Marcel Chaput
Encyclopedia
Marcel Chaput"Marcel Chaput (1918-1991) Homme de science, homme politique", in Bilan du Siècle, Université de Sherbrooke, retrieved June 5, 2008) was a scientist and a militant for the independence of Quebec
from Canada
. Along with some 20 other people including André D'Allemagne
and Jacques Bellemare, he was a founding member of the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale
(RIN).
, Quebec
on October 14, 1918.. His mother was Lucia Nantel, and his father, Narcisse Chaput, was a proofreader at Her Majesty's Printer in Ottawa.. He was the youngest child and sole boy in a family of seven children. He did not know three of his sisters, who died at a young age. The three sisters he knew were Rolande, Gabrielle and Madeleine. He was ten years old when his sister Rolande, 16, died of a septicemia..
After doing his primary schooling at École Lecomte, he entered the Collège Notre-Dame de Hull. He was enrolled in the cadet corps of his college. One of his teachers, Brother Ernest, led him to an interest in science. From that time he cherished the dream of being a chemist. In 1934, he joined the Groupe ReboulNamed in honour of father Delisle Reboul. of the Association catholique de la jeunesse canadienne-française.
In September 1933, he left his college in Hull and registered at the High School of the University of Ottawa
, an institution which he left only two years later to enter, in September 1935, the École technique de Hull which trained chemistry laboratory technicians at the time. He stayed there until graduation in 1939.
Chaput claims to have become a partisan of the independence of Quebec as part of the Groupe Reboul while preparing for a public debate on the subject of separatism. He and his team member Jacques Boulay had to argue for separatism in a debating contest against two comrades, Roland DompierreFather of famous Quebec musician François Dompierre. and Réal Denis. His team lost the debate held on December 10, 1937, but the readings he did to learn about the subject (Séparatisme, doctrine constructive by Dostaler O'Leary, old issues of the paper La Nation by Paul Bouchard, history books on the Patriots of the 19th century) convinced him of the merit of the idea in itself. He considered that he and the other pioneers of the contemporary movement for the independence of Quebec did nothing but update an idea that goes back to the British conquest of French Canada in 1760..
since May 1939 when the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada granted him a job interview in the month of December of the same year. He was hired as chemistry laboratory aid to doctor Richard Helmuth Fred Manske for a salary of $70 CAD per month. Meanwhile, he was enrolled in the Canadian Army due to conscription.. In May 1941, he was mobilized at the Saint-Jérôme military camp. His training as a doughboy was interrupted when the federal government decided to employ all technicians in the war effort. He therefore returned to the NRC labs. He entered the service of the Canadian Army's Chemical Warfare Laboratories in January 1943. When he returned home to Hull at the end of the war, he was a Sergeant Major
.
and Saguenay River
. Their first son, Luc, was born in the fall of 1946. Later came Danielle (1949), Sylvie (1952) and Jérôme (1955)..
in Lachine
. The living conditions in the student's residence for married veterans were poor. After suffering from pleurisy
, the doctor ordered his wife to leave the overheated rooms where the Chaput family was living and take some rest. Madeleine packed her things and returned to Marcel's parents in Hull, while he rented a room in Montreal in the neighbourhood of McGill. During his study years, he left Montreal for Hull every weekend to see his wife and children. He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry
from McGill University on October 6, 1952. His doctoral thesis was on calcium
and the alpha cells of the pancreas
.
, where he performed operational research.
In October 1958, he signed a secret study entitled The Proportion of French-Canadian Soldiers in the Canadian Army.. This study would have helped General Jean-Victor Allard to convince the federal government to create francophone units in the Canadian Army. He signed another study on the same subject in October 1960 The study is entitled A Study of Promotion Examination Results for French-Speaking and English-Speaking Canadian Army Infantry Officers, Ottawa, MDN, CAORE Report number 110, October 1960
From 1953 to 1959, in parallel to his lab work, he completed the studies of a masters in psychology at the Institute of Psychology of the University of Ottawa.
, interviewed by Jean-Marc Léger in Le Devoir, Chaput was determined to enter into contact with Barbeau, founder of the Alliance laurentienne
. Chaput invited Barbeau to hold a conference in Hull on August 28, 1959, in an old parish room of the Notre-Dame Church. Some twenty people were present. Chaput met André D'Allemagne at this time. Barbeau invited Chaput to give a short speech in the Saint-Stanislas room of Montréal on September 13, 1959 as part of a soirée organized to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham
..
During that period, although his patriotic and charitable activities were numerous,In his native region of Outaouais of which Hull is one of the main towns, he founded or lead several organizations: the Alliance française
chapter of the Ottawa-Hull region, the Institut des sciences, the Société des conférences, the Emmaüs Movement
, etc. — Chaput 2007, p. 254 his militant activity for independence was limited to writing letters in newspapers on the topic of the hour. He wanted to do much more. He wrote a memoir to the attention of the chancellerie of the Ordre de Jacques Cartier (OJC), a secret organization of which he was a member. In response to Chaput's initiative, Pierre Vigeant, editorialist at Le Devoir
and grand chancelier of the OJC, created a study committee on the question of independence of Quebec. Chaput was part of a group of five commissioners who gathered in Montreal in December 1959 and January 1960. As secretary to the commission, Chaput wrote the final report which concluded that French Canadians enjoy the right to self-determination and that members of the OJC should feel free to support independence if such was their political conviction. The direction of the OJC however remained closed to the idea of independence. On March 17, 1961, he was expelled from the secret organization after having insisted on learning the position of the Order on constitutional and political matters.
