The Faculty of Arts is very proud to announce that Professor François Paré, University Professor, (French Studies) received an honorary doctorate from the Université Laval on June 18 for his career as “a leading figure in the Francophone communities of the Americas and beyond.” A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and holder of numerous other national distinctions, Professor Paré has been recognized for many years as a groundbreaking scholar in the field of minority literatures.
“His teaching and publications have inspired many generations of scholars and students and he is considered, in Canada and abroad, as the scholar who changed our vision of minority cultures and literatures,” says Guy Poirier, chair of French Studies.
Professor Paré’s scholarship breadth includes examination and public dissemination of Franco-Ontarian literature - from writers documenting early French-Aboriginal contact in the 1600s to the latest in contemporary publications.
Related to his research on minority language communities, he proposed an ecology of cultures and languages for which he developed strategies to maintain linguistic diversity that resist the threat of a monoculture implied by economic globalization.
The honorary degree recognizes not only Prof. Paré’s work over the past 35 years, but the vital importance of his research field for Canadian and Québécois societies.
“It was extremely moving for me to address a cohort of graduating students in my own language and in my native province,” he says of the convocation event last week. “I talked to them about filiation, that is, the transmission of one’s language and culture from one generation to the next. All minorities, whether Aboriginal, French Canadian or immigrant, fear for the loss of permanence that threatens the very existence of the community.”
Université Laval is the oldest French-language university on this continent. It hosts some of the most important multidisciplinary research centres on the French Canadian diaspora throughout Canada and the United States and is a leader for studies in First Nations cultures.
Citation excerpt, Université Laval:
Son action de professeur, d'intellectuel et de citoyen a marqué et marque encore la communauté savante nationale et internationale, ainsi que toutes les communautés culturelles franco-canadiennes. Son engagement infatigable a permis de les faire connaître et reconnaître de façon sensible et durable. La place de la francophonie littéraire nord-américaine et celle des études en francophonie ne seraient, sans aucun doute, pas les mêmes sans l'apport unique, toujours éclairé et passionné, de François Paré. Il n'est que normal que la première université francophone en Amérique lui décerne le titre de docteur honoris causa.
“He is also a wonderful and dynamic colleague,” says Prof. Poirier. “The Department of French Studies is proud to be planning an international conference in May 2017, “Le défi de la fragilité”, entirely devoted to the work of François Paré.”
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