Former senator Jacques Hebert dies at 84

Last Updated: Friday, December 7, 2007 | 9:40 PM ET

CBC News

Jacques Hébert, a former senator, politician, journalist, writer and staunch defender of civil liberties, died Thursday night at age 84 in his Montreal home, after a long battle with cancer.

Jacques Hébert, shown delivering a eulogy for his friend, Pierre Trudeau, at the former prime minister's state funeral in 2000.
(Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Hébert was appointed to Canada's Senate in 1983 by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

The late prime minister's son, Alexandre Trudeau, who described Hebert as an uncle and mentor, said the former senator struggled to deal with his cancer.

"He was frustrated, because he had just started his memoirs. He had so many projects, he didn’t want to leave," he said Friday in an interview with Radio-Canada, CBC's French language service.

Before entering politics Hébert worked as a journalist and activist, was outspoken on many civil rights issues and was a vocal opponent to the regime of former Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis.

In the 1950s, Hébert wrote extensively about the case of Wilbert Coffin, a Gaspé man who was hanged for killing three American hunters, despite his claims of innocence. The former senator covered the trial as a reporter and wrote several essays and books on the case, calling it the worst case of legal miscarriage in Quebec's history. 

A seasoned traveller, Hébert globetrotted through most of his 20s, visiting the Americas, Europe, Africa, Cuba and China, often accompanied by the former prime minister, who was a lifelong friend. The two wrote a book about their adventures in China, called Deux innocents en Chine rouge or Two Innocents in Red China.

Hébert eventually parlayed his wanderlust into a pair of successful Canadian youth programs. He founded Jeunesse Canada Monde, or Canada World Youth, an exchange program for young Canadians that has sent more than 20,000 abroad in 35 years.

Hébert is best known for creating Katimavik, a youth program that encouraged cultural exchanges between young people across Canada.

Hébert himself was an idealist throughout his life, and willing to dedicate himself to a cause.

He believed in young people because they too are idealists, Alexandre Trudeau told CBC News. "He figured that the only possible alliance for that kind of vision was with youth. They are the ones who are capable of true idealism."

When Katimavik's funding was cut in 1986 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Hébert went on a 21-day hunger strike in the Senate lobby. His ploy drew the country's attention, but the Conservative government did not budge on its decision to scrap the program.

Eventually the Liberals saved the program by creating a foundation to finance the exchanges. But the program never regained its momentum until 1994, when Prime Minister Jean Chrétien resurrected it.

Hébert retired from the Senate in 1998 and subsequently advocated on behalf of the Duplessis orphans, Quebec children placed in Roman Catholic institutions at the time of Maurice Duplessis' rule as premier during the 1940s and 1950s.

The Duplessis orphans suffered physical, mental and sexual abuse including electroshock and lobotomies in orphanages across the province.

Hébert is survived by five children and several grandchildren.