On May 7, 1960, Chaput presided a meeting that received Raymond Barbeau as speaker at the Le Grenier theatre in Hull. Following the meeting, there were discussions on the possibility to form a Club Laurentie in Hull, but after reflecting on the matter for a while the small group of independence supporters in Hull decided to remain autonomous.
On September 10, 1960, he took part with 20 other people to the foundation of the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale (RIN) which took place at the Auberge Le Châtelet in Morin Heights in the Laurentides. He was elected vice president of the RIN.
After having participated in the organizing of a parade for independence in the streets of Montreal which took place on February 11, 1961, he gave a conference entitled Le Canada français à l'heure de la décisionFrench Canada at the Hour of Decision as part of a public meeting held at the Gesù on April 4, 1961, during a Stanley Cup
semi-final.Montreal lost 3 to 0 against Chicago and was taken out of the playoff http://notrehistoire.canadiens.com/season/1960-1961 The RIN rejoiced at being able to fill up a room under such circumstances. Pierre Bourgault
also gave a speech that night..
On May 23, 1961, he again spoke as part of a public meeting organized by the RIN, this time at the Ermitage in Montreal. His conference was entitled Quand deux nationalismes s'affrontent.When Two Nationalisms Face Each Other
, NDP
Member of Parliament for Port Arthur
in Ontario, asked Minister of National Defense Douglas Harkness
about a certain doctor Chaput. Harkness was forced to admit that the Marcel Chaput, public speaker promoting the independence of Quebec was the same Marcel Chaput employed by his department.Debates of the House of Commons of Canada (Hansard), 24th Parliament, 4th Session, question number 266, p. 3941 The Parliament of Canada took interest in his case again after some French-speaking MPs received invitations to attend a public meeting of the RIN announced for May 30, 1961 at the École normale de Hull. The day of the event, Chaput was called in the office of doctor Keyston, vice-president of the Defence Research Board, and was threatened with firing if he gave his talk. Knowing that Keyston did not have the powers to fire him, he decided the give his talk as planned..
He took three weeks of vacation during the summer and dedicated his free time to the writing of a book. On September 18, 1961, he launched the political essay Pourquoi je suis séparatiste at the Cercle universitaire de Montréal.. His book was published by Jacques Hébert
of Éditions du Jour. It was translated into English as Why I Am a Separatist
some months later.
The general student association of Université Laval
invited him to participate to the Canadian Affairs Conference, an event conducted under the honorary patronage of the Governor General of Canada
. Several political figures gave speeches during the conference, among them Jean Lesage
, David Fulton
and René Lévesque
. The talk Chaput was scheduled to give was on Friday November 17, a working day. He asked for a day off without pay, but Keyston, still his superior, refused. He was suspended from his research functions for two weeks - without pay - after he decided to attend the Canadian Affairs Conference anyway. On Monday December 4, 1961, day of his return to work after his suspension, he resigned.
On January 7, 1962, he quit Hull and settled in Montreal to maintain basic operations for the RIN. He continued to give talks here and there, usually with Pierre Bourgault. Although it never missed a chance to attack Premier Jean Lesage and all federalists in Quebec City or in Ottawa, the RIN adopted resolutions as part of a special congress on June 9 and 10 - to support the government of Quebec in its project to nationalize electricity companies. When during fall Jean Lesage announced there would be general elections on November 14, Chaput thought the time right to present himself as candidate for the RIN in the electoral district of Bourget
. On September 30, the RIN took the unanimous decision to support his candidacy, but as an independent candidate, not as candidate of the RIN. The majority of RIN members did not think the time had come to turn their organization into a political party..
On Saturday October 20, during a congress held in the gymnasium of the Collège Mont-Saint-Louis, Guy Pouliot succeeded Chaput in the presidency of the RIN. Chaput remained an executive, but refused one of the two vice-presidencies he was offered.
On November 14, 3,299 voters of Bourget supported Marcel Chaput, who improvised an electoral campaign with $2,500 CAD and dozens of volunteers. He was not elected Member of Parliament, but judged the experience instructive and useful to the independence movement.
He proposed to the RIN the creation of a position of political organizer, but the council rejected his proposal, still of opinion that the time had not yet come to be active in the political arena. He decided to quit the RIN on December 17, 1762 in order to dedicate all his energies to the foundation of a pro-independence political party.
(PRQ). The PRQ gave itself a constitution, a political programme and a journal, Le Républicain. Chaput announced that the first congress of the PRQ would be held on March 16 and 17 at Queen Elizabeth Hotel
in Montreal..
On March 3, 1963, the RIN resolved to become a political party.
On May 7, Raymond Barbeau announced in a press conference that he decided to dissolve the Alliance laurentienne
to unite the strength of its members to that of the PRQ. In June, the PRQ permanent office moved from the 2nd floor of the old baseball stadium on rue de Lorimier to 4270, rue Papineau.
. He announced it publicly on July 8, 1963..
