Chantal Hébert

Chantal Hébert

Born	(1954-04-24) April 24, 1954
Occupation	Writer, journalist
Genre	non-fiction, creative non-fiction
Notable works	French Kiss^[1]

Chantal St-Cyr Hébert, OC (born April 24, 1954) is a Canadian journalist and political commentator.

Life and career

Hébert was born in Ottawa, Ontario. She is the eldest of five children. In 1966 her family moved to Toronto where the 12-year-old was enrolled in École secondaire catholique Monseigneur-de-Charbonnel. She then attended Toronto's first francophone high school, École secondaire Étienne-Brûlé.^[2] After high school, Hébert obtained a BA degree in 1976 in political science from the bilingual Glendon College of York University.^[3] She is a Senior Fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto.

Hébert began her media career in 1975 at the regional television and radio newsroom of the French language Radio-Canada facility in Toronto. She eventually became their reporter covering provincial politics at Queen's Park. After Radio-Canada appointed Hébert to cover federal politics on Parliament Hill, she worked as bureau chief for Montreal's Le Devoir and La Presse. She has written columns appearing in The London Free Press, the Ottawa Citizen and the National Post, and currently in Le Devoir and the Toronto Star.

The "Lobster Pot" story

In the summer of 1995, Hébert broke the story in La Presse that the 1995 Quebec referendum question's guarantee of an offer of partnership with the rest of Canada before declaring sovereignty following a "Yes" vote was a sham. Hébert wrote that in a June 13 meeting with fifteen foreign diplomats, Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau had stated that what mattered most was to get a majority vote from Quebec citizens for the proposal to secede from Canada because with that, Quebecers would be trapped "like lobsters thrown in boiling water" (in French: "comme des homards dans l'eau bouillante").^[4]

At the time, Parizeau was in France and in his place Quebec's deputy premier, Bernard Landry, who was not present at the meeting, declared categorically that the report was false. However, Hébert clarified her sources, stating that the information had been given to Foreign Affairs Canada in an official briefing by Jan Fietelaars, the Ambassador from the Netherlands who had been a participant at the meeting; in addition, she had backed up the claim by having it confirmed by three others: Ambassador Christian Fellens of Belgium, who was also present, and two other diplomatic attendees who spoke off the record. The remark hampered support for the "Yes" side as a result.^[5]

Pundit and author

Currently, Hébert is a national affairs writer with the Toronto Star as well as a guest columnist for Le Devoir and L'actualite. She frequently appears on CBC Television's The National as a member of the "At Issue" political panel and is a regular participant in various other French- and English-language television and radio current affairs programs.^[2]^[6]

Hébert received the 2005 Public Service Citation of the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX). In February 2006, the Public Policy Forum voted her the Hyman Solomon Award for Excellence in Public Policy Journalism.^[3] She delivered the Michener Lecture at Queen's University in 2008.

In June 2006, Hébert took two months' leave of absence from the Toronto Star to write her first book, French Kiss: Stephen Harper’s Blind Date with Quebec (Knopf Canada, February 2007, ISBN 978-0-676-97907-7). French Kiss received shortlist honours for the 2008 "Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction".^[1]

In September 2014, her second book was released, The Morning After: The 1995 Quebec Referendum and the Day that Almost Was (in French, Confessions post-référendaires: Les acteurs politiques de 1995 et le scénario d'un oui). The book, cowritten with Jean Lapierre, was a shortlisted nominee for the 2015 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.^[7]

Honours and awards

She was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2012, Giving Her the Right To the Post Nominal Letters "OC."^[8]

Honorary Degrees

Country	Date	School	Degree
Quebec	May 2009	Bishop's University	Doctor of Civil Law (DCL)^[9]
Ontario	Spring 2012	York University	Doctor of Laws (LL.D)^[10]
Ontario	June 19, 2013	University of Western Ontario	Doctor of Laws (LL.D)^[11]^[12]
Quebec	June 2014	Concordia University	Doctor of Laws (LL.D)^[13]^[14]
Nova Scotia	May 14, 2015	Mount Saint Vincent University	Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL)^[15]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

