Serge Joyal

The Honourable Serge Joyal, jurist, has served as a member of Parliament, cabinet minister and senator.

A champion of human rights and freedoms, especially of the French language in Canada, he has been at the forefront of fundamental constitutional debates in Canadian society over the past 40 years.

A collector of art and historical artifacts, Mr. Joyal is a patron of several large Canadian museums. He is a great benefactor of the Canadian War Museum, the Canadian Museum of History, and Library and Archives Canada, to name a few, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and an honorary member of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Centre for Architecture. As a forward-thinking defender of public heritage, he chairs the Fondation Lafontaine-Cormier, which aims to promote the legal heritage of Quebec.

Mr. Joyal is the author and co-editor of many articles and works concerning parliamentary and constitutional law, as well as numerous essays and articles about social and political history, including France-Canada-Québec : 400 ans de relations d’exception; Le Mythe de Napoléon au Canada français; Le Canada et la France dans la Grande Guerre 1914-1918; French Embassy in Canada; and Reflecting on Our Past and Embracing Our Future: A Senate Initiative for Canada.

Mr. Joyal has received several prestigious awards, honours and distinctions in Canada and France; most recently, he was promoted to the rank of Commander in the French Légion d’honneur.