His first hunger strike lasted 33 days, from Monday July 8 to Saturday August 10, 1963. The PRQ's chest filled up with $100,000 CAD. He started a second fast on November 18, 1963. He interrupted it after 63 day, on January 21, 1964, at the insistence of his entourage and sympathizing journalists. The PRQ however only gained $20,000 with his second fast and consequently he resigned his position as party leader. During the period of his two fasts he often made the headlines and continued to be invited to give talks on the subject of independence for Quebec.
A sympathizer of the RIN, José Leroux, principal of the private Collège Valéry, offered him a position as teacher of biology and history. He taught part time between September 1964 and spring 1965. He continued to search for a more stable employment the whole year but without success.
On February 5, 1965, in a moment of discouragement, he addressed a public letter to the media to lament the fate Quebec society reserved to those who advocated independence. His letter had some effect. Interesting offers were made to him from outside Quebec, but he did not wish to live in exile. The only serious offer than was made to him from Quebec was that made by Doctor Elliot, one of his teachers at McGill University, who had since then become dean of the Department of Biochemistry, who offered him the direction of a research chair. He refused the job on principles, asserting he did not wish to work in English in Quebec, and also for pragmatic reasons, because he wished for a flexible schedule that would allow him to continue his militancy for independence in his spare time.
In 1966, his wife entered the job market while he started studying naturopathy. It is only in 1968 that he found a permanent job through an association with Eugène Caraghiaur, with whom he founded Pétro-Montréal, a company delivering heating oil. He was shareholder, director and seller for this company until he his retirement in 1983.
During the year 1965, he launched J'ai choisi de me battre: petite histoire très personnelle du séparatisme québécois, de Maurice Duplessis à Claude Wagner, a book of 160 pages, published by Club du livre du Québec in Montreal.
, who was president of the party at the time. The RIN presented him as candidate in the electoral district of Papineau
for the Quebec general election of 1966
. He came in third behind Roland Théorêt of Union nationale and Bernard Desrosiers of the Parti libéral du Québec
, with 2,504 votes (10.32%)."Élections dans Papineau (1923-1973)", in QuébecPolitique.com, retrieved July 13, 2010
He continued as a simple militant of the party until its dissolution in October 1968.
(PQ), the members of the RIN gathered and voted the dissolution of their party. Most RIN militants became members of the PQ. Marcel Chaput was one of those who made that choice.
He held a weekly editorial column in Le Journal de Montréal
from 1968 to 1970.
On December 11, 1969, he took part in the "manif anti-manif"Anti-demonstration demo organized by poet Gaston Miron
to denounce the municipal regulation forbidding public demonstrations in the streets of Montreal.A regulation promulgated on November 12, 1969. With several others, he was arrested by the police of Montreal and imprisoned. Regulation 3926, contested in court, was declared unconstitutional by the Quebec Superior Court
, before being finally declared constitutional, several years later, by the Supreme Court of Canada
."Dupond v. City of Montreal et al.", in Judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada, LexUM, retrieved July 13, 2010
In the spring of 1970, he presented himself as candidate for nomination by the PQ in the electoral district of Maisonneuve
. It was however Robert Burns
who won the nomination and was subsequently elected MNA on April 29.
He held a political column entitled "La comédie canadienne" in the weekly Point de mire during the year 1971.
He presented himself as candidate for nomination by the PQ in the electoral district of Terrebonne
in 1973, but Guy Mercier was elected. Mercier did not however win a plurality of votes at the election of October 29.
In 1975, he and his wife Madeleine received the first Patriot of the Year
award given by the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society
of Montréal.
He was chief editor ofIci Québec magazine in 1977.
at the end of his life. He died at Hôpital Jean-Talon in Montreal on January 19, 1991. His funeral took place at Église Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire in the Villeray neighbourhood. André D'Allemagne pronounced a funeral oration to his memory on the day of his funeral. He was buried at the Notre-Dame de Hull cemetery on January 25, 1991..
Periodicals
Articles
Other
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Along with some 20 other people including André D'Allemagne
André D'Allemagne
André D'Allemagne was a translator, political science teacher, essayist and a militant for the independence of Quebec from Canada...
and Jacques Bellemare, he was a founding member of the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale
Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale
The Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale was a political organization dedicated to the promotion of Quebec national independence from Canada.-History:...
(RIN).
Family and education
Marcel Chaput was born in HullHull, Quebec
Hull is the central and oldest part of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the west bank of the Gatineau River and the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly opposite Ottawa. As part of the Canadian National Capital Region, it contains offices for twenty thousand...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
on October 14, 1918.. His mother was Lucia Nantel, and his father, Narcisse Chaput, was a proofreader at Her Majesty's Printer in Ottawa.. He was the youngest child and sole boy in a family of seven children. He did not know three of his sisters, who died at a young age. The three sisters he knew were Rolande, Gabrielle and Madeleine. He was ten years old when his sister Rolande, 16, died of a septicemia..
After doing his primary schooling at École Lecomte, he entered the Collège Notre-Dame de Hull. He was enrolled in the cadet corps of his college. One of his teachers, Brother Ernest, led him to an interest in science. From that time he cherished the dream of being a chemist. In 1934, he joined the Groupe ReboulNamed in honour of father Delisle Reboul. of the Association catholique de la jeunesse canadienne-française.
