The death of Bernard Descôteaux, former director of Dutyencourages me to publicly salute the discreet colleague I knew in 1974.
I leave it to those who encountered him on a daily basis to comment on his great competence. I simply want to acknowledge his generosity.
In 2009, a year before the hundredth anniversary of Duty, the news department of Radio-Canada asked me to prepare a one-hour documentary on the hundred years of daily life. With the help of director Johanne Ménard, we spent six months searching through more than 3,400 archive pieces (written, audio and visual) in order to tell the story of “ THE Duty of the century “. This research and verification work was made possible, among other things, thanks to the generosity of Bernard, who was managing the newspaper at the time. He put at our disposal the collaboration of his artisans, including those responsible for the archives. We had unlimited access to “Mr. Descôteaux”, who, despite his responsibilities as director, always took the time to listen to our requests and qualify the treatment angles that we had chosen.
On January 8, 2010, the documentary was presented on public television. We must thank not only my ex-colleague Bernard, but also the management of Radio-Canada, who was able to isolate a few artisans for six months to bear witness to the important role played by a newspaper like The duty. Rain or shine, this newspaper has been in step with the evolution of French-Canadian, then Quebec, society. Thank you, Bernard.
To watch on video