On the terrace with Monique Simard | A committed woman

This summer, our journalists spend time each week on a terrace with a personality for a friendly discussion. Silvia Galipeau sat down with Monique Simard to talk about her impressive career.

A strong-willed woman with feminism tattooed on her heart, Monique Simard has been in the spotlight for 50 years now. Now at the head of the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership, the former president of SODEC and long-time union activist continues to be in demand from all sides. But what drives this fighter with the eternal bob so much? We asked her.

At almost 75 years old, when she could be taking it easy and enjoying a well-deserved vacation, she has accepted yet another big project, and not the least: the co-presidency, at the request of the Ministry of Culture and Communications, of the Working Group on the Future of Quebec Television and Film Production, alongside Philippe Lamarre, President of Urbania.

When we know the issues involved, from the loss of advertising revenue (to the benefit of the famous GAFAM, Google, Meta, etc.) to the challenges of financing, without forgetting the question of consumption (hello young people, who are no longer consuming Quebec products, so to speak), let’s say that we are taking it easy on the project. “The whole ecosystem has changed!” she will say, with multiple examples to support her, clearly very familiar with her issues. “We are at a crossroads!”

When we met, at the beginning of the summer, coincidentally, Sweden had just granted parental leave to grandparents. Did you know that? In terms of parental leave, it is to Monique Simard that we owe the first paid maternity leave in the public sector, 45 years ago now, following the Common Front negotiations in 1979. However, the chair of the board of directors of the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership, met on the terrace of the café on the Esplanade Tranquille (another nice achievement, admittedly of a completely different order), who spent nearly 20 years of her career in unions, including nearly 10 as vice-president of the CSN, does not even brag about it.

She is rather pleased with another great victory, still union, a few years later. For good reason, it is strangely topical to this day: “We negotiated – in 1982! – the first paid leave for voluntary termination of pregnancy!” she says, in her hoarse but determined voice. “I don’t know if you realize what that meant at that time! There were crucifixes everywhere at the CSN!” This was also well before abortion was officially decriminalized by the Supreme Court (in 1988).

During those years, she worked like a pro with her team. Seven days a week. And many nights. “And if it had not been for my commitment, I would not have stayed. But we mobilized against injustice! And I always believed in collective work, I never did anything alone,” she takes care to emphasize.

It will come as no surprise to learn that Monique Simard was called to account two years ago when the American Supreme Court overturned the decision Roe v. Wadewhich guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion in the United States. “With my sister, I went to the courthouse to demonstrate!”

Better still: it’s her “fuel,” adds the woman who doesn’t even drink coffee. “And I’ve transposed this fuel into culture!”

While her commitments may seem scattered at first glance (from women’s rights to urban culture to film production, Monique Simard worked for 10 years at Productions Virages, a company founded by her husband Marcel Simard, who died in 2010, in addition to directing the NFB’s French program), she sees a very clear “common thread” in them. “I have always been looking for more social justice,” she says, “a better redistribution of wealth, and that includes culture, accessibility to culture, as much to creation, production as to consumption. […] And women’s rights come with it!” Even the documentaries she produced dealt with social justice, she argues.

Aside: you should know that if Monique Simard discovered activism at university in the 1960s, she was also a hostess at Expo 67 (at the youth pavilion), at 17 years old. “The best summer of my life! It made me aware of the state of the world!” The following year, she participated in the documentary Wow by Claude Jutras (the topless woman on the poster is her, she confirms, blushing).

To this end, she continues to regret that the filmmaker’s memory was thus cancelled, following the revelations of pedophilia that we know about. “And I still regret it,” she says without hesitation. “It happened in a week, 10 days. I still can’t believe it. He wasn’t there to defend himself. It was something quite cruel. It was such a tidal wave. And everyone who raised their hand was ostracized…” Strangely enough, not her. Why, exactly? At the time, in 2016, she was president of SODEC. “I couldn’t be ostracized,” says our legendary outspoken interlocutor. End of the parenthesis.

Throughout the interview, Monique Simard generously answers our questions, from the most delicate to the most anecdotal. We also learn that she had just watched Celine Dion’s documentary (I am: Celine Dion) and which she devoured The version that no one cares about (Emmanuelle Pierrot), just like Jeanne’s daughters by historian Andrée Lévesque. She will tell us that she has no intention of returning to politics (she made a brief stint with the Parti Québécois, interrupted due to a mix-up in her municipal electoral registration) and continues to find the system “patriarchal.” “Look at the structure of the parties,” she says, “there is a leader, and everything goes through there.” Oh yes, and we will also know that she organizes memorable 5 to 7s, several Wednesdays in the summer at her home. “I love hosting!” she says with a laugh.

She smiles, gets excited and converses with impressive flow. She has consistency in her ideas, a keen knowledge of her files, as we have said, but also of current events.

Speaking of current events, it is impossible not to talk to her about the future of festivals, which are starving. “We are working on it, I know first-hand that festivals are not doing well,” she replies. A committee has been set up for this purpose and all sorts of proposals are on the table. The idea was notably put forward by the former general director of Montréal en lumière Jacques Primeau to tax businesses and real estate developers who benefit from the spinoffs of said festivals.

A proposal is expected in the fall.

In her free time (!), Monique Simard also works on the revitalization of the Latin Quarter and sits on the board of the Vitrine culturelle. And in all her commitments, we find her famous hobbyhorse for social justice. “Accessibility to culture! Festivals, Silvia, that’s what it’s all about!” […] People wouldn’t be able to afford these concerts. Accessibility to culture means developing a taste for culture, at school and elsewhere!” Among other things, as you will have understood: in the street.

She won’t budge. And she won’t budge either, we can guess. “I was very close to Léa Roback and Madeleine Parent,” she concludes. “They were committed until their last breath. I will be like that. Because the values ​​of social justice, fairness, better distribution of wealth, I will always have them wherever I am. That’s me!”

Who is Monique Simard?

• President of the Board of Directors of the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership since 2019.
• She co-chairs the Working Group on the Future of Quebec Television and Film Production.
• She was president of the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles du Québec (SODEC) between 2013 and 2018, after having directed the NFB’s French program (from 2008 to 2013).
• She devoted nearly 20 years to unionism, including eight as VP of the CSN (from 1983 to 1991).