In September 1933, he left his college in Hull and registered at the High School of the University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
, an institution which he left only two years later to enter, in September 1935, the École technique de Hull which trained chemistry laboratory technicians at the time. He stayed there until graduation in 1939.
Chaput claims to have become a partisan of the independence of Quebec as part of the Groupe Reboul while preparing for a public debate on the subject of separatism. He and his team member Jacques Boulay had to argue for separatism in a debating contest against two comrades, Roland DompierreFather of famous Quebec musician François Dompierre. and Réal Denis. His team lost the debate held on December 10, 1937, but the readings he did to learn about the subject (Séparatisme, doctrine constructive by Dostaler O'Leary, old issues of the paper La Nation by Paul Bouchard, history books on the Patriots of the 19th century) convinced him of the merit of the idea in itself. He considered that he and the other pioneers of the contemporary movement for the independence of Quebec did nothing but update an idea that goes back to the British conquest of French Canada in 1760..
Technician
He had been working at the Eddy paper manufactureE. B. Eddy Company
The E. B. Eddy Company was a Canadian pulp and paper company, now a division of Domtar Inc. It was originally incorporated in 1886 as The E. B. Eddy Manufacturing Company with Ezra Butler Eddy as its president. Eddy had begun business in 1854 making and selling wooden matches out of his home in...
since May 1939 when the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada granted him a job interview in the month of December of the same year. He was hired as chemistry laboratory aid to doctor Richard Helmuth Fred Manske for a salary of $70 CAD per month. Meanwhile, he was enrolled in the Canadian Army due to conscription.. In May 1941, he was mobilized at the Saint-Jérôme military camp. His training as a doughboy was interrupted when the federal government decided to employ all technicians in the war effort. He therefore returned to the NRC labs. He entered the service of the Canadian Army's Chemical Warfare Laboratories in January 1943. When he returned home to Hull at the end of the war, he was a Sergeant Major
Sergeant Major
Sergeants major is a senior non-commissioned rank or appointment in many militaries around the world. In Commonwealth countries, Sergeants Major are usually appointments held by senior non-commissioned officers or warrant officers...
.
Mariage
On September 15, 1945, he married Madeleine Dompierre, daughter of Odias Dompierre and Marie-Méa Marquis, at the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Catholic Church in Hull. The couple spent six days cruising on the Saint Lawrence RiverSaint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...
and Saguenay River
Saguenay River
The Saguenay River is a major river of Quebec, Canada.It drains Lac Saint-Jean in the Laurentian Highlands, leaving at Alma and running east, and passes the city of Saguenay. It drains into the Saint Lawrence River at Tadoussac....
. Their first son, Luc, was born in the fall of 1946. Later came Danielle (1949), Sylvie (1952) and Jérôme (1955)..
Doctorate
In September 1946, he moved to Peterson Residence, a disaffected aviation camp acquired by McGill UniversityMcGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
in Lachine
Lachine
Lachine may refer to a number of places in the Montreal area:* Lachine, Quebec, the community* Lachine Rapids* Lachine Canal* The Fur Trade at Lachine National Historic Site...
. The living conditions in the student's residence for married veterans were poor. After suffering from pleurisy
Pleurisy
Pleurisy is an inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs. Among other things, infections are the most common cause of pleurisy....
, the doctor ordered his wife to leave the overheated rooms where the Chaput family was living and take some rest. Madeleine packed her things and returned to Marcel's parents in Hull, while he rented a room in Montreal in the neighbourhood of McGill. During his study years, he left Montreal for Hull every weekend to see his wife and children. He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
from McGill University on October 6, 1952. His doctoral thesis was on calcium
Calcium
Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...
and the alpha cells of the pancreas
Pancreas
The pancreas is a gland organ in the digestive and endocrine system of vertebrates. It is both an endocrine gland producing several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, as well as a digestive organ, secreting pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes that assist...
.
Return to NRC
After receiving his Ph.D., he returned to Hull and began working for the NRC in Ottawa again. He initially resumed the same work he had been doing during the war, then transferred to the department of chemical research in Shirley Bay. In 1955, he transferred to the Defence Research BoardDefence Research and Development Canada
Defence Research and Development Canada, also Defence R&D Canada or DRDC , is an agency of the Department of National Defence , whose purpose is to respond to the scientific and technological needs of the Canadian Forces...
, where he performed operational research.
In October 1958, he signed a secret study entitled The Proportion of French-Canadian Soldiers in the Canadian Army.. This study would have helped General Jean-Victor Allard to convince the federal government to create francophone units in the Canadian Army. He signed another study on the same subject in October 1960 The study is entitled A Study of Promotion Examination Results for French-Speaking and English-Speaking Canadian Army Infantry Officers, Ottawa, MDN, CAORE Report number 110, October 1960
From 1953 to 1959, in parallel to his lab work, he completed the studies of a masters in psychology at the Institute of Psychology of the University of Ottawa.
Foundation of the RIN
After reading "Où va le Canada français? L'exercice de la pleine souveraineté est essentiel à l'épanouissement du Québec"Where is French Canada going? The exercise of full sovereignty is essential to the blooming of Quebec by Raymond BarbeauRaymond Barbeau
Raymond Barbeau was a teacher, essayist, literary critic, political figure and naturopath. He was one of the early militants of the contemporary independence movement of Quebec....
