Chantal St-Cyr Hébert (born 1954) is a Canadian journalist and

political commentator A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

Life and career

Hébert was born on April 24, 1954, in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the c ...

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 ...

. She is the oldest of five children. In 1966 her family moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

where the 12-year-old was enrolled in École secondaire catholique Monseigneur-de-Charbonnel. She then attended Toronto's first public francophone high school,

École secondaire Étienne-Brûlé École secondaire Étienne-Brûlé () is a French-language public high school located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, named for a famous explorer. Part of the Conseil scolaire Viamonde, the school serves the French population of the Greater Toronto ...

.CBC News, Chantal Hébert
/span>, The National, Retrieved November 22, 2012 After high school, Hébert obtained a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in 1976 in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

from the

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all ...

Glendon College Glendon College is a public liberal arts college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Formally the federated bilingual campus of York University, it is one of the school's nine colleges and 11 faculties with 100 full-time faculty members and a student po ...

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and sta ...

.Book Lounge Canada, Author Spotlight – Chantal Hébert
Biography, Retrieved November 22, 2012 She is a

Senior Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

Massey College Massey College is a graduate residential college at the University of Toronto that was established, built and partially endowed in 1962 by the Massey Foundation and officially opened in 1963, though women were not admitted until 1974. It was mo ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. Hébert began her media career in 1975 at the regional television and radio newsroom of the French-language Radio-Canada facility in Toronto. She eventually became their reporter covering provincial politics at Queen's Park. After Radio-Canada appointed Hébert to cover federal politics on

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (french: Colline du Parlement, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their archit ...

, she worked as bureau chief for

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

's ''

Le Devoir ''Le Devoir'' (, "Duty") is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910. ''Le Devoir'' is one of few independent large-c ...

'' and '' La Presse''. She has written columns appearing in ''

The London Free Press ''The London Free Press'' is a daily newspaper based in London, Ontario, Canada. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Southwestern Ontario. History ''The London Free Press'' began as the ''Canadian Free Press'', founded by Willi ...

'', the ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The news ...

'', and the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', and currently in ''Le Devoir'', ''Metro'', and the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...

''.

The "Lobster Pot" story

In the summer of 1995, Hébert broke the story in ''La Presse'' that the 1995 Quebec referendum question's guarantee of an offer of partnership with the rest of Canada before declaring sovereignty following a "Yes" vote was a sham. Hébert wrote that in a June 13 meeting with fifteen foreign diplomats, Quebec Premier

Jacques Parizeau Jacques Parizeau (; August 9, 1930June 1, 2015) was a Canadian politician and Québécois economist who was a noted Quebec sovereigntist and the 26th premier of Quebec from September 26, 1994, to January 29, 1996. Early life and career Pariz ...

had stated that what mattered most was to get a majority vote from Quebec citizens for the proposal to secede from Canada because with that, Quebecers would be trapped "like lobsters thrown in boiling water" (in French: "''comme des homards dans l'eau bouillante''"). At the time, Parizeau was in France and in his place Quebec's deputy premier,

Bernard Landry Bernard Landry (; March 9, 1937 – November 6, 2018) was a Canadian politician who served as the 28th premier of Quebec from 2001 to 2003. A member of the Parti Québécois (PQ), he led the party from 2001 to 2005, also serving as the leader o ...

, who was not present at the meeting, declared categorically that the report was false. However, Hébert clarified her sources, stating that the information had been given to

Foreign Affairs Canada Global Affairs Canada (GAC; french: Affaires mondiales Canada; AMC)''Global Affairs Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (). is the department ...

in an official briefing by Jan Fietelaars, the Ambassador from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

who had been a participant at the meeting; in addition, she had backed up the claim by having it confirmed by three others: Ambassador Christian Fellens of

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, who was also present, and two other diplomatic attendees who spoke off the record. The remark hampered support for the "Yes" side as a result.

Pundit and author

Currently, Hébert is a national affairs writer with the ''

'' as well as a guest columnist for ''

'' and '' L'actualite''. She appears frequently on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French- ...

's '' The National'' as a member of the ''At Issue'' political panel hosted by

Rosemary Barton Rosemary Barton (born May 31, 1976) is a Canadian political journalist, currently serving as the chief political correspondent for CBC. In this role, she anchors her own Sunday morning news show, ''Rosemary Barton Live'', hosted the "At Issue ...

alongside fellow panelists

Andrew Coyne James Andrew Coyne (born December 23, 1960) is a Canadian columnist with ''The Globe and Mail'' and a member of the ''At Issue'' panel on CBC's '' The National''. Previously, he has been national editor for ''Maclean's'' and a columnist with ''Na ...

Althia Raj Althia Raj is a Canadian political journalist and a member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. She is a regular columnist with the Toronto Star. She was formerly the Ottawa Bureau Chief for ''HuffPost Canada'', where she managed the Quebec Cit ...

, and

Elamin Abdelmahmoud Elamin Abdelmahmoud is a Sudanese Canadian writer, culture and politics commentator, and podcast host based in Toronto, Ontario. He is best known as a culture writer for BuzzFeed and as host of ''Pop Chat'' and co-host of ''Party Lines'' with Ro ...

. Hébert is also a regular participant in various other French and English-language television and radio

current affairs Current affairs may refer to: News * ''Current Affairs'' (magazine) a bimonthly magazine of culture and politics. * Current affairs (news format): a genre of broadcast journalism * Current Affairs, former name for Behind the News Politics * An ...

programs. Hébert received the 2005 Public Service Citation of the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX). In February 2006, the Public Policy Forum voted her the Hyman Solomon Award for Excellence in Public Policy Journalism. She delivered the Michener Lecture at Queen's University in 2008. In June 2006, Hébert took two months' leave of absence from the ''Toronto Star'' to write her first book, '' French Kiss: Stephen Harper's Blind Date with Quebec'' (

Knopf Canada Random House of Canada was the Canadian distributor for Random House, Inc. from 1944 until 2013. On July 1, 2013, it amalgamated with Penguin Canada to become Penguin Random House Canada. Company history Random House of Canada was established in ...

, February 2007, ). ''French Kiss'' received shortlist honours for the 2008 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction. In September 2014, her second book was released, ''The Morning After: The 1995 Quebec Referendum and the Day that Almost Was'' (in French, ''Confessions post-référendaires: Les acteurs politiques de 1995 et le scénario d'un oui''). The book, cowritten with

Jean Lapierre Jean-Charles Lapierre (May 7, 1956 – March 29, 2016) was a Canadian politician and television and radio broadcaster. After retiring from the government in 2007, he served as a political analyst in a variety of venues. He was Paul Martin's Qu ...

, was a shortlisted nominee for the 2015 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.

Honours and awards

She was invested as an Officer 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 cen ...

on 23 November 2012, giving her the right to the

post-nominal letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...

"OC" for Life. ;Honorary degrees

References

External links

*Speakers Spotlight, Chantal Hébert – Political Raconteur & Columnist
/span>, biography, Retrieved November 22, 2012 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hebert, Chantal 1954 births 20th-century Canadian journalists 21st-century Canadian journalists 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian columnists Canadian political commentators Canadian political journalists Canadian women journalists Canadian women non-fiction writers Franco-Ontarian people Glendon College alumni Living people Officers of the Order of Canada Toronto Star people University of Toronto people Canadian women columnists Writers from Ottawa Writers from Toronto 20th-century Canadian women writers