A business leader who was born on the Gaspé peninsula, Claudine Roy has, for more than 45 years, been committed to economic, tourism, cultural and social development in her region. She is a company director, owner of the Auberge sous les arbres, and president and founder of Traversées de la Gaspésie. For many years she has helped implement numerous initiatives that, today, enjoy an international reputation. In addition, within her region, she has headed several fund-raising campaigns for cultural, social and educational purposes. She has a Bachelor's degree in physical education from the University of Ottawa and an education diploma from Université de Rimouski, along with a certified company director designation from the Collège des administrateurs de sociétés de l'Université Laval. She sits on several boards of directors, including the boards of Investissement Québec, the Institut du tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec, and the Centre de transfert des entreprises du Québec. Claudine Roy was awarded the Prix d'excellence des diplômés de l'Université du Québec à Rimouski for her outstanding career, and a medal by the Lieutenant Governor of Québec for outstanding merit. She has been a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec since 2010, a Member of the Order of Canada since 2018, and is the winner of the Prix du réseau des femmes d'affaires du Québec in the "strongly committed volunteer" category. She was elected to the council of the Ordre national du Québec in 2016, and re-elected in 2019 and 2022.
Paul Grand'Maison served as a family doctor, professor, educator, researcher and manager with Université de Sherbrooke's Faculté de médecine et des sciences de la santé from 1976 to 2017, and has been a professor emeritus there since 2020. He has had a major influence on family medicine and medical education in Québec, in Canada and abroad. He was Vice-Dean of the faculty from 2000 to 2011, leading the faculty to earn a designation as a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Health Science Education and Practice, a great honour for the university. He acted as Director of the Centre from 2001 to 2014, where he worked closely with over twenty international medical faculties.
Since 2000, he has been an ardent promoter of social accountability in Québec, the rest of Canada and abroad, encouraging faculties of medicine to embrace the concept in order to better address society's pressing health needs. He is still active in the field, and is a member of the international steering committee of the Réseau international francophone pour la responsabilité sociale en santé (RIFRESS) as well as the Integrating Social Accountability in Accreditation initiative. He also sits on the organization's committee charged with certifying Francophone medical faculties all over the world.
Paul has received some of Université de Sherbrooke's most prestigious awards, as well as similar accolades from many medical and medical education organizations in Québec and the rest of Canada. He has received the AFMC Charles-Boelen International Social Accountability Award and was recognized by the Association of International Education Administrators. He has an honorary doctorate from Université Laval and is an Emeritus Member of the Québec Order of Excellence in Education. Paul is committed to a people-first approach to health and has published a book with the philosopher Jean Proulx: Guérir est humain. He also sits on the Board of Directors of the Fondation Jeanne-Mance, which offers support services for end-of-life care at home.
Paul was named a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec in 2015 and was elected to the Board of the Ordre in 2020 and then reelected in 2023. He has served as Vice-Chair of the Board since January 2023.
Françoise Bertrand spent 40 distinguished years in business as an executive and now serves as a board director for a variety of organizations. She has been the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of VIA Rail Canada since spring 2017, currently sits on the Concordia University Board of Governors and the Transurban North American Advisory Board, sat on the Quebecor Board of Directors for 11 years and was Chair of the Quebecor Board from 2011 to 2014. She was also President of the Board of Directors of Proaction International and a member of the Board of Osisko Gold Royalties. She has served as President and CEO of a number of organizations, including the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and the Société de télédiffusion du Québec, better known as Télé-Québec. She was the Dean of Université du Québec à Montréal and spent several years working for consulting companies, including KPMG, and as a partner at Secor Group. She has been honoured numerous times over the course of her career, including being named a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec, an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Knight of the Legion of Honour, a Commander of the Ordre de Montréal and an ICD fellow.
Françoise was elected to the Board of the Ordre in 2021.
An English-speaking writer, Neil Bissoondath mainly writes social and psychological novels and his works often tackle the question of identity. Of Trinidadian origin, this reserved novelist, who is fluent in French, quickly became known as one of the greatest novelists in North America. His books, hailed by critics in North America and on the other side of the Atlantic, are now published in several languages and translated into French by various publishers in France and Québec. Above all, he is regarded as a model of integration into Québec society.
Neil Bissoondath was elected to the Board of the Ordre in 2016, and re-elected in 2018.
Jean-Claude Poitras has been a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec since 1996 and was promoted to Officer in 2012. Jean-Claude is a teacher and author whose exceptional career as a fashion designer has taken him all over the globe. Today, he dedicates himself to design without borders, scouring the world for excellence and innovation and digging deeper into questions of identity, all with an eye to democratizing beauty and to uniting and spreading Québec's vibrant creative strengths. He currently spends time producing signature works of interior design—light fixtures, interior décor, kitchens, stained glass. In 2012, he celebrated 40 years of excellence in design with his first solo exhibition, an interdisciplinary showcase, soon followed by several others. Jean-Claude has always been passionate about his work, but his zeal for communication is taking increasing pride of place, as he puts more emphasis on giving talks and writing columns for Le Devoir and other publications. He is a philanthropist at heart and regularly lends his voice and name to a whole host of charitable, humanitarian and cultural organizations. Jean-Claude is a trailblazer, pioneer, visionary and creator whose appeal knows no generational bounds and who continues to innovate off the beaten path. His first book, Quand la vie défile, published in October 2018, is considered the definitive work on the incredible yet long-overlooked history of fashion in Québec. He was the subject of art museum and art centre retrospectives in 2017, 2019 and 2022. He also celebrated the 50th year of his storied career in 2022.