, interviewed by Jean-Marc Léger in Le Devoir, Chaput was determined to enter into contact with Barbeau, founder of the Alliance laurentienne
Alliance laurentienne
The Alliance laurentienne was a political organization founded by Raymond Barbeau on January 25, 1957. It was an early organization of the contemporary independence movement of Quebec but, unlike the majority of those to come, it adopted somewhat right-wing, even corporatist politics...
. Chaput invited Barbeau to hold a conference in Hull on August 28, 1959, in an old parish room of the Notre-Dame Church. Some twenty people were present. Chaput met André D'Allemagne at this time. Barbeau invited Chaput to give a short speech in the Saint-Stanislas room of Montréal on September 13, 1959 as part of a soirée organized to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham
Battle of the Plains of Abraham
The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War...
..
During that period, although his patriotic and charitable activities were numerous,In his native region of Outaouais of which Hull is one of the main towns, he founded or lead several organizations: the Alliance française
Alliance française
The Alliance française , or AF, is an international organisation that aims to promote French language and culture around the world. created in Paris on 21 July 1883, its primary concern is teaching French as a second language and is headquartered in Paris -History:The Alliance was created in Paris...
chapter of the Ottawa-Hull region, the Institut des sciences, the Société des conférences, the Emmaüs Movement
Emmaus (charity)
Emmaus is an international charitable movement founded in France in 1949 by the priest Abbé Pierre to combat poverty and homelessness.Since 1971 regional and national initiatives have been grouped under a parent organisation, Emmaus International, now run by Jean Rousseau, representing 310 groups...
, etc. — Chaput 2007, p. 254 his militant activity for independence was limited to writing letters in newspapers on the topic of the hour. He wanted to do much more. He wrote a memoir to the attention of the chancellerie of the Ordre de Jacques Cartier (OJC), a secret organization of which he was a member. In response to Chaput's initiative, Pierre Vigeant, editorialist at Le Devoir
Le Devoir
Le Devoir is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and the rest of Canada. It was founded by journalist, politician, and nationalist Henri Bourassa in 1910....
and grand chancelier of the OJC, created a study committee on the question of independence of Quebec. Chaput was part of a group of five commissioners who gathered in Montreal in December 1959 and January 1960. As secretary to the commission, Chaput wrote the final report which concluded that French Canadians enjoy the right to self-determination and that members of the OJC should feel free to support independence if such was their political conviction. The direction of the OJC however remained closed to the idea of independence. On March 17, 1961, he was expelled from the secret organization after having insisted on learning the position of the Order on constitutional and political matters.
On May 7, 1960, Chaput presided a meeting that received Raymond Barbeau as speaker at the Le Grenier theatre in Hull. Following the meeting, there were discussions on the possibility to form a Club Laurentie in Hull, but after reflecting on the matter for a while the small group of independence supporters in Hull decided to remain autonomous.
On September 10, 1960, he took part with 20 other people to the foundation of the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale (RIN) which took place at the Auberge Le Châtelet in Morin Heights in the Laurentides. He was elected vice president of the RIN.
After having participated in the organizing of a parade for independence in the streets of Montreal which took place on February 11, 1961, he gave a conference entitled Le Canada français à l'heure de la décisionFrench Canada at the Hour of Decision as part of a public meeting held at the Gesù on April 4, 1961, during a Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
semi-final.Montreal lost 3 to 0 against Chicago and was taken out of the playoff http://notrehistoire.canadiens.com/season/1960-1961 The RIN rejoiced at being able to fill up a room under such circumstances. Pierre Bourgault
Pierre Bourgault
Pierre Bourgault was a French Canadian politician and essayist of Breton origin, as well as an actor and journalist from Quebec, Canada. He is most famous as a public speaker who advocated sovereignty for Quebec from Canada.- Profile :Bourgault was born in East Angus in the Estrie region of Quebec...
also gave a speech that night..
On May 23, 1961, he again spoke as part of a public meeting organized by the RIN, this time at the Ermitage in Montreal. His conference was entitled Quand deux nationalismes s'affrontent.When Two Nationalisms Face Each Other
Suspension
Chaput's increasingly active involvement in public affairs did not fail to grab the attention of his employer, the federal government in Ottawa. In the House of Commons of the Canadian Parliament, Douglas FisherDouglas Fisher
Douglas Fisher or Doug Fisher may refer to:* Douglas Fisher , British sailor & Fourth Sea Lord* Doug Fisher , British actor* Doug Fisher , Canadian politician and columnist...
, NDP
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
Member of Parliament for Port Arthur
Port Arthur (electoral district)
Port Arthur was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1935 to 1979. It was located in the province of Ontario...
in Ontario, asked Minister of National Defense Douglas Harkness
Douglas Harkness
Douglas Scott Harkness, PC, OC, GM, ED , was a Canadian politician, teacher, farmer and former Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Canadian Artillery....
about a certain doctor Chaput. Harkness was forced to admit that the Marcel Chaput, public speaker promoting the independence of Quebec was the same Marcel Chaput employed by his department.Debates of the House of Commons of Canada (Hansard), 24th Parliament, 4th Session, question number 266, p. 3941 The Parliament of Canada took interest in his case again after some French-speaking MPs received invitations to attend a public meeting of the RIN announced for May 30, 1961 at the École normale de Hull. The day of the event, Chaput was called in the office of doctor Keyston, vice-president of the Defence Research Board, and was threatened with firing if he gave his talk. Knowing that Keyston did not have the powers to fire him, he decided the give his talk as planned..
