OttawaThe former municipal and provincial politician behind a landmark bill protecting francophone rights in Ontario has died.Seen as father of bill guaranteeing right to be served in FrenchCBC News · Posted: Oct 29, 2025 2:33 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesBernard Grandmaître is pictured here in a campaign pamphlet for the Vanier mayoral race in 1982. (Submitted by Muséoparc Vanier)Bernard Grandmaître died Tuesday in the hospital he helped save.The longtime politician in and around pre-amalgamation Ottawa was behind Ontario’s 1986 French Language Services Act, which guaranteed people’s rights to receive government and other services in French.The bill’s preamble recognizing “the contribution of the cultural heritage of the French-speaking population and [wish] to preserve it for future generations” is seen as a milestone.”It’s because of this law and of monsieur Grandmaître that today we have hospitals designated [to offer services in French], that we have designated ServiceOntario offices, that we have designated regions,” said Fabien Hébert, board chair of the Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario, in French.La Cité opening as the first French community college in Ontario in 1990 followed that law.The bill was a large part of the legal decision to block what was at first a closure, then severe cuts to Ottawa’s francophone Montfort Hospital in the late 1990s and early 2000s.Grandmaître died in that hospital at age 92.The Franco-Ontarian flag flies at half-mast outside the Montfort Hospital after Grandmaître’s death. (Amadou Barry/Radio-Canada)Grandmaître spent 1969 to 1984 as a municipal politician in the former city of Vanier, spending much of the latter decade as mayor.He then moved to provincial politics as the Liberal MPP for Ottawa East from 1984 until 1999, holding cabinet roles including francophone affairs.Grandmaître received the Order of Canada more than a decade ago.An arena and French Catholic elementary school in Ottawa are named after him, as is an award for advancing and developing francophones in the Ottawa area.’A quiet force’Several tributes poured in after news of his death.”He was a quiet force,” said Ottawa-Vanier-Gloucester MP Mona Fortier in French, adding, “He wasn’t a man who spoke loudly. He was a man who made himself heard.”Orléans MP Marie-France Lalonde said in French that when she became a minister, he told her, “At times, it won’t be easy, but if we persevere, if we’re resilient, we can do great things.”Former provincial cabinet minister Madeleine Meilleur said he has francophonie “tattooed on his heart,” while former Ottawa city councillor Mathieu Fleury remembered regularly seeing him at the Vanier Knights of Columbus on a Friday for baked beans and macaroni.The Franco-Ontarian flag was lowered to half-mast in several parts of Ottawa following his death.With files from Radio-Canada’s Martin Comtois, Louis-Denis Ébacher and Anne-Louise Michel
Franco-Ontarian icon Bernard Grandmaître dead at 92
