Jacques Lacoursière

Jacques Lacoursière, (4 May 1932 – 1 June 2021) was a Canadian TV host, author and historian specialized in Quebec's history.

Life and career Lacoursière was born in Shawinigan, in 1932, in the Mauricie region, and then resided in Beauport in the Greater Quebec area.

Lacoursière held an M.A. degree in history from the University of Ottawa.

Jacques Lacoursière first destined himself for priesthood and bought himself a cassock to that effect. He later became interested in law and then lent a hand to the family business. At the end of the 1950s, he enters the École normale Maurice-L.-Duplessis at Trois-Rivières to study pedagogy and obtains a baccalaureate at the end of his twenties. It was as a student of Denis Vaugeois at the École normale that Jacques Lacoursière began to take a strong interest in history. The professor, then younger than him, gave him the bug for what would become a late vocation. His great friend Denis Vaugeois in a tribute from 2018 writes: "Maybe a nationalist, but not enough to be uncomfortable in federal institutions." (Quote translated from French).

He enters Quebec's public service at the Ministère de l'éducation in 1968 and the Ministère des affaires intergouvernementales as political attaché in 1969.

Fascinated by history, he worked a long time for the history magazine Nos Racines,

Career in the medias In 1977 and 1978, Jacques Lacoursière was the researcher for the Duplessis TV series, realized by Denys Arcand and shown at Radio-Canada.

Passing Jacques Lacoursière died on 1 June 2021, at 89 years old.

Honors 1999: Prix de l'Institut canadien de Québec 2002: Knight of the National Order of Quebec 2003: Médaille de l'Académie des lettres du Québec 2006: Member of the Order of Canada 2007: Prix Adagio 2007: Prix Gérard-Morisset Edmundston Campus 2008: Honorary degree from the Université du Québec à Montréal 2012: Commissaire à la Commission de toponymie du Québec 2015: Knight of the Order of La Pléiade

Published books Over the years Lacoursière has written many books: 1968: Histoire, 1534–1968, published by the Boréal Express team, under supervision by Denis Vaugeois and Jacques Lacoursière 1969: Les Troubles de 1837–38, Denis Vaugeois and Jacques Lacoursière 1970: L'Acte de Québec et la Révolution américaine, Denis Vaugeois and Jacques Lacoursière 1972: Notre histoire: Québec—Canada, Jacques Lacoursière 1972: Alarme citoyens ! : l'affaire Cross-Laporte, du connu à l'inconnu, Montréal, Éditions La Presse, 1972 1974: Québec 72–73 1976: Canada—Québec : synthèse historique, Denis Vaugeois and Jacques Lacoursière 1979: Il était une fois... le Québec, research under supervision by Jacques Lacoursière 1991: Mémoires québécoises, by Jacques Mathieu and Jacques Lacoursière 1995–1997: Histoire populaire du Québec, in five books, Éditions du Septentrion (reissue of the first four books in 2013, 2020 and 2021) 1995: A People's History of Quebec, a condensed version of the five "Histoire populaire du Québec" books, by Jacques Lacoursière and translated into English by Robin Philpot, publisher of Baraka Books, associated with Denis Vaugeois, publisher of Éditions Septentrion, the original publisher of the French-Canadian five books series 1997: Monsieur le président : les orateurs et les présidents depuis 1792 2000: La Chanson comme miroir de poche : conversation avec Jacques Lacoursière / Gilles Vigneault 2000: Canada-Québec : synthèse historique, 1534–2000, new edition, Jacques Lacoursière, Jean Provencher and Denis Vaugeois ; new edition updated in 2011 under the title: Canada-Québec, 1534–2010 2001: Shawinigan, 100 ans d'histoire : De l'effervescence au renouveau, Éditions des Glanures, Shawinigan, 2001. 326 p. 2002: Une histoire du Québec / racontée par Jacques Lacoursière, Éditions du Septentrion, Québec 2005: L'Île-des-Sœurs : d'hier à aujourd'hui , Montréal, 2008: Histoire populaire du Québec, (book 5) 2008: Québec et sa région , Montréal, Éditions de l'Homme

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