He took three weeks of vacation during the summer and dedicated his free time to the writing of a book. On September 18, 1961, he launched the political essay Pourquoi je suis séparatiste at the Cercle universitaire de Montréal.. His book was published by Jacques Hébert
Jacques Hébert
Jacques René Hébert was a French journalist, and the founder and editor of the extreme radical newspaper Le Père Duchesne during the French Revolution...
of Éditions du Jour. It was translated into English as Why I Am a Separatist
Why I Am a Separatist
Why I Am a Separatist is a political essay by Marcel Chaput, a militant for the independence of Quebec from Canada. It was published in French in 1961 and in English translation in 1962.- Context :...
some months later.
The general student association of Université Laval
Université Laval
Laval University is the oldest centre of education in Canada and was the first institution in North America to offer higher education in French...
invited him to participate to the Canadian Affairs Conference, an event conducted under the honorary patronage of the Governor General of Canada
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
. Several political figures gave speeches during the conference, among them Jean Lesage
Jean Lesage
Jean Lesage, PC, CC, CD was a lawyer and politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as the 19th Premier of Quebec from 22 June 1960, to 16 August 1966...
, David Fulton
David Fulton
David Paul Fulton is a former English cricketer. He was a right-handed opening batsman, who occasionally bowled left-arm orthodox spin. He played first-class cricket for Kent for 15 years until 2006...
and René Lévesque
René Lévesque
René Lévesque was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, , the founder of the Parti Québécois political party and the 23rd Premier of Quebec...
. The talk Chaput was scheduled to give was on Friday November 17, a working day. He asked for a day off without pay, but Keyston, still his superior, refused. He was suspended from his research functions for two weeks - without pay - after he decided to attend the Canadian Affairs Conference anyway. On Monday December 4, 1961, day of his return to work after his suspension, he resigned.
President of the RIN
On October 28, 1961, shortly before he resigned his job, he was elected President General of the RIN during the organization's annual congress in Montreal. Under his presidency, the RIN gave itself an emblem, founded the journal L'indépendance and created a political committee which prepared the programme adopted by members during the annual congress of October 1962.On January 7, 1962, he quit Hull and settled in Montreal to maintain basic operations for the RIN. He continued to give talks here and there, usually with Pierre Bourgault. Although it never missed a chance to attack Premier Jean Lesage and all federalists in Quebec City or in Ottawa, the RIN adopted resolutions as part of a special congress on June 9 and 10 - to support the government of Quebec in its project to nationalize electricity companies. When during fall Jean Lesage announced there would be general elections on November 14, Chaput thought the time right to present himself as candidate for the RIN in the electoral district of Bourget
Bourget (electoral district)
Bourget is a provincial electoral district in Quebec, Canada that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The district is located in Montreal. The riding was created in 1960 from a part of Laval...
. On September 30, the RIN took the unanimous decision to support his candidacy, but as an independent candidate, not as candidate of the RIN. The majority of RIN members did not think the time had come to turn their organization into a political party..
On Saturday October 20, during a congress held in the gymnasium of the Collège Mont-Saint-Louis, Guy Pouliot succeeded Chaput in the presidency of the RIN. Chaput remained an executive, but refused one of the two vice-presidencies he was offered.
On November 14, 3,299 voters of Bourget supported Marcel Chaput, who improvised an electoral campaign with $2,500 CAD and dozens of volunteers. He was not elected Member of Parliament, but judged the experience instructive and useful to the independence movement.
He proposed to the RIN the creation of a position of political organizer, but the council rejected his proposal, still of opinion that the time had not yet come to be active in the political arena. He decided to quit the RIN on December 17, 1762 in order to dedicate all his energies to the foundation of a pro-independence political party.
Foundation of the PRQ
On February 23, 1963, he called a press conference to announce the opening of the office of the Parti républicain du QuébecParti républicain du Québec
The Parti républicain du Québec or PRQ was a political party that advocated the independence of Quebec from Canada...
(PRQ). The PRQ gave itself a constitution, a political programme and a journal, Le Républicain. Chaput announced that the first congress of the PRQ would be held on March 16 and 17 at Queen Elizabeth Hotel
Queen Elizabeth Hotel
The Queen Elizabeth Hotel is a grand hotel in Montreal, Quebec. Completed in 1958, it was built by the Canadian National Railway, but was later sold to Canadian Pacific Hotels, now Fairmont Hotels and Resorts...
in Montreal..
On March 3, 1963, the RIN resolved to become a political party.
On May 7, Raymond Barbeau announced in a press conference that he decided to dissolve the Alliance laurentienne
Alliance laurentienne
The Alliance laurentienne was a political organization founded by Raymond Barbeau on January 25, 1957. It was an early organization of the contemporary independence movement of Quebec but, unlike the majority of those to come, it adopted somewhat right-wing, even corporatist politics...
to unite the strength of its members to that of the PRQ. In June, the PRQ permanent office moved from the 2nd floor of the old baseball stadium on rue de Lorimier to 4270, rue Papineau.
