Alphonse-Marie Parent, (April 2, 1906 – October 7, 1970) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

priest, educator and academic administrator. He is best known for having given his name to the

Parent Report A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male t ...

on the reform of Quebec's education system. Born in Saint-Jean-Chrysostome, Quebec, the son of Alphonse Parent and Marie Gosselin, he studied at the

Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

and the

séminaire de Québec The Seminary of Quebec (French: Séminaire de Québec) is a Catholic community of diocesan priests in Quebec City founded by Bishop François de Laval, the first bishop of New France in 1663. History The Séminaire de Québec is a Society of d ...

. He was ordained a priest in 1929, and obtained a doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University of Louvain. During the 1940s, he worked for the Austrian imperial family and for Pope

Pius XII Pius ( , ) Latin for "pious", is a masculine given name. Its feminine form is Pia. It may refer to: People Popes * Pope Pius (disambiguation) * Antipope Pius XIII (1918-2009), who led the breakaway True Catholic Church sect Given name * Pius B ...

. He was vice-rector of Université Laval from 1949 to 1954 and rector there from 1954 until 1960. In 1965, he received an honorary doctorate from

Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène S ...

, which later became

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

. From 1961 to 1966, he was President of the Royal Commission of Enquiry on Teaching in Quebec. The commission's recommendations led to the creation of the Quebec's Colleges of general and vocational education (CEGEPs) which replaced the

classical college Classical colleges (''collèges classiques'') were a type of school in Quebec. Since its inception in the 17th century, up until the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, classical college with its eight years of training in classics was the necessary path ...

s. In 1967 he was made a Companion of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. His funeral took place at the

Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral Notre Dame, French for "Our Lady", a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, most commonly refers to: * Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris, France * University of Notre Dame, a university in Indiana, United States ** Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the ...

References

Fonds Alphonse-Marie Parent
1906 births 1970 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Companions of the Order of Canada People from Chaudière-Appalaches Rectors of Université Laval 20th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests {{Canada-academic-bio-stub