Liza Frulla is best known as a former culture minister at the provincial and federal levels and was responsible for the drafting and implementation of Québec's first integrated policy on culture. She also played a key role in the preparation and ratification of the UNESCO Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. In addition to her exemplary career as a committed parliamentarian and active citizen, she has displayed considerable skills in the electronic media, where her work has revealed her qualities as a senior manager, broadcaster, columnist and political commentator. Liza Frulla is a member of the council of the Ordre national du Québec and chairs the boards of directors of Culture Montréal and Destination Canada, in addition to sitting on the board of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada. Ms. Frulla is a Member of the Order of Canada, an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec, a Companion of the Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec and an Officer of the Ordre de la Pléiade. In addition, she has received the Prix René-Chaloult for former parliamentarians and the Medal of the National Assembly of Québec. She was elected to the council of the Order in 2016, and re-elected in 2019 and 2022.
Jacques Girard has worked in the public and private sectors, moving successively from education to communications and then to economic development. He has held several senior management positions, including Secretary General of Université de Montréal (1969-1974), Associate Deputy Minister of Higher Education (1974-1978), Deputy Minister of Education (1978-1983), President and Chief Executive Officer of Société de radio-télévision du Québec (1983-1988) and Montréal International (1996-2004), Chairman of Québecor (1994-1996) and Chairman of the Board of Directors of International Financial Centre of Montréal (1997-2015). His term as a member of the board of directors at Finance Montréal ended in 2017. Mr. Girard currently sits on the boards of directors of Université de Montréal, the Literacy Foundation and Festival Classica. He also chairs the boards of directors of Fondation Lionel-Groulx and Association générale des diplômés de l'Université de Montréal.
Mr. Girard was elected to the council of the Order in 2017, reelected in 2020 and then reelected in 2023.
An outstanding proponent of culture, John R. Porter spearheaded substantial growth in the reputation, size and public success of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. He is also known as an eminent professor at Université Laval, where he chaired the board of directors for five years, a research pioneer who made significant discoveries in the fields of painting, sculpture, fine crafts and historical furniture, and a widely-published author. John R. Porter was born in Lévis in 1949 and earned a Master's degree in art history from Université Laval in 1972, followed by a doctorate in the same field from Université de Montréal in 1981. From 1972 to 1978 he was an associate curator of early Canadian art at the National Gallery of Canada. Next, after joining the faculty at Université Laval in 1990, he became chief curator at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts while continuing to teach. Three years later, he was hired by the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec as director general and applied himself to the task of setting up the museum's various collections, displaying them to greater advantage, and making them available to a wider public. He enriched the museum's program through exhibitions that followed each other at an exhilarating pace. These memorable events highlighted not only the works of great artists from Québec but also an impressive number of works by artists from around the world. In 2008, John R. Porter left his senior position at the museum on a high note, with the exhibition Le Louvre à Québec, to chair the museum's foundation and the commission leading the ambitious project to expand the museum, which he instigated. The opening of the Pavillon Pierre-Lassonde in 2016 marked the culmination of his dream to establish a museum open to the world. Mr. Porter's outstanding achievements have earned him a plethora of distinctions and awards over the years, both inside and outside Canada. Today, Mr. Porter is working on several books and retains his interest in governance and mentoring through various volunteer duties, including president of the Fondation Félix-Leclerc and member of the Fondation Jean Paul Riopelle. He was elected to the council of the Order in 2022.
Jean-Louis Roy is an academic, journalist, diplomat and writer who has helped found and develop countless institutions. Jean-Louis has a Ph.D. in history from McGill University, a bachelor's degree in history and in philosophy from Université Laval, and a master's in medieval philosophy from Université de Montréal. He has held a number of key strategic positions, such as editor-in-chief of Le Devoir, Delegate General of Québec in Paris and for Francophone Affairs, Secretary General of the Agence intergouvernementale de la francophonie, the forerunner of the Organisation internationale of la Francophonie, President and CEO of Rights & Democracy and President and CEO of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. He founded the organization UPR Watch in 2018. From 2001 to 2007, he was Chancellor of Université Sainte-Anne in Church Point, Nova Scotia. He has taught modern history and international relations at McGill University, at the École nationale d'administration in Paris and at York University's Glendon Campus in Toronto, where he founded the Chair in Quebec Studies, and at the University of Ottawa, Université de Moncton and Université de Québec à Trois-Rivières. He also taught postgraduate-level geopolitics at Polytechnique Montréal. From 2007 to 2010, he was a visiting scholar at Université de Montréal's Centre de recherche en droit public. He has been a guest lecturer and visiting professor at several international universities, from Beijing to Mexico City, Bucharest, Paris, Ouagadougou, Tokyo and Calgary. He has lent his expertise to many global institutions, including the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, the International Organisation of La Francophonie, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Institut de la Francophonie pour le développement durable, and the Québec and Canadian governments, to name but a few. He has extensive experience as a member of various boards of directors, and currently sits on the boards of several organizations, including the Centre de la francophonie des Amériques, the Fondation Gorée in Senegal, the Export Development Canada Advisory Council on Corporate Social Responsibility and the strategic steering committee of the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie. He has drawn on his extensive experience to advise multiple private businesses and has penned a number of historical and literary works and political analyses, including some that have been translated into multiple languages and published all over the globe. He has honorary doctorates from Université de Moncton (law), Université Sainte-Anne in Church Point (letters) and the University of Ottawa (social sciences). He has also received accolades in over 25 countries.
Jean-Louis was elected to the Board of the Ordre in 2015, and was re-elected in 2018 and 2021.
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