OTTAWA | Loved ones, dignitaries and ordinary citizens gathered on Saturday to pay a final tribute to the former liberal minister and great defender of the Quebec nation, Benoît Pelletier.
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Mr. Pelletier, who was a minister under the government of Jean Charest from 2003 to 2008, died suddenly, while traveling in Mexico, from complications of pulmonary fibrosis, on March 30, at the age of 64.
Several people present at Saint-Joseph Cathedral in Gatineau, crowded for the occasion, highlighted his love of Quebec and the French language.
Archive photo, Guillaume St-Pierre
“We will miss him,” said the Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe. He is not only a great Gatineau, but he is also a great Quebecer, a nationalist, from whom we frequently asked for advice.
The expert in constitutional law was, among other things, one of the architects of the Council of the Federation and the Center of the Francophonie of the Americas.
“It testifies to the affection that Benoît had for the French language, French culture, those who speak it and who make it shine,” commented former Prime Minister of Quebec Jean Charest. And with that, Benedict leaves us a substantial legacy.”
During his political career and as a law professor and constitutional expert, Benoît Pelletier defended tooth and nail the right of Quebec to be sovereign in its own areas of jurisdiction.
A “love of the homeland” that he passed on to his four children, the family emphasized in a statement.
The Minister of Justice Simon Jolin-Barrette recalled that the law professor at the University of Ottawa acted as an advisor in the drafting of the Law on State Secularism and the Reform of the French Language.
“On law 21, on law 96, his insights were important,” he underlined. Despite the fact that he did not belong to the same political family, he placed the higher interests of the Quebec Nation at the heart of his priorities.”
Benoît Pelletier came close to death in 2021, after being struck down by COVID-19. He spent 56 days in a coma.
He gradually resumed his activities thereafter, notably as a commentator in the media.
Benoît Pelletier
- Born January 10, 1960 in Quebec
- Obtained his baccalaureate in law from Laval University in 1982
- Completed a master’s degree in law and two doctorates
- Legal advisor to the Department of Justice in Ottawa from 1983 to 1990
- Member of Parliament for Chapleau for the PLQ from 1998 to 2008 (elected in 1998, 2003 and 2007; did not run again in 2008)
- Minister of Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs
- Chairman of the PLQ special committee on the political and constitutional future of Quebec society
- Professor at the University of Ottawa from 1990 to 1998 and in 2009
- Lawyer at the Noël et Associés law firm in 2009
- Author of numerous works on federalism, Quebec and the Constitution
- Died on March 30, 2024 in Mexico
Source: National Assembly website
