Hélène Pelletier-Baillargeon

Hélène Pelletier-Baillargeon (1932 – February 14, 2025) was a Canadian femme de lettres, journalist, essayist, and biographer from Québec.

Background Hélène Pelletier was born in Montreal in 1932, the daughter of Dominique Pelletier, notary (1892–1950). Her uncle, Georges Pelletier (1882–1950), was director of Le Devoir from 1932 to 1947.

After obtaining a Master of Arts degree from the Université de Montréal in 1954, she completed two years of post-graduate studies, from 1957 to 1959, at the Sorbonne and at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, with a doctoral thesis in stylistics devoted to the work of François Mauriac. She published Volume II of Olivar Asselin and His Time (2001), with Volume III currently in preparation for the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.

Career When she returned to Quebec, she joined the editorial team of the magazine, Maintain, from its founding in 1962. A Dominican magazine administered by lay people from 1969, it came under Pelletier's direction in 1973 and closed in 1974.

She was a freelance journalist from 1974 to 1981, including at Châtelaine as a political and union columnist, at the magazine Critère, as vice-president of the Board of Directors and editor, as well as at Le Devoir, Revue Desjardins, Communauté chrétienne, La Presse, Possibles, and others. From 1981 to 1983, she was a political advisor to the Quebec Minister of Education, Camille Laurin, on the issue of denominational education. 2011, 3rd Prize of the Presidency of the National Assembly for the book Olivar Asselin et son temps, volume 3, Le maître

Selected works Une nouvelle morale sexuelle, Montréal, Fides, 1976, Contemplation ou Le Carmel De Montréal : ses racines, sa spiritualité, sa vie, Montréal, Éditions Fides, 1977, Le pays légitime, Montréal, Leméac, : Collection « À hauteur d'homme », 1979, Marie Gérin-Lajoie : de mère en fille, la cause des femmes, Montréal, Éditions du Boréal, 1985, Simonne Monet-Chartrand : un héritage et des projets (dir. Hélène Pelletier-Baillargeon), Montréal : Fides, Montréal : Éditions du Remue-ménage, 1993, Olivar Asselin et son temps : [volume 1] Le militant, Montréal, Fides, 1996, [volume 2] Le volontaire, Montréal, Fides, 2001, [volume 3] Le maître, Montréal, Fides, 2010, presentation of : Jules Fournier, Mon encrier, Montréal, Bibliothèque québécoise, 1996, in : Vingt années de recherches en éthique et de débats au Québec Montréal, Fides, 1997, Bernard Andrès, Stéphane-Albert Boulais, John Hare, Marcel Olscamp, Hélène Pelletier-Baillargeon, François Ricard, Lucie Robert, Patricia Smart, Robert Vigneault, Approches de la biographie au Québec (dir. Dominique Lafon, Rainier Grutman, Marcel Olscamp et Robert Vigneault), Montréal, Fides, Collection « Archives des lettres canadiennes », 2004, presentation of : Olivar Asselin, L'Œuvre de l'abbé Groulx,, Montréal, Fides, 2007,