Laurier LaPierre

Laurier L. LaPierre (21 November 1929 – 16 December 2012) was a Canadian Senator, professor, broadcaster, journalist and author. He was a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Fluently bilingual, LaPierre was best known for having been co-host with Patrick Watson of the CBC's influential public affairs show This Hour Has Seven Days in the 1960s. Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Romance of Canada; 1759: The Battle for Canada; Québec hier et aujourd'hui; and, The Apprenticeship of Canada, 1876–1914. He also wrote articles for The Financial Post, International Review, Canadian Forum and Encyclopædia Britannica.

He was an activist with EGALE, a lobby group for gay and lesbian rights, after coming out as gay in the late 1980s. He was Canada's first openly gay senator.

Death

Appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1994, he was cited as one of Canada's "most valuable political commentators and respected champions of social justice." He died on 16 December 2012, aged 83. LaPierre's ashes were scattered off the coast of British Columbia, as his will requested. Later Harvey Slack financed the construction of a large memorial in LaPierre's name in the small MacLaren Cemetery near Wakefield, Quebec, close to the grave of his ex-wife's uncle Hume Wrong and that of former prime minister Lester B. Pearson. The McGill University Archives holds an extensive collection of his papers, including documents that touch on four aspects of his career: academic, journalistic, political and entrepreneurial.

Footnotes