References

1 2 Faculty of Arts, The shortlist for the 2008 Edna Staebler Award, Wilfrid Laurier University, Headlines (News Releases), Retrieved November 22, 2012
1 2 CBC News, Chantal Hébert, The National, Retrieved November 22, 2012
1 2 Book Lounge Canada, Author Spotlight – Chantal Hébert Biography, Retrieved November 22, 2012
↑ Wilson-Smith, Anthony; Fulton, E. Kaye (July 24, 1995). "Parizeau's Lobster Flap". Maclean's. Retrieved 27 Oct 2015.
↑ Wyatt, Nelson (2 Jun 2015). "Ex-Quebec premier Jacques Parizeau dead at 84". The Canadian Press. Retrieved 27 Oct 2015.
↑ "Chantal Hebert Speaker Profile at The Lavin Agency". Thelavinagency.com. January 23, 2006. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
↑ "Shaughnessy Cohen Prize finalists announced". The Globe and Mail, January 27, 2015.
↑ "The Governor General of Canada > Find a Recipient". Gg.ca. May 24, 2012. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
↑ "Bishop's University News" (PDF). Ubishops.ca. 2009. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
↑ Current Students. "Honorary Degree Recipients | University Secretariat". Secretariat.info.yorku.ca. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
↑ "The University of Western Ontario : Honorary Degrees Awarded, 1881 – present" (PDF). Uwo.ca. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
↑ "Western Convocation – June 19, Chantal Hebert". YouTube.com. June 16, 2014. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
↑ "Honorary Degree Citation – Chantal Hébert | Concordia University Archives". Archives.concordia.ca. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
↑ "Chantal Hébert, 2014 Concordia honorary doctorate". YouTube.com. May 7, 2014. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
↑ "MSVU – Honorary Degree Recipients". Msvu.ca. Retrieved 2015-05-18.

External links

Speakers Spotlight, Chantal Hébert – Political Raconteur & Columnist, biography, Retrieved November 22, 2012
Chantal Hébert on Twitter
Chantal Hébert at Library of Congress Authorities, with 2 catalogue records

Recipients of the Edna Staebler Award and shortlist honours

Edna Staebler

1990s Winners	Winning writer, Winning title, (award year), ISBN Susan Mayse, Ginger, (1991), ISBN 9781550170184 – Marie Wadden, Nitassinan, (1992), ISBN 9781550540017 – Liza Potvin, White Lies (for my mother), (1993 co-winner), ISBN 9780920897133 – Elizabeth Hay, The Only Snow in Havana, (1993 co-winner), ISBN 9780920953808 – Linda Johns, Sharing a Robin's Life, (1994), ISBN 9781551090559 – Denise Chong, The Concubine's Children, (1995), ISBN 9780140254273 – George G. Blackburn, The Guns of Normandy, (1996), ISBN 9780771015038 – Anne Mullens, Timely Death, (1997), ISBN 9780394280844 – Charlotte Gray, Mrs. King, (1998), ISBN 9780670866748 – Michael Poole, Romancing Mary Jane, (1999), ISBN 9781550547498

1990s Shortlist nominees	Nominated writer, Nominated title, (nomination year), ISBN Phil Jenkins, Fields of Vision, (1992), ISBN 9780771044014 – Anne Kershaw and Mary Lasovich, Rock-a-bye Baby (1992), ISBN 9780195412680 – Sherrill MacLaren, Invisible Power, (1992), ISBN 9780770425265 – Marlene Webber, Street Kids, (1992), ISBN 9780802067050 – Rosalind MacPhee, Picasso's Woman, (1995), ISBN 9781568361383 – Jack Kuper, After the Smoke Cleared, (1995), ISBN 9780773728325 – Rita Moir, Survival Gear, (1995), ISBN 9780919591813 – Patricia Pitcher, Artists, Craftsmen and Technocrats, (1996), ISBN 9780773728585 – Tom Connors, Stompin' Tom, (1996), ISBN 9780670864874 – Frances Backhouse, Women of the Klondike, (1996), ISBN 9781770500174 – William Aide, Starting from Porcupine, (1997), ISBN 9780778010470 – Phil Jenkins, An Acre of Time (1997), ISBN 9781551990026 – Douglas Chambers, Stony Ground, (1997), ISBN 9780394281544 – Elisabeth Raab, And Peace Never Came, (1998), ISBN 9780889202924 – Lois Sweet, God In The Classroom, (1998), ISBN 9780771083198 – A.C. Lewis, Nahanni Remembered, (1998), ISBN 9781896300184 – Will Ferguson, I Was a Teenage Katima Victim, (1999), ISBN 9781550546521 – James Mahar and Rowena Mahar, Too Many to Mourn (1999), ISBN 9781551092409 – Joni Smith, Charlevoix County, (1999), ISBN 9780494516690

