Jacques Hébert (Canadian politician)

Jacques Hébert OC, PC (June 21, 1923 – December 6, 2007) was a Canadian author, journalist, publisher, Senator, and world traveler having visited more than 130 countries.

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Hébert began attending Saint Dunstan's University in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island at age 16. He served as a journalist for the newspaper "Le Devoir" from 1951 to 1953 and created the publishing companies Éditions de l’Homme in 1958 and Éditions du Jour in 1961.

He was a reporter during the Wilbert Coffin trial in 1954 and he later published two books on the subject: "Coffin était innocent" (1958) and "J'accuse les assassins de Coffin" (1963). The latter book caused such controversy that the provincial government established a Commission of Inquiry into the case.

Hébert was a close friend of Pierre Elliot Trudeau and traveled with him to the People's Republic of China in 1960 in the midst of the Great Leap Forward. The two met both Mao Zedong and Chou Enlai and recorded their observations in the book "Deux innocents en Chine rouge" (1961). The book was published in English as "Two Innocents in Red China" in 1968. A Chinese language version was published in China in 2005 - Hebert attended the launch in Shanghai with Alexandre Trudeau. [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-73-2049-12815/politics_economy/china/clip3]

In 1971, Hébert founded Canada World Youth, an organization that expands "the role of youth in developing their communities and promoting world peace".

He was appointed to the Senate on April 20, 1983, representing the senatorial division of Wellington, Quebec, and retired at the mandatory age of 75 in 1998. From 1991 to 1993 he was the Opposition Whip in the Senate and from 1993 to 1998 he was the Government Whip in the Senate.

In 1986, he went on a hunger strike for 21 days to protest a decision by the Progressive Conservative government to end the Katimavik program for Canadian youth, which he created in 1977.

In 1978, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2004, he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Prince Edward Island.

elected works

* "Coffin était innocent" (1958)
* "Deux Innocents en Chine Rouge", Jacques Hebert and Pierre E. Trudeau, Les Editions de L'Homme 1961
* "J'accuse les assassins de Coffin" (1963)
* "Two Innocents in Red China" (in collaboration with Pierre Elliott Trudeau) (English Translation, Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1968)
* "The World is Round" (McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 1976)
* "Have Them Build a Tower Together" (McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 1979)
* "21 Days - One Man's Fight for Canada's Youth" (Optimum Publishing, Montreal, 1986)
* "Travelling in Tropical Countries" (Hurtig Publishers, Edmonton, 1986)
* "Hello, World!" (English Translation, Robert Davis Publishing, 1996)
* "Duplessis, non merci!" (Les Éditions du Boréal, Montreal, 2000)
* "Katima...What?" (Cosmopolite Communication, Montreal, 2001)
* "En 13 points Garamond" (Éditions Trois-Pistoles, Trois-Pistoles, 2002)
* "Good Morning Cuba!" (SIAP Publishing, Montreal, 2003)
* "红色中国的两位天真汉"(Chinese translation of "Two Innocents In Red China"), Shanghai People's Press, 2005

ee also

* Canada World Youth
* Katimavik

References

*

External links

* [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-73-624-3333-20/that_was_then/politics_economy/katimavik_hunger_strike CBC archives]
* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?lang=E&query=337&s=M Political biography from the Library of Parliament]
* [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-73-2049/politics_economy/china/clip3 "Two Innocents in Red China"] CBC Radio interview.
* [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071207/hebert_obit_071207/20071207?hub=TopStories CTV.ca - Former senator Jacques Hébert dead at 84]