I don’t want people to surround me with cotton wool, to overprotect me as if I were made of glass.”
– Janette Bertrand, One hundred years of loveÉditions Libre Expression
• Also read: “Girls, we are good everywhere”: Janette Bertrand wants young people to remember the fight for gender equality
• Also read: Janette Bertrand: the long road to repair
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