Hunger strikes
The PRQ rapidly accumulated a debt of $50,000 following the purchase of advertising time on television in April, May and June. To finance the party, Chaput took the decision to go on a hunger strikeHunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
. He announced it publicly on July 8, 1963..
His first hunger strike lasted 33 days, from Monday July 8 to Saturday August 10, 1963. The PRQ's chest filled up with $100,000 CAD. He started a second fast on November 18, 1963. He interrupted it after 63 day, on January 21, 1964, at the insistence of his entourage and sympathizing journalists. The PRQ however only gained $20,000 with his second fast and consequently he resigned his position as party leader. During the period of his two fasts he often made the headlines and continued to be invited to give talks on the subject of independence for Quebec.
Seeking employment
After the dissolution of the PRQ on January 21, 1964, Chaput dedicated his time to searching for employment to support his family. Since his resignation as a civil servant in December 1961, he had been living on his own savings and an insufficient public service pension to meet the needs of his wife and children. The task of finding a new job turned out to be difficult and he held various non permanent jobs. His label of "separatist" closed many doors to him. Two insurance companies and one mutual fund company, though interested in him because of his notoriety, refused to hire him in the end because, he was told, the direction feared losing the Anglophone clientele. At the end of the March 1964, his friend Jacques Lamarche suggested he apply for a teaching position with the Fédération des collèges classiques. He never received an answer from the federation. Lamarche therefore invited him to join him at the journal Le Laissez Passer published by the Conseil d'expansion économique (CEE), at the time presided by Sarto Marchand and directed by Bernard Tessier. After much negotiation, the direction of the CEE accepted that Chaput collaborates in the journal, but under a pseudonym. Under the name Gilles Côté, he participated to the publication of two economic dossiers during the summer of 1964, the first on general insurance, the second on life insurance. The direction of the CEE eventually came under a new leadership who learned that Chaput was being employed by the organization. He was fired and never paid for the work he had already performed..A sympathizer of the RIN, José Leroux, principal of the private Collège Valéry, offered him a position as teacher of biology and history. He taught part time between September 1964 and spring 1965. He continued to search for a more stable employment the whole year but without success.
On February 5, 1965, in a moment of discouragement, he addressed a public letter to the media to lament the fate Quebec society reserved to those who advocated independence. His letter had some effect. Interesting offers were made to him from outside Quebec, but he did not wish to live in exile. The only serious offer than was made to him from Quebec was that made by Doctor Elliot, one of his teachers at McGill University, who had since then become dean of the Department of Biochemistry, who offered him the direction of a research chair. He refused the job on principles, asserting he did not wish to work in English in Quebec, and also for pragmatic reasons, because he wished for a flexible schedule that would allow him to continue his militancy for independence in his spare time.
In 1966, his wife entered the job market while he started studying naturopathy. It is only in 1968 that he found a permanent job through an association with Eugène Caraghiaur, with whom he founded Pétro-Montréal, a company delivering heating oil. He was shareholder, director and seller for this company until he his retirement in 1983.
During the year 1965, he launched J'ai choisi de me battre: petite histoire très personnelle du séparatisme québécois, de Maurice Duplessis à Claude Wagner, a book of 160 pages, published by Club du livre du Québec in Montreal.
Return to RIN
He returned to the RIN in August 1965, at the invitation of Pierre BourgaultPierre Bourgault
Pierre Bourgault was a French Canadian politician and essayist of Breton origin, as well as an actor and journalist from Quebec, Canada. He is most famous as a public speaker who advocated sovereignty for Quebec from Canada.- Profile :Bourgault was born in East Angus in the Estrie region of Quebec...
, who was president of the party at the time. The RIN presented him as candidate in the electoral district of Papineau
Papineau (provincial electoral district)
Papineau is a provincial electoral district located in the province of Quebec. Situated in the Outaouais region, Papineau includes the Buckingham and Masson-Angers sectors of the City of Gatineau as well as the eastern end of the Gatineau sector and the entire MRC Papineau including the...
for the Quebec general election of 1966
Quebec general election, 1966
The Quebec general election of 1966 was held on June 5, 1966, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, Canada. The Union Nationale , led by Daniel Johnson, Sr, defeated the incumbent Quebec Liberal Party, led by Jean Lesage....
. He came in third behind Roland Théorêt of Union nationale and Bernard Desrosiers of the Parti libéral du Québec
Parti libéral du Québec
The Quebec Liberal Party is a centre-right political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955....
, with 2,504 votes (10.32%)."Élections dans Papineau (1923-1973)", in QuébecPolitique.com, retrieved July 13, 2010
He continued as a simple militant of the party until its dissolution in October 1968.
Parti Québécois
In October 1968, two weeks after the founding congress of the Parti QuébécoisParti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
(PQ), the members of the RIN gathered and voted the dissolution of their party. Most RIN militants became members of the PQ. Marcel Chaput was one of those who made that choice.
He held a weekly editorial column in Le Journal de Montréal
Le Journal de Montréal
Le Journal de Montréal is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and is the largest-circulation French-language newspaper in North America. Established by Pierre Péladeau in 1964, it is owned by the Sun Media division of Quebecor Media. It is also Canada's largest tabloid...
from 1968 to 1970.
