Michel Chartrand

Michel Chartrand
Chartrand in 2007
Born	(1916-12-20)20 December 1916 Outremont,Quebec,Canada
Died	12 April 2010(2010-04-12)(aged 93) Montérégie,Quebec,Canada
Occupation	Trade unionist
Spouse	Simonne Monet-Chartrand ​ ​ (m.1942)​
Children	Alain Chartrand

Michel Chartrand(20 December 1916 – 12 April 2010) was a Canadiantrade unionleader fromQuebec.

Born inOutremontand trained as atypographyand print worker, Chartrand became involved in union activism in the 1940s. During theGrande Noirceur,he took part in majorstrike actionssuch as theAsbestos strikein 1949, theLouiseville Strikein 1952 and theMurdochville strikein 1957. In 1968, he became president of the Montreal central council of theConfédération des syndicats nationaux(CSN). In 1970, during theOctober crisis,he was arrested without a warrant and put in jail for four months. He was president of the CSN Montreal central council until 1978.

During the 1980s, he took action for the rights of injured workers; he created theFondation pour l’aide aux travailleuses et travailleurs accidentés(FATA) in 1984. He promoted progressive values andsyndicalismin the media until the end of his life. He endorsedQuébec solidaire.

Chartrand is considered to have been a promoter ofsocialism,a severecritic of capitalism,and a leading figure of syndicalism in Quebec.He was married tofeministwriter and union activistSimonne Monet-Chartrand.

Education

Born on 20 December 1916 in theMontrealneighbourhood ofOutremont,he studied atCollège Jean-de-Brébeufsecondary schoolandcollège Sainte-Thérèse.In 1933, he trained to be aTrappist monk,but left after two years and worked with aRoman Catholic Churchyouth movement. In the1939 Quebec election,he campaigned for theAction libérale nationale(ALN) party. In 1940, he enrolled in a history course at theUniversité de Montréaltaught byLionel Groulx,aQuebec nationalistRoman Catholic priest.

Chartrand is reported to have joined the Canadian Officer Training Corps in 1941 following the outbreak ofWorld War IIin September 1939. This program, conducted across Canada, allowed university students to be credited with military service while continuing their studies without being posted to active duty. Chartrand protested that theCanadian Armydocuments were only in the English language and returned to the Trappists' monastery in the village ofOka,Quebec.

In a 1994 interview,Suzette Rouleau,Pierre Trudeau's sister, described engaging in a fist fight with Chartrand, to prevent him bullying her baby brother, when they were all teenagers.

Opponent of conscription

Following the federal government's 1942 announcement of a national plebiscite on militaryconscription,Michel Chartrand became an outspoken opponent and joined theBloc populaire canadienmovement to campaign against conscription.

In February 1942, he was married toSimonne MonetbyLionel Groulxat theNotre-Dame Basilica.By the time theParliament of Canadaput conscription in place in November 1944, Chartrand was the father of three children.

In the1945 federal election,he was theBloc Populairecandidate in theChambly-Rouvilleriding. He lost in a landslide to hisLiberal Party of Canadaopponent.

Seeking elected office

In 1948, his fifth child was born, and the following year he went to theAsbestos Regionto participate in theAsbestos strikeby local mine workers. In 1950, he became active with the executive committee of theCatholic Workers Confederation of Canada(CTCC). Involved with a number of union operations, in 1953 Chartrand became a salaried member of the union's executive committee. After internal disputes, he was fired from his job. However, after appealing the decision, a tribunal underPierre Trudeaureinstated him.

In 1954, Chartrand stood for election to the post of secretary-general of the union but was defeated byJean Marchand.In 1956, he joined theCooperative Commonwealth Federation(CCF), asocial democraticfederal political party headed in Quebec byThérèse Casgrain.Chartrand was appointed a Quebec delegate to the party's convention inWinnipeg,Manitoba.As a result, a Quebec branch of the party was organized under the nameParti social démocratique du Québec.Chartrand was the party's candidate in the Chambly riding in the1956 provincial election,but was badly defeated. His union duties involved numerous high-profile strikes, and he was seen by some as a future leader of the movement and was leader of the party from 1957 until 1960.

Chartrand ran for theCCFin theLongueuildistrict in the1953and1957federal elections. He finished third with 11.1% and 5.4% of the vote. He also ran for the same party in theLapointedistrict (town ofArvida, Quebec) in the1958 federal election.Despite a strong union base, he nevertheless finished third with 24.3% of the vote. In 1959, Chartrand tried again for public office, running in a Quebec provincialby-electioninLac Saint-Jean, Quebecfor theSocial Democratic Party,but once again finished third with 21.8% of the vote.His frustration became evident through his increasingly extremist statements, and in 1959, the union forced him to resign from its executive committee. He was then hired to work at the printing office of the Parti social-démocratique, and was again a delegate to the CCF's convention in Winnipeg.

