Édouard Montpetit (; 26 September 1881 – 27 May 1954) was a

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

Biography

Montpetit was born on 26 September 1881 in

Montmagny, Quebec Montmagny () is a city in the Montmagny Regional County Municipality within the Chaudière-Appalaches region of Quebec, Canada. It is the county seat and had a population, as of the 2021 Canadian census, of 10,999. The city is on the south shore ...

. Called to the bar in 1904, Montpetit worked as a lawyer and taught political economy before he obtained a scholarship in 1907, which made him the first holder of such a scholarship to be officially sent by the province of Quebec to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In Paris he studied

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

, receiving a degree in both. He founded the ''École des sciences sociales'' in 1920, which he then ran. Between 1920 and 1950 he was active at the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

, where he was secretary general, dean of the faculty of social sciences, member of the senate and member of the board of direction. He taught at the business school affiliated with the Université de Montréal, the École des hautes études commerciales (HEC) from 1910 to 1939, as well as at the university's law school, from 1910 to his death. He died on 27 May 1954 and was entombed at the

Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery (, ) is a rural cemetery located in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which was founded in 1854. The entrance and the grounds run along a part of Côte-des-Neiges Ro ...

in Montreal.

Recognition

In 1935 Montpetit was awarded the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

Lorne Pierce Medal The Lorne Pierce Medal is awarded every two years by the Royal Society of Canada to recognize achievement of special significance and conspicuous merit in imaginative or critical literature written in either English or French. The medal was first ...

. In 1967, a monument to Montpetit by

Sylvia Daoust Sylvia Daoust, Order of Canada, CM, National Order of Quebec, CQ RCA (May 24, 1902 – July 19, 2004) was a Canadian sculptor who was one of the first female sculptors in Quebec. She studied at the Council of Arts & Manufactures and the Éco ...

was unveiled on the Université de Montréal campus and the name of nearby Maplewood Avenue in

Côte-des-Neiges Côte-des-Neiges (, ) is a neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at the geographic centre of the Island of Montreal on the western slope of Mount Royal and is part of the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. His ...

was changed to boulevard Édouard-Montpetit. The name of Maplewood Avenue in

Outremont Outremont () is an affluent residential borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It consists entirely of the former city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec. The neighbourhood is inhabited largely by F ...

did not change.Map, Maplewood Avenue shown at bottom right
/ref> A

CEGEP A CEGEP ( or ; , ; also written CÉGEP and cegep) is a publicly funded college providing general, professional, academic or a mix of programs; they are exclusive to the province of Quebec's education system. A loanword from French, it ori ...

Longueuil, Quebec 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 ...

( Collège Édouard-Montpetit), a high school in the east of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and a

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

in the

Montreal metro The Montreal Metro (, ) is a rubber-tired underground rapid transit system serving Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The metro, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), was inaugurated on October 14, 1966, during the tenure ...

system are also named in his honour.

Bibliography

A partial list of Montpetit's published works includes: * ''Au service de la tradition française'' (1920) * ''Pour une doctrine'' (1931) * ''Les cordons de la bourse'' (1935) * ''Le front contre la vitre'' (1936) * ''La conquête économique'' (1938–1940) * ''Reflets d'Amérique'' (1941) * ''Propos sur la montagne: Essais'' (1946)

References

External links

*
Collège Édouard-Montpetit

Édouard-Montpetit metro station
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montpetit, Edouard 1881 births 1954 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Members of the Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique Writers from Quebec Canadian writers in French Canadian non-fiction writers Burials at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery