One of the biggest names in the Quebec sovereignty movement, Camille Laurin, has died. Laurin was suffering from cancer. He was 76.

Trained as a psychiatrist, Laurin became active in politics during the 1960s, when he was named the president of the Parti Quebecois executive committee.

Laurin was best known as the architect of Quebec's French language charter, Bill 101. That law is credited by Quebec nationalists as helping preserve the French language in the province. Yet it also had the effect of driving a wedge through Quebec society.

Laurin was one of the first members of the the Parti Quebecois to be elected to the National Assembly in 1970. Six years later, with Rene Levesque at the helm, the PQ gained power in Quebec, leaving much of Canada in shock. Laurin's first job was to write a new language law: Bill 101.

The law restricts the use of English. It requires immigrants to attend French schools and, for 15 years, banned English on commercial signs. Laurin never considered the law harsh, saying it only reflected Quebec's demographic reality.

Ten years after drafting the bill, Laurin said he found it "a great gift of destiny" to have been responsible for creating Bill 101.