2000s Winners	Winning writer, Winning title, (award year), ISBN Wayson Choy, Paper Shadows, (2000), ISBN 9780312284152 – Taras Grescoe, Sacré Blues, (2001), ISBN 9781551990811 – Tom Allen, Rolling Home, (2002), ISBN 9780670884735 – Alison Watt, The Last Island, (2003), ISBN 9781550172966 – Andrea Curtis, Into the Blue, (2004), ISBN 9780679311355 – Anne Coleman, I'll Tell You a Secret, (2005), ISBN 9780771022784 – Francis Chalifour, After, (2006), ISBN 9780887767050 – Linden MacIntyre, Causeway, (2007), ISBN 9780002007245 – Bruce Serafin, Stardust, (2008), ISBN 9781554200337 – Russell Wangersky, Burning Down the House, (2009), ISBN 9780887623295

2000s Shortlist nominees	Nominated writer, Nominated title, (nomination year), ISBN Beth Powning, Shadow Child, (2000), ISBN 9780786707201 – Ellen Stafford, Always and After, (2000), ISBN 9780670886203 – Kevin Patterson, The Water In Between, (2000), ISBN 9780385498845 – Andrew Steinmetz, Wardlife, ISBN 9781550651218 – Howard Hewer, In For A Penny, In For A Pound, (2001), ISBN 9780385660778 – Mary Pratt, Mary Pratt, (2001), ISBN 9780864923165 – Trevor Herriot, River In A Dry Land, (2001), ISBN 9780773732711 – Nicholas Pashley, Notes on a Beermat, (2002), ISBN 9781554682560 – Gabriel Bauer, Waltzing the Tango, (2002), ISBN 9780199744480 – Ron Corbett, The Last Guide, (2002), ISBN 9781894673051 – Cornelia Johanna Baines, Under Syndenham Skies, (2002), ISBN 9781550416152 – Peter McSherry, Mean Streets, (2003), ISBN 9781550024029 – Adam Killick, Racing the White Silence, (2003), ISBN 9780141003733 – Dawn Rae Downton, Seldom, (2003), ISBN 9781559706650 – Ellen Bielawski, Rogue Diamonds, (2004), ISBN 9780295984193 – Kevin Bazzana, Wondrous Strange, (2004), ISBN 9780195182460 – Ralph Osborne, From Somewhere Else, (2004), ISBN 9781550225501 – Alex M. Hall, Discovering Eden, (2004), ISBN 9781552632215 – Tilda Shalof, A Nurse’s Story, (2005), ISBN 9780771080876 – Geoff Heinricks, A Fool and Forty Acres, (2005), ISBN 9780771040566 – Elizabeth Hudson, Snow Bodies, (2005), ISBN 9781896300740 – Michael Mitchell, The Molly Fire, (2005), ISBN 9781550226768 – Lisa Rochon, Up North, (2006), ISBN 9781552636909 – Rosalind B. Penfield, Dragonslippers, (2006), ISBN 9780802170200 – John Vaillant, The Golden Spruce, (2006), ISBN 9780393328646 – Kim Bolan, Loss of Faith, (2006), ISBN 9780771011306 – Marcello De Cintio, Poets & Pahlevans, (2007), ISBN 9780676977325 – Rachel Lebowitz, Hannus, (2007), ISBN 9781897141113 – Patrick Friesen, Interim Essays & Mediations, (2007), ISBN 9780973972702 – Nathan M. Greenfield, Baptism of Fire, (2008), ISBN 9780002007276 – Chantal Hébert, French Kiss, (2008), ISBN 9780676979077 – Jane Hall, The Red Wall, (2008), ISBN 9781897113684 – Martin Mitchinson, The Darien Gap, (2009), ISBN 9781550174212 – Cathy Ostlere, Lost, (2009), ISBN 9781554700431 – Andrew Westoll, The Riverbones, (2009), ISBN 9780771088759

2010s Winners	Winning writer, Winning title, (award year), ISBN John Leigh Walters, A Very Capable Life, (2010), ISBN 9781897425411 – Helen Waldstein Wilkes, Letters from the Lost, (2011), ISBN 9781897425534 – Joshua Knelman, Hot Art, (2012), ISBN 9781553658917 – Carol Shaben, Into the Abyss, (2013), ISBN 9780307360229

2010s Shortlist nominees	Nominated writer, Nominated title, (nomination year), ISBN Allan Casey, Lakeland, (2010), ISBN 9781553653080 – Else Poulsen, Smiling Bears, (2010), ISBN 9781553653875 – Benjamin Errett, Jew and Improved, (2011), ISBN 9781554684274 – Grant Lawrence, Adventures in Solitude, (2011), ISBN 9781550175141 – Robyn Michele Levy, Most of Me, (2012), ISBN 9781553656326 – Andrew Westoll, The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary, (2012), ISBN 9781554686490

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 73635270 LCCN: no2007074376 SUDOC: 050215833 BNF: cb13491410s (data)

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