“But, it will be said, you are only a handful! You are fatally destined to disappear! Why persist in the struggle? We are only a handful, it is true; but we count for what we are, and we have the right to live! »
Posted at 5:22 p.m.
One would hardly find a journalist today capable of quoting from memory substantial excerpts from the speech delivered at Notre-Dame Cathedral by Henri Bourassa in the fall of 1910, an eloquent defense of the rights of Francophones in America. Paul Terrien could.
He did not need to be asked to evoke, always from memory, long passages of the intervention of Henri Bourassa, at the Champ-de-Mars, in 1885. A historical speech evoking “Riel, our brother is dead, victim of his dedication to the cause of the Métis, of which he was the leader. Victim of fanaticism and betrayal”.
Paul Terrien died Monday at Hull hospital. At 72, he had been struck two days earlier by a ruptured brain aneurysm. In these two historic interventions, we overlap a lot of what this career journalist was, who became a speechwriter for two prime ministers. The tribunes fascinated him, this history buff was also an ardent nationalist, a fierce advocate for Ontario’s Francophone minority.
Orality first; its main contribution will have been an exhaustive compendium of Great speeches in the history of Quebeca 450-page book, published in 2010 by Presses de l’Université Laval.
“Since French blood has flowed in America, in each generation, men and women have stood up, stood up, to defend not only their ideas or their opinion of the government of the day, but also and above all their conception of the future of the Quebec nation,” said Terrien, during a brief speech at the launch of this book. Oddly enough, Prime Minister Jean Charest and his former boss Brian Mulroney wanted to be present at the ceremony at Laval University. Mr. Charest had paid tribute to the author, who “had known how to draw the common thread from what has brought us together for 400 years, this desire that all Quebecers can do their part on this planet”. Jean Charest will also appoint Terrien as Quebec’s delegate in Ottawa, a position he held until 2013.
French
The taste and especially the respect for the past too, combined with an encyclopedic knowledge of Canadian history. “Paul was endowed with an exceptional talent. He had a magnificent pen and an extraordinary sense of history. His great culture has always impressed me, ”said Brian Mulroney in a statement written at the time of the death of his former collaborator. On Monday, the former prime minister also made a point of making a phone call to Paul’s sister, Marie.
A fierce defender of Francophone rights, he was quick to refer to Ontario Regulation 17 which, from 1912 to 1927, prohibited the use of French in Ontario schools. Mulroney publicly underlined his contribution to the preparation of the first Francophone Summit and his contribution, as a speechwriter, to the development of the Meech Lake agreement.
From 1985 to 1993, Mr. Terrien was a speechwriter for Mulroney. He did the same job later for Stephen Harper. The latter, on Twitter, also paid tribute to the deceased, recalling “his remarkable language skills, his passion for ‘good words’ and his pride in the history of our country”. “Even the most stressful times were not immune to his sense of humor and quick presence of mind, followed by a hearty laugh that I will never forget,” Mr. Harper continued. . He had also been chief of staff to Lawrence Cannon, when the latter held the portfolios of Transport, then of Foreign Affairs. “He had a very refined sense of humor, a fine connoisseur of the history of Canada and Franco-Ontarians,” commented Mr. Cannon, for the newspaper The rightwho reported the death on Tuesday.
Still Franco-Ontarian
A just return of things. Because before being a political employee, Mr. Terrien had above all been a journalist. His grandfather, Esdras Terrien, had been one of the founders of the Right, a newspaper long owned by the Oblates in Ottawa. When Henri Bourassa, director of the Duty, was going to Ottawa on business, he was received by Mr. Terrien. Incidentally, Esdras Terrien was a kingpin, “commander counsel” of the Order of Jacques-Cartier. Nicknamed “La Patente”, this secret society was devoted to the defense of Francophones, left behind in the federal administration, and had more than 11,000 members at its peak in 1956.
Paul Terrien began his career at Rightin 1969. He was briefly at the Sun in Quebec thereafter, then moved to Quebec-Presse, a rather left-leaning weekly for which he was the representative on the Tribune de la presse at the National Assembly until its closure in 1974. Inexhaustible in terms of anecdotes, Mr. Terrien readily evoked the time when Gérald Godin, poet, future Minister, but then helmsman of the publication, asked them to wait a bit before cashing their paycheque, so frugal were the means. Thereafter, he will become assistant to the director of daily information The rightthen became his parliamentary columnist in the House of Commons in Ottawa.
Orality, history, French speakers, that is. But we cannot talk about Paul Terrien without also mentioning his fascination for the sea, sailing. Perhaps because the sea was part of the family imagination. Captain Joseph-Elzéar Bernier was the brother-in-law of his grandfather Esdras. His brother, Pierre, still criss-crosses the globe in a sailboat. Paul Terrien’s first book was also a reminder of the memoirs of JE Bernier. This titan has been forgotten by history even though, as the youngest captain of the British Empire, he had powerfully contributed to establishing Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic and sailed 250 times across the Atlantic. Mr. Terrien will publish later Quebec in the Age of Sailingin 1984, then The Golden Age of Shipbuilding in Quebecin 2016.