Tribute to Denise Bombardier | “A huge thank you”

(Montreal) “A great Quebecer”, “a convinced feminist”, “a pioneer”: hundreds of people gathered Friday at the Saint-Viateur church, in Outremont, to pay a last tribute to Denise Bombardier.

“Three days before her death, she told me that her life had been a spectacle. She did not want her death to be one, “said at the opening of the ceremony Guillaume Sylvestre, son of M^me Bomber.

It is therefore in accordance with the last wishes of the columnist, author and host that the ceremony took place in sobriety. And it was soberly, but not without emotion, that her son said to her, at the conclusion of his funeral oration: “Goodbye, mother. »

Shortly thereafter followed a choir rendition of the song The paper boatwhich was particularly fond of the granddaughter of Mrs.^me Bombardier, Rose, whom she would have “so much wanted to see grow up”.

Met before the ceremony, Prime Minister François Legault believes that M^me Bombardier, a “great Quebecer”, will have enabled Quebecers to have “confidence in themselves”. Twice, he thanked her for her services to the Quebec nation, acknowledging in passing the humor of the late feminist. “We also lose a funny person” whose company was pleasant, he said.

The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, wished to pay tribute to a lady who had the “courage of her opinions”. “He was someone who fully assumed his participation in the public debate,” he said. And his participation was substantial. “He will remember from M^me Bombardier the ability she had, true to her convictions, to take controversies upon herself. “If we think it, we say it,” he said.

Simon Jolin-Barrette, Minister of Justice, agreed. “M^me Bombardier is a great Quebecer, someone who made Quebec shine abroad and who had a deep love of the French language. He is also someone who has paved the way for many journalists. He will keep good memories of the one he has known over the past few years. “She was quick-witted, proud of her opinions and had a great capacity for reflection. »

” Outstanding ”

In addition to the many public figures gathered on the church square – Louise Latraverse, Pierre Karl Péladeau and Jean Charest were present – ​​many of those whom Denise Bombardier inspired saw fit to pay homage to her.

Pierrette Langevin is one of them. She wanted to attend this ceremony to greet a great lady “who was not afraid” and a “self-made woman”. “She made herself and I admired her audacity,” she said. At all levels. Whether for the cause of women or for that of the Francophonie, she was involved in so many issues. »

Amazed by the rebellious nature of Denise Bombardier, Ms.^me Langevin remembers his frontal attack on writer Gabriel Matzneff on the set ofApostrophes, in 1990, as a “successful” moment. M^me Bombardier had then condemned with calm and determination the intimate relations that the author maintained with minors.

At her side, her husband, Jean-Marie, is of the opinion that Quebec is losing in the person of Denise Bombardier a “remarkable” being. If he went from the top of his 87 years to the Saint-Viateur church, it was to greet a “French speaker as we want, as it is hardly done anymore”.

Coming from a working-class family in the Villeray district of Montreal, Denise Bombardier worked for more than 30 years at Radio-Canada, where she hosted a number of programs, including international present, Weekly-Sunday And Point. After her years of service on state television, she began to collaborate with the TVA network, then held a column in the daily The duty. Until recently, she wrote columns in The Journal of Montreal.

Denise Bombardier died on July 4, taken away by a devastating cancer. A bit like the paper boat sung by Jean Humenry, M^me Bombardier will have been “driven by the wind and the current” throughout his life. However, in the opinion of those present at the tribute, she will have mostly faced it.