In 2023, several Quebec and Canadian personalities from various fields have passed away. Here is a look back at those who have unfortunately left us. This list does not include the great deceased from the world of arts and sports.
• Also read: Cultural review 2023: a year of controversy and great sadness
• Also read: Review 2023: Missing people in sport that we will not forget
Denise Bombardier, 1941-2023
Journalist, author, presenter and columnist Denise Bombardier will have left her mark on Quebec's cultural landscape. Notably, she was the first woman to produce and host a public affairs program on Radio-Canada television, where she served for more than 30 years. She was a columnist for the newspaper Le Devoir before writing columns for Le Journal de Montréal since 2013. As the author of around twenty novels and essays, she was also known throughout the French-speaking world for her openness. She became known in France in 1990 because she publicly spoke on television against the writer Gabriel Matzneff, who recounted his adventures with minors in several of his books, thereby endangering his own career. Denise Bombardier was decorated as an Officer of the French Legion of Honor in 1993, as a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2000, and as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2015. She died in July 2023 from a devastating cancer.
Archive photo / Le Journal de Quebec
Harvey Linwood Mead, 1940-2023
A pioneer of the Quebec environmental movement, Harvey Linwood Mead was a teacher before being appointed deputy minister of sustainable development and conservation in the Quebec Ministry of the Environment from 1990 to 1991. In 2006, he became Quebec's first sustainable development commissioner for a two-year mandate. He is also the founder of the organization Nature Québec. Harvey Linwood Mead died on January 14th after a long illness at the age of 82.
Marc Lalonde, 1929-2023
Marc Lalonde, a lawyer by training, served as Pierre Elliott Trudeau's chief of staff from 1968 to 1972 before heading several ministries, including the national Department of Health and Welfare (1972–1977), the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources (1980–1982) or the Ministry of Finance (1982). -1984). He died last May at the age of 93.
Pablo Durant / Le Journal de Montreal
Nadine Girault, 1959-2023
Nadine Girault was MP for Bertrand for four years (2018-2022), during which time she held several positions within the CAQ government. She was Minister for International Relations and La Francophonie, Minister responsible for the Laurentides Region and Minister for Immigration, Franciscation and Integration. She died of lung cancer on February 13 at the age of 63.
SCREENSHOT / VAT NEWS / QMI AGENCY
Claude Cormier, 1960-2023
Claude Cormier is the landscape architect behind the Montreal Ring and the Village Boules. He is also the author of several architectural landmarks that mark tourists and residents in Toronto and the United States. He died of cancer last September at the age of 63.
JOEL LEMAY/AGENCE QMI
Roger Thibault, 1946-2023
Roger Thibault is one of the first same-sex couples to marry in Canada. He married Theo Wouters on July 18, 2002 in Montreal in a registered civil partnership. Their union was officially recognized at the federal level almost three years later, on July 20, 2005. Mr. Thibault suffered from Parkinson's disease and died last August at the age of 77.
Patrick Morin, 1927-2023
Patrick Morin is the founder of the hardware store of the same name. In 1960 he founded his first hardware store in Sainte-Marcelline-de-Kildare in Lanaudière with his wife Denise Benny. The Patrick Morin hardware stores were sold to Groupe Turcotte and Home Hardware Stores in February 2021. There are more than twenty branches in the province. Mr. Morin died in December 2023 at the age of 96.
Jacques-Yvan Morin, 1931-2023
Before entering politics under the banner of the Parti Québécois, Jacques-Yvan Morin was a professor of public and constitutional international law at the University of Montreal. He was a losing candidate in the 1970 Bourrassa contest, but eventually entered the National Assembly in 1973. He was Deputy Premier of Quebec (1976–1984) and Minister of Education in the government of René Lévesque (1976–1980). He died last July at the age of 92.
ARCHIVE PHOTO/JOURNAL DE MONTRÉAL/AGENCY QMI
Michel Biron, 1934-2023
The businessman was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien on October 4, 2001. Michel Biron was also president of the telecommunications and cable company Sogetel since 1967. He died in Saint-Nicolet in April at the age of 89.
Frédéric Bastien, 1969-2023
A trained historian, Frédéric Bastien was a professor at Cégep Dawson in Montreal before becoming a columnist for Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, where he ran a blog and contributed to the history section. He most recently ran for leader of the Parti Québécois in 2020, facing off against Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, Sylvain Gaudreault and Guy Nantel. He died last May at the age of 53.
Screenshot, VAT NEWS
Pierre Schneider, 1945-2023
An activist working for Quebec independence, Pierre Schneider is one of the co-founders of the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ). He is the author of half a dozen works, including collections of poetry and more engaging writings on provincial independence and his own experiences within the FLQ. He was also a journalist and then an executive at the Journal de Montréal. He died in April at the age of 78.
Others missing:
Ryan Smolkin, 1973-2023: Founder of the popular poutinerie chain Smoke's Poutinerie;
Leon Courville, 1945-2023: Economist who became one of the pillars of Quebec viticulture;
Jacques Cossette-Trudel, 1947-2023: Member of the Quebec Liberation Front, from 1969 to 1971;
Ghislain Lebel, 1946-2023: Quebec politician and former member of the Bloc Québécois in the Canadian House of Commons.