Jacques Ferron

Jacques Ferron (January 21, 1921 - April 22, 1985) was a Canadian physician and author.

Jacques Ferron was born in Louiseville, Quebec, the son of Joseph-Alphonse Ferron and Adrienne Caron. On March 5, 1931, his mother died. He attended Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf but was expelled in 1936. He continued his education at Collège Saint-Laurent and then was readmitted at Jean-de-Brébeuf, only to be expelled again. In September 1941, he was accepted at Université Laval where he studied medicine, and on July 22, 1943, he married a fellow student, Magdeleine Thérien whom he divorced in 1949.

In 1945, he joined the Canadian army as a medic. He trained in British Columbia and Ontario and after that was sent to Quebec and New Brunswick as a medic. When relieved of duty in 1946, he settled in Rivière-Madeleine, Quebec. In 1947, his father died.

In 1948, he returned to Montréal. In 1949, he moved to Longueuil, Quebec and his first book, "L'ogre", was published. He lived among working class people that lived in Longueuil-annexe in those years, often offering is services for free-refusing to be paid, or omitting to ask. Not in the name of charity, but rather of solidarity- his giving was politically motivated, and he understood that his training as a doctor-his privilege- was paid for by the misery that the francophone working class was experiencing at that time.

In 1951, he began a 30-year collaboration with "L'Information médicale et paramédicale". On June 28, 1952, he married Madeleine Lavalée. In 1954 he became an important member of the "Congrès Canadien pour la Paix" (Canadian Peace Congress). In 1959 he helped in the foundation of the magazine "Situations". In 1960, with the help of Raoul Roy, he created "L'Action socialiste pour l'indépendance du Québec".

In 1962, he received the Governor General's Award for French fiction for his book "Contes du pays incertain".

In 1963 he founded the Parti Rhinocéros, which he described as "an intellectual guerrilla party". He also began to write for the magazine "Parti pris". In 1969, he became a member of the Parti québécois.

In 1977, the Quebec government awarded him the Prix Athanase-David. He was named an honorary member of the "Union des écrivains québécois" in 1981.

He died in 1985 at his home in St-Lambert, Quebec, aged 64.