Jean-Pierre Ferland will be entitled to a national funeral, if his family wishes, announced Sunday the Prime Minister of Quebec, François Legault.
(Re)read “Jean-Pierre Ferland (1934-2024): lucky we had him”
“Even if Jean-Pierre Ferland has left us, his work will always remain in our memories. Mr. Ferland, on behalf of the Quebec nation, farewell and thank you for everything,” declared Mr. Legault at a press conference on Sunday. The singer died Saturday afternoon at the age of 89.
The Prime Minister will contact the family of Jean-Pierre Ferland, in order to propose a national funeral for this “great builder of Quebec song”.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
The Premier of Quebec, François Legault
François Legault remembers listening to the album on repeat YELLOW.
It was extraordinary. It was as good as the Beatles, but it was in French, it was from Quebec, it was the rest of us.
François Legault, Premier of Quebec, about the album YELLOW
More recently, during the pandemic, Mr. Legault used the words of Send to home to remind Quebecers not to contaminate themselves. “He himself repeated this message in front of the cameras,” he recalled about Mr. Ferland.
“An immense legacy, an immense sorrow”
On the sidelines of the press conference on the Action Plan on French, ministers also wanted to say a word about the departure of Jean-Pierre Ferland.
“He leaves us an immense legacy, an immense sorrow too. He is someone who has made an exceptional contribution to Quebec song and culture,” declared the Minister of the French Language, Jean-François Roberge.
The Minister of Immigration, Francisation and Integration, Christine Fréchette, underlined the loss of a “giant” and “someone who marked Quebec for generations”.
“He knew how to touch me personally from a very young age,” said the minister, who spent two months in Argentina when she was nine years old. When she had the Quebec blues, she listened to the album YELLOW. “I found that he embodied modern Quebec and that reconnected me. »
The Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, thanked him for the happiness he gave him by singing A chance we have at his wedding. “He made us experience great happiness, a great moment of emotion, and he did it without asking for anything in return.”
He was an absolutely genuine and generous man.
Bernard Drainville, Minister of Education
For his part, the Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, learned of the departure of Jean-Pierre Ferland with “a blow to the stomach”. “It’s a giant, it’s a monument, not only of Quebec song, but more broadly of the Francophonie,” he declared.
“He is no longer here on this earth, but his work is so strong and significant that I am convinced that what we are left with will remain forever, like our language, I hope,” concluded the Minister of International Relations and of the Francophonie, Martine Biron.