Peace advocacy and socialism

In 1960, the Confederation of Catholic Workers of Canada changed its name to theConfédération des syndicats nationaux(CSN). Chartrand took part in thepeace movement,participating in demonstrations and marches againstnuclearproliferation and other causes. An admirer of thecommunistrevolution inCubaand its leaderFidel Castro,in 1963 Chartrand accompanied a group on a month-long visit to Cuba. On his return to Quebec, he called Cuba "a paradise" and held it out as a symbol of what Quebec should become. Chartrand then helped found theParti socialiste du Québec(Socialist Party of Quebec), and, as its president, soon began supporting theQuebec sovereignty movement,theRassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale(RIN).

Involvement for Quebec independence

In 1968, Michel Chartrand was elected president of the Montreal Central Council of theConfédération des syndicats nationaux,serving in that position until 1978. By the end of the 1960s, his views became more resolved. As a member of the Quebec Independence movement, Chartrand staunchly supported theFront de libération du Québec(FLQ).

During theOctober Crisis,when asked by a reporter about the ordeal the family of kidnapped British trade commissionerJames Crosswas being put through, Chartrand stated: "I have no more sympathy for Mrs. Cross than for the wives of thousands of men without jobs in Quebec at the present time." Even after the murder of Quebec vice-premierPierre Laporte,Chartrand remained steadfast in his beliefs, and proved it by bailing FLQ leader Charles Gagnon out of jail, paying nearly three thousand dollars of his own money. On 15 October 1975, five years after the October Crisis, FLQ andFront de rassemblement d'action populairemembers and supporters met at the Paul-Sauvé Centre inMontrealwhere Michel Chartrand addressed the crowd.

In the1998 Quebec election,he again ran for political office. He represented theRassemblement pour l'alternative progressiste(nowQuébec solidaire) againstLucien Bouchardin Jonquière, finishing third with 14 per cent of the votes.

In film

Michel Chartrand andSimonne Monet's lives were the subject of a television mini-series entitledChartrand et Simonne.Chartrand was also the subject of a 1991National Film Board of CanadadocumentaryUn homme de parole.Earlier, in 1994, Michel Chartrand appeared besides former FLQ members Charles Gagnon andPierre Vallieres,in a documentary directed by Jean Daniel Lafond,La liberté en colère.

He also had a small acting role in the 1970 comedy filmTwo Women in Gold(Deux femmes en or).

Death

Chartrand died on 12 April 2010 from kidney cancer.The Parc régional de Longueuil was renamedParc Michel-Chartrandby the city of Longueuil in June 2010.

Electoral record

1998 Quebec general election:Jonquière
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Parti Québécois	Lucien Bouchard	20,475	60.48	-34.34
	Liberal	Guylaine Caron	6,552	19.35	–
	Rassemblement pour l'alternative progressiste	Michel Chartrand	5,023	14.84	–
	Action démocratique	Hélène Vigneault	1,686	4.98	–
	Natural Law	Sylvain Bergeron	120	0.35	-0.50
Total valid votes			33,856	99.12	+0.40
Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots			302	0.88	-0.40
Turnout			34,158	76.91	+15.92
Eligible voters			44,415

Quebec provincial by-election, 1959:Lac Saint-Jean
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Union Nationale	Jean-Paul Levasseur	8,469	56.16	+12.81
	Independent	Raymond Lapointe	3,324	22.04	–
	Social Democratic	Michel Chartrand	3,286	21.79	–
Total valid votes			15,079	98.40	-1.51
Total rejected ballots			341	2.21	+1.51
Turnout			15,420	62.10	-29.65
Electors on the lists			24,831	–

1958 Canadian federal election:Lapointe
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Augustin Brassard	12,113	41.74	-10.77
	Progressive Conservative	Bernard Wilshire	9,864	33.99	–
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Michel Chartrand	7,042	24.27	–
Total valid votes			29,019

1957 Canadian federal election:Longueuil
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Auguste Vincent	19,314	58.87	-8.71
	Progressive Conservative	Pierre Sévigny	10,942	33.35	+13.46
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Michel Chartrand	1,768	5.39	-5.71
	Independent Conservative	Oliva Bédard	782	2.38	–
Total valid votes			32,806

1953 Canadian federal election:Longueuil
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Auguste Vincent	16,688	67.58
	Progressive Conservative	Georges-Joseph Valade	4,912	19.89
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Michel Chartrand	2,742	11.10
	Labor–Progressive	Yvonne Bourget	352	1.43
Total valid votes			24,694

1945 Canadian federal election:Chambly—Rouville
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Roch Pinard	12,723	50.38	-15.03
	Independent	Paul Pratt	9,158	36.26	–
	Bloc populaire	Michel Chartrand	2,333	9.24	–
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Joseph-Charles Patenaude	1,041	4.12	–
Total valid votes			25,255

External links

Media related toMichel Chartrandat Wikimedia Commons

• Books on Michel Chartrand by Fernand Foisy available in French, full text, inLes Classiques des sciences sociales