Этьен Парен: Журналист, политик и государственный деятель Канады

Canadian journalist, politician and public servant

Étienne Parent (May 2, 1802 – December 22, 1874) was a Canadian journalist, politician and government official. A French Canadian nationalist, he wrote extensively on political theory and governance during the 1820s and 1830s in various newspapers, particularly Le Canadien, of which he was editor. He was attracted to theories of constitutional governance based on the British constitution, and opposed annexation to the United States. Born to farming parents, he spent most of his adult life in the French Canadian political and social elites. Parent opposed the Lower Canada Rebellion in 1837, condemning the inevitable bloodshed, while also heavily attacking the colonial government for its military repression of Lower Canada's claims for self government. As a result, he was condemned as a traitor by the advocates of the Rebellion, and imprisoned by the colonial government for "seditious schemings". An initial opponent of the union of Lower Canada and Upper Canada into the Province of Canada, he gradually concluded that it opened the possibility for a system of responsible government through an alliance between reformers in Lower Canada and Upper Canada. His writings influenced Louis Hippolyte LaFontaine, who ultimately achieved responsible government, working in partnership with Robert Baldwin, leader of the Reformers from Upper Canada. Parent was briefly a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, but with increasing deafness, he resigned his seat. LaFontaine appointed him as Clerk of the Executive Council, the provincial Cabinet. Parent became a public servant for the rest of his life, while providing a series of lectures on social and economic issues at the Institut canadien de Montreal and the Institut canadien de Québec. After Confederation in 1867, he continued as a federal public servant until his retirement.

Parent was born in the parish of Notre Dame de la Nativité, near the town of Beauport (now part of Quebec City), in 1802. His parents were a farm couple: Étienne François Parent and Josephte Clouet. He was the eldest of a large family of nine boys and six girls, and grew up working on the farm, acquiring habits of hard work and determination. His parents sent him to a primary school in Quebec, and then in 1814, when he was 12 years old, to the Collège de Nicolet for secondary schooling. He did well at school, winning several prizes. Five years later, in 1819, his parents sent him to the Petit Séminaire de Québec for further studies. Parent again did well, reading as many books as he could, and distinguishing himself for his writing abilities and good judgment. While he was at the Petit Séminaire, he met Augustin Norbert Morin, a fellow student. Morin was already writing articles for Le Canadien, a newspaper which supported the nationalist political group, the Parti canadien. Morin encouraged Parent to submit articles to the newspaper as well, starting his career as a journalist before he was out of school. However, the seminary authorities forbade him from submitting further articles. In 1825, Le Canadien folded, and Parent began looking for other work. He held down a number of positions, including working for the former rival paper, La Gazette de Quebec, From 1825 to 1829 he studied law as a student in the office of Joseph Rémi Vallières de Saint Réal, and later in that of Charles Eusèbe Casgrain. He was called to the bar of Lower Canada in 1829, but never practised law. He also obtained positions as a French translator and law officer for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. He later became the Assembly's librarian, and then the Clerk of the Assembly.

The union came into force on February 10, 1841, and general elections were held in the spring of that year for the first Parliament of the new Province of Canada. Parent stood for election to the Legislative Assembly for the constituency of Saguenay. Campaigning against the union, and as a supporter of LaFontaine, he was elected by a three vote majority. When LaFontaine was elected to a seat in Canada West, with the support of Robert Baldwin, Parent wrote in Le Canadien about the strong support Reformers in Canada West were giving to French Canadians: "Ils élisent M. Lafontaine pour montrer, disent ils, leur sympathie envers les Bas Canadiens, et leur détestation des mauvais traitements et des injustices auxquelles nous avons été exposés." In the first session of the new Parliament, Parent was part of the French Canadian Group. Working closely with LaFontaine, he voted in favour of a motion condemning the union of the two provinces, and was a consistent opponent of the policies of Governor General Lord Sydenham. He also introduced a bill calling on French to be given equal status in the Assembly, with the goal of overriding the provision of the Union Act, 1840 which provided that only English was to be used. The bill did not pass at that time. However, Parent's deafness was getting worse, making it difficult for him to participate in the business of the Assembly. Before the second session of the Assembly began in 1842, LaFontaine, now a member of the Executive Council (the provincial Cabinet), arranged for Parent to be appointed Clerk of the Council. As that position was a non partisan public service post, Parent resigned his seat in the Assembly, as well as his editorship of Le Canadien. In his farewell message to his readers, Parent praised the political developments under the union, with French Canadians being leading members of the Cabinet: " l'heureuse révolution qui a succédé à nos malheurs." His successor as the member for Saguenay was Morin, elected in a by election.

On his appointment as clerk to the Executive Council, Parent gave up his role with Le Canadien, ending his journalism career. However, from 1846 onwards, Parent lectured frequently at the Institut canadien de Montréal and the Institut canadien de Québec, and continued writing on questions of politics, governance, and social and economic development. He was critical of the conservatism of French Canadian society, and urged movement away from the traditional emphasis on the church, farming, and the professions. Instead, he argued for social and governmental changes to enable French Canadians to enter into the modern spheres of commerce and industry. He was a strong supporter of universal education, which he considered necessary for economic advancement of French Canadians. In the absence of a university for French Canadians, the two Instituts canadiens fulfilled an important educational role for the developing francophone professional class, different from the traditional classical education. In 1847, Parent was named the assistant secretary of the Province of Canada for Canada East, a public servant position. He held that post for twenty years. Upon Confederation in 1867, he was named under secretary of State in the new federal government, acting as public service deputy to the Secretary of State for Canada. He held that position until his retirement in 1872.