PRIME MINISTER ANNOUNCES LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR APPOINTMENT

August 15, 2003
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien today announced the appointment of Herménégilde Chiasson as the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick.

Dr. Chiasson is one of New Brunswick's most celebrated cultural figures. A distinguished Acadian poet, writer and playwright, Dr. Chiasson has received countless honours and awards, in Canada and abroad. He is recipient of l'Ordre des francophones d'Amérique, the prix France-Acadie, the Grand Prix de la Francophonie canadienne, the prix Quinquennal Antonine-Maillet-Acadie Vie, an honourary doctorate in literature from the University of Moncton, as well as the prestigious Chevalier de l'Ordre français des arts et lettres. He has left an indelible impression upon la Francophonie and its cultural development.

Biographical information is attached.

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Herménégilde Chiasson

Herménégilde Chiasson is one of Canada’s most accomplished cultural icons. At the time of this appointment, Dr. Chiasson was a distinguished member of the teaching staff at the University of Moncton, a position he has occupied since 1988. He has worked at Radio-Canada as director, playwright, journalist and researcher intermittently from 1968 to 1985.

He was the director of the Galerie d’art de l’Université de Moncton (1974), founding president of the Éditions Perce-Neige (1984), president of the Galerie Sans Nom (1980), founding member of the Arberdeen co-operative (1985) and the Imago workshop (1987), founding president of the Productions du Phare-Est (1988), curator of the Marion McCain exhibit at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery (1994), and president of the Association acadienne des artistes professionnels et professionelles du Nouveau-Brunswick (1993-1995).

Dr. Chiasson has participated in over 100 exhibitions and is the author of eight books including Claude Roussel Sculpteur/Sculptor (1985) and Climat (1996). He wrote twenty plays such as l’exil d’Alexa (1993) and Allénor (1997). He has also published numerous magazines, works, collectives and anthologies of poems.

He was awarded the prix France-Acadie in 1986 and 1992, the prestigious Chevalier de l’Ordre français des arts et lettres in 1990, l’Ordre des francophones d’Amérique in 1993, the Grand Prix de la Francophonie canadienne in 1999, an honourary doctorate in literature from the University of Moncton in 1999 and, most recently, the prix Quinquennal Antonine-Maillet-Acadie Vie in 2003.

Dr. Chiasson was born and educated in St-Simon, New Brunswick. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Moncton in 1967, a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Mount-Allison University in 1972, a Masters in Esthetics from the University of Paris (Sorbonne) in 1976, a Master of Fine Arts from the State University of New York in 1981 and a Doctorate from the University of Paris (Sorbonne) in 1983.