Four exceptional Quebec personalities will be honoured at a ceremony this Tuesday at the National Assembly.
Three of them, Tommy Kulczyk, Louise Otis and Françoise Sullivan, will receive the Medal of Honour from the Speaker of the National Assembly, Nathalie Roy, and former minister and political columnist Jean Lapierre will posthumously receive the President’s Medal.
Now 102 years old, Françoise Sullivan is the last surviving signatory of the Refus global, a text presented in 1948 by 16 artists associated with the automatist movement denouncing the rigidity of traditional Quebec values and considered a text announcing the cultural modernity of Quebec.
Françoise Sullivan, a creator whose work spans eight decades, is a pioneer of contemporary dance and a leading figure in modern art. A multidisciplinary artist, she has been a painter, dancer, choreographer, photographer, sculptor, conceptual artist, and writer.
Tommy Kulczyk is one of the co-founders of the organization Sun Youth, where he worked for 35 years. He also served as a city councillor in Saint-Jérôme and as a children’s commissioner for the City of Montreal.
He served as president and CEO of the Breakfast Club of Canada from 2022 to 2025, at which point he announced his retirement.
Louise Otis served as a judge of the Superior Court and later as a judge of the Court of Appeal. She designed one of the world’s first judicial mediation programs. She currently chairs the administrative tribunals of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. She also serves as an adjunct judge of the Administrative Tribunal of the European Satellite Agency.
She is also the chair of the Board of Directors of the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST).
Jean Lapierre enjoyed a political and media career that left its mark on Quebec for many years until his tragic death ten years ago in a plane crash while he and his family were attending his father’s funeral in the Magdalen Islands. He will receive the President’s Medal, the highest distinction awarded by the Speaker of the National Assembly.
A Liberal Member of Parliament for Shefford at 23, and a cabinet minister at 28, Lapierre co-founded the Bloc Québécois in the early 1990s with Lucien Bouchard in the wake of the collapse of the Meech Lake Accord. He left politics in 1992 to become a political columnist before returning under the Liberal banner from 2004 to 2007 as the MNA for Outremont. He then returned to political commentary, building an enviable reputation for his humour, colourful explanations, and unique expressions.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
