Jacques Ferron (January 20, 1921 – April 22, 1985) was a Canadian physician and author.
Jacques Ferron was born in
Louiseville
Louiseville is a town in the Mauricie region of the province of Quebec in Canada. It is located near the mouth of the 'Rivière-du-Loup', on the north shore of Lac Saint-Pierre.
Louiseville is twinned with Soissons in France and Cerfontaine in ...
, Quebec, the son of Joseph-Alphonse Ferron and Adrienne Caron. On March 5, 1931 his mother died. He attended
Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf
, motto_translation = I chose the path of truth
, established =
, type = Private secondary school and Collegiate
, religious_affiliation = Non-denominational, formerly Jesuit
, endowment =
, dean ...
but was expelled in 1936. He continued his education at
Collège Saint-Laurent and then was readmitted at Jean-de-Brébeuf, only to be expelled again. In September 1941, he was accepted at
Université Laval
Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montmo ...
where he studied medicine and on July 22, 1943 he married a fellow student, Madeleine Therrien, whom he divorced in 1949.
November 1943, he enrolled in the Canadian army as a medic and received the acceptance in June 1945. He trained in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
and
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
and after that was sent to Quebec and
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
as a medic. When relieved of duty in 1946, he settled in
Rivière-Madeleine, Quebec. His time in
Gaspésie was the inspiration for many of his stories written later. He may have had to leave Rivière-Madeleine because he was denounced from the pulpit as a communist by the local parish priest. In 1947, his father died.
In 1948, he returned to Montréal. In 1949, he moved to
Longueuil
Longueuil () is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie administrative region and the central city of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil. It sits on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River directly acr ...
, Quebec and his first book, ''L'ogre'', was published. He lived among working-class people that lived in Longueuil-annexe in those years, often offering his services for free-refusing to be paid, or omitting to ask. Not in the name of charity, but rather of solidarity- his giving was politically motivated, and he understood that his training as a doctor-his privilege- was paid for
by the misery that the francophone working class was experiencing at that time.
In 1951, he began a 30-year collaboration with ''L'Information médicale et paramédicale''. On June 28, 1952, he married Madeleine Lavallée. In 1954 he became a member of the board of the
Canadian Peace Congress
The Canadian Peace Congress (abbr. CPCon) is an anti-imperialist group founded in 1949 by Canadian minister James Gareth Endicott in response to the new dangers to peace posed because of the Cold War. It described itself as "a place where people ...
. In 1959 he helped in the foundation of the magazine ''Situations''. In 1960, with the help of Raoul Roy, he created l'Action socialiste pour l'indépendance du Québec.
In 1962, he received the
Governor General's Award for French fiction for his book ''Contes du pays incertain''.
Ferron was a candidate for the
CCF in the
1958 federal election in the
Longueuil
Longueuil () is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie administrative region and the central city of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil. It sits on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River directly acr ...
district. He finished third with 6.8% of the vote. In 1963 he founded the
Parti Rhinocéros, which he described as "an intellectual
guerrilla party". He also began to write for the magazine ''
Parti pris
Parti may refer to:
*Parti (surname), a Hungarian surname, and a list of people with the name
*Parti (architecture), ''Parti'' (architecture), the organizing concepts behind an architect's design
*
*, a lake in Russia
See also
*Partie (disamb ...
''. He also ran for the
RIN in the district of
Taillon
Taillon is a provincial electoral district in the Montérégie region of Quebec, Canada that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. It comprises part of the borough of Le Vieux-Longueuil of the city of Longueuil.
It was created for ...
in the
1966 provincial election and outperformed other candidates of the same party, finishing third with a score of 18.3%.
Les résultats électoraux depuis 1867, Taillon à Trois-Rivières
/ref> In 1969, he became a member of the Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...
.
In 1977, the Quebec government awarded him the Prix Athanase-David
The Prix Athanase-David is a literary award presented annually by the government of Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (w ...
. He was named an honorary member of the Union des écrivains québécois in 1981.
He died of a heart attack 1985 at his home in St-Lambert, Quebec, aged 64.
His life was dramatized by playwright Michèle Magny
Michèle Magny (born 1944) is a Canadian actress, playwright and theatre director from Montreal, Quebec. in her 2004 play ''Un carré de ciel''.["Magny, Michèle"]
''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'', July 17, 2020.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferron, Jacques
Canadian male novelists
Writers from Quebec
Governor General's Award-winning fiction writers
1921 births
1985 deaths
People from Louiseville
Prix Athanase-David winners
20th-century Canadian novelists
Canadian novelists in French
Canadian military doctors
Canadian medical writers
Candidates in Quebec provincial elections
Canadian political party founders
Rhinoceros Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons
Candidates in the 1972 Canadian federal election
Candidates in the 1974 Canadian federal election
Rhinoceros Party of Canada candidates in the 1979 Canadian federal election
Rhinoceros Party of Canada candidates in the 1980 Canadian federal election
Quebec candidates for Member of Parliament
Université Laval alumni
Physicians from Quebec
20th-century Canadian male writers
Canadian male non-fiction writers
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidates for the Canadian House of Commons