On December 11, 1969, he took part in the "manif anti-manif"Anti-demonstration demo organized by poet Gaston Miron
Gaston Miron
Gaston Miron, was an important poet, writer, and editor of the Quebec post Quiet Revolution. His masterpiece, L'homme rapaillé has sold over 100 000 copies, in Quebec and overseas, ensuring Miron as one of the most widely read authors of...
to denounce the municipal regulation forbidding public demonstrations in the streets of Montreal.A regulation promulgated on November 12, 1969. With several others, he was arrested by the police of Montreal and imprisoned. Regulation 3926, contested in court, was declared unconstitutional by the Quebec Superior Court
Quebec Superior Court
Quebec Superior Court is the highest trial Court in the Province of Quebec, Canada. It consists of 144 judges who are appointed by the federal government.Chief Justices : [partial listing]* Edward Bowen...
, before being finally declared constitutional, several years later, by the Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
."Dupond v. City of Montreal et al.", in Judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada, LexUM, retrieved July 13, 2010
In the spring of 1970, he presented himself as candidate for nomination by the PQ in the electoral district of Maisonneuve
Maisonneuve (provincial electoral district)
Maisonneuve was a provincial electoral district located in the province of Quebec, Canada. Situated in the Montreal region, it was formed in 1912 from parts of Hochelaga...
. It was however Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
who won the nomination and was subsequently elected MNA on April 29.
He held a political column entitled "La comédie canadienne" in the weekly Point de mire during the year 1971.
He presented himself as candidate for nomination by the PQ in the electoral district of Terrebonne
Terrebonne (provincial electoral district)
Terrebonne is a provincial electoral district in Quebec, Canada that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. Created in 1829, it includes large portions of the city of Terrebonne.-Members of Legislative Assembly:...
in 1973, but Guy Mercier was elected. Mercier did not however win a plurality of votes at the election of October 29.
In 1975, he and his wife Madeleine received the first Patriot of the Year
Patriot of the Year
The Prix Patriote de l'année is an honorary title created in 1975. It is awarded by the patriotic Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society to people "having distinguished [themselves] in the defense of the interests of Quebec and the democracy of peoples, in memory of the Patriotes of the 1830s."- Laureates...
award given by the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society
Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society
The Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society is an institution in Quebec dedicated to the protection of Quebec francophone interests and to the promotion of Quebec Sovereignism. Its current President is Mario Beaulieu....
of Montréal.
He was chief editor ofIci Québec magazine in 1977.
Naturopathy
From 1968 to 1970, after receiving a Ph.D. in naturopathy from the Institut de naturopathie du Québec, he was a consultant at the Clinique naturiste de Montréal.Raymond Barbeau is founder of the Institut de naturopathie du Québec and the Clinique naturiste de Montréal During that period, he published the book L'école de la santé and in collaboration with chemist Tony Le Sauteur, Dossier pollution. He was editor of La Santé, a paper doing popular education on health matters.Death
He suffered from Parkinson's diseaseParkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
at the end of his life. He died at Hôpital Jean-Talon in Montreal on January 19, 1991. His funeral took place at Église Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire in the Villeray neighbourhood. André D'Allemagne pronounced a funeral oration to his memory on the day of his funeral. He was buried at the Notre-Dame de Hull cemetery on January 25, 1991..
Publications
Essays- Pourquoi je suis séparatiste (1961)
- Why I Am a Separatist (1962)
- J'ai choisi de me battre: petite histoire très personnelle du séparatisme québécois de Maurice Duplessis à Claude Wagner (1965)
- L'école de la santé (1969)
- Dossier pollution (1971) with Tony LeSauteur
- Les citations de René Lévesque (1977) with Jean Côté
- Référendum de René Lévesque (1979) with Jean Côté
Periodicals
- L'indépendance (1962–1968)
- Le Républicain (1963)
- Ici Québec (1977–1978)
Articles
- "La révolution en marche", in L'Homme nouveau (1964)
- "Les indépendantistes doivent-ils quelque chose à Duplessis?", in Ici Québec (1977)
- "Par son génie musical, cet enfant devrait étonner le monde", in Ici Québec (1978)
- "Référendum. Dossier spécial", in Ici Québec (1978)
Other
- Manifeste du Parti républicain du Québec (1963)
- Mémoire présenté à titre personnel par Marcel Chaput au Comité parlementaire de la constitution (1964)
Distinctions
- 1975 - Patriot of the YearPatriot of the YearThe Prix Patriote de l'année is an honorary title created in 1975. It is awarded by the patriotic Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society to people "having distinguished [themselves] in the defense of the interests of Quebec and the democracy of peoples, in memory of the Patriotes of the 1830s."- Laureates...
award by the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society of MontrealSaint-Jean-Baptiste SocietyThe Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society is an institution in Quebec dedicated to the protection of Quebec francophone interests and to the promotion of Quebec Sovereignism. Its current President is Mario Beaulieu.... - 1983 - Bronze medal of the Mouvement national des Québécoises et Québécois awarded by the SNQ of Outaouais
- 1995 - A street of the former City of Hull (today GatineauGatineauGatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is the fourth largest city in the province. It is located on the northern banks of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and together they form Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census...
) was baptized in his honour
External links
- Excerpt of Why I Am a Separatist by Marcel Chaput (alternative translation)