Jacques Lacoursière, (4 May 1932 – 1 June 2021) was a Canadian TV host, author and historian specialized in

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, ...

's history.

Life and career

Lacoursière was born in

Shawinigan Shawinigan (; ) is a city located on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 49,620 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Shawinigan is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) ...

, in 1932, in the

Mauricie Mauricie () is a traditional and current administrative region of Quebec. La Mauricie National Park is contained within the region, making tourism in Mauricie popular. The region has a land area of 35,860.05 km2 (13,845.64 sq mi) and a popu ...

region, and then resided in Beauport in the Greater Quebec area. Lacoursière held an M.A. degree in history from the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

. He is renowned not only for his talents as a researcher, but also for his ability to communicate and make history accessible to a larger audience. Jacques Lacoursière first destined himself for priesthood and bought himself a cassock to that effect. He later became interested in law and then lent a hand to the family business. At the end of the 1950s, he enters the ''École normale Maurice-L.-Duplessis'' at

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

to study pedagogy and obtains a baccalaureate at the end of his twenties. The historian admits that he was not originally made for history and that he loved literature. It was as a student of

Denis Vaugeois Denis Vaugeois (born September 7, 1935) is a French language, French-speaking author, publisher and historian from Quebec, Canada. He also served as a National Assembly of Quebec, Member of the National Assembly (MNA) from 1976 Quebec general ...

at the ''École normale'' that Jacques Lacoursière began to take a strong interest in history. The professor, then younger than him, gave him the bug for what would become a late vocation. Lacoursière marries Monique Dubois at Trois-Rivières in 1957. In the 1960s, he is a collaborator at ''Libre Nation'', a nationalist and independentist newspaper. His great friend Denis Vaugeois in a tribute from 2018 writes: "Maybe a nationalist, but not enough to be uncomfortable in federal institutions." (Quote translated from French). He enters Quebec’s public service at the ''Ministère de l'éducation'' in 1968 and the ''Ministère des affaires intergouvernementales'' as political attaché in 1969. Fascinated by history, he worked a long time for the history magazine ''Nos Racines'', work that cannot be found again today as it was never published again. The author took his « Nos Racines » texts and reworked them for his new collection ''Histoire populaire du Québec'', in five books. He is one of the creators of ''Le Boréal Express'', with Denis Vaugeois and Gilles Boulet.

Career in the medias

In 1977 and 1978, Jacques Lacoursière was the researcher for the ''Duplessis'' TV series, realized by

Denys Arcand Georges-Henri Denys Arcand (; born June 25, 1941) is a Canadian filmmaker. During his four decades career, he became one of the most internationally-recognized director from Quebec, earning widespread acclaim and numerous accolades for his "inten ...

and shown at Radio-Canada. In 1996, he participated in the making of the history TV series ''Épopée en Amérique'' realized by

Gilles Carle Gilles Carle, (July 31, 1928As fully funny, Carle had pleasure to always give himself one year less, and to let people think wrongly that he was born in 1929, "The Year of the Big World Crash": see on the Quebec French newspapers that many write ...

. Lacoursière is the brother of novel writer Louise Lacoursière.

Passing

Jacques Lacoursière passed away on 1 June 2021, at 89 years old. Pointe-a-Calliere Public Market 2012 - 20

Honors

* 1999: Prix de l'Institut canadien de Québec * 2002: Knight of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec ( French: ), also known as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Governor Jean-Pierre Côté granted royal assent to the (Natio ...

* 2003: Médaille de l'Académie des lettres du Québec * 2006: Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

* 2007: Prix Adagio * 2007: Prix Gérard-Morisset * 2008:

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(France) * 2008: Honorary degree from the

Université de Moncton The Université de Moncton is a Canadian French-language university in New Brunswick. It includes campuses in Edmundston, Moncton, and Shippagan. The university was founded in 1963 following the recommendations of the royal commission on hig ...

, Edmundston Campus * 2008: Honorary degree from the

Université du Québec à Montréal The (UQAM; ), is a French language, French-language public university, public research university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the system. UQAM was founded on April 9, 1969, by the government o ...

* 2012: Commissaire à la Commission de toponymie du Québec * 2015: Knight of the

Order of La Pléiade The Order of La Pléiade (; ) is an honorary order of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. It recognizes people who particularly distinguished themselves in the service of its ideals of cooperation and friendship, promoting the rol ...

« Invitation aux médias – Ordre de la Pléiade – Seize personnalités québécoises décorées »
sur assnat.qc.ca, 13 mars 2015

Published books

Over the years Lacoursière has written many books: * 1968: ''Histoire, 1534–1968'', published by the Boréal Express team, under supervision by

and Jacques Lacoursière * 1969: ''Les Troubles de 1837–38'', Denis Vaugeois and Jacques Lacoursière * 1970: ''L'Acte de Québec et la Révolution américaine'', Denis Vaugeois and Jacques Lacoursière * 1972: ''Notre histoire: Québec—Canada'', Jacques Lacoursière * 1972: ''Alarme citoyens ! : l'affaire Cross-Laporte, du connu à l'inconnu, '' Montréal, Éditions La Presse, 1972 * 1974: ''Québec 72–73'' * 1976: ''Canada—Québec : synthèse historique'', Denis Vaugeois and Jacques Lacoursière * 1979: ''Il était une fois... le Québec'', research under supervision by Jacques Lacoursière * 1991: ''Mémoires québécoises'', by Jacques Mathieu and Jacques Lacoursière * 1995–1997: ''Histoire populaire du Québec'', in five books, Éditions du Septentrion (reissue of the first four books in 2013, 2020 and 2021) * 1995: ''A People's History of Quebec'', a condensed version of the five "Histoire populaire du Québec" books, by Jacques Lacoursière and translated into English by Robin Philpot, publisher of Baraka Books, associated with Denis Vaugeois, publisher of Éditions Septentrion, the original publisher of the French-Canadian five books series * 1997: ''Monsieur le président : les orateurs et les présidents depuis 1792'' * 2000: ''La Chanson comme miroir de poche : conversation avec Jacques Lacoursière /

Gilles Vigneault Gilles Vigneault (; born 27 October 1928) is a Canadian poet, Publishing, publisher, singer-songwriter, and Quebec nationalism, Quebec nationalist and Quebec sovereignty movement, sovereigntist. Two of his songs are considered by many to be Qu ...

'' * 2000: ''Canada-Québec : synthèse historique, 1534–2000'', new edition, Jacques Lacoursière, Jean Provencher and Denis Vaugeois ; new edition updated in 2011 under the title: ''Canada-Québec, 1534–2010'' * 2001: ''Shawinigan, 100 ans d'histoire : De l'effervescence au renouveau'', Éditions des Glanures, Shawinigan, 2001. 326 p. * 2002: ''Une histoire du Québec / racontée par Jacques Lacoursière'', Éditions du Septentrion, Québec * 2005: ''L'Île-des-Sœurs : d'hier à aujourd'hui'' , Montréal, * 2008: ''Histoire populaire du Québec'', (book 5) * 2008: ''Québec et sa région'' , Montréal, Éditions de l'Homme

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lacoursiere, Jacques 1932 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Canadian historians Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian writers in French Knights of the National Order of Quebec Members of the Order of Canada People from Shawinigan Academics from Quebec Historians from Quebec Writers from Quebec University of Ottawa alumni 21st-century Canadian historians