Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois at the student protest on March 22, 2012, at the Place du Canada in Montreal.
Born (1990-05-31) May 31, 1990[1]
Montreal, Canada
Nationality Canadian
Other names GND
Education B.A. in Humanities from UQÀM, studying philosophy at Université de Montréal[2]
Occupation Student
Organization Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ), Coalition large de l'ASSÉ (CLASSE)
Title CLASSE co-spokesperson
Term 2011–2012[1][3]
Awards Prix impératif français (2013)[4]

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois is a Canadian student activist. He is best known for his role during the 2012 Quebec student protests as co-spokesperson of the Coalition large de l'Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (CLASSE), a broad coalition of student associations opposed to the $1,625 tuition hike introduced by Jean Charest's government. He quit that position on August 9, 2012.

Early life

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois was born in a family of activists: his parents met in the Jeunesse Etudiante Chrétienne (Young Christian Students). His father was also an environmental and union activist.[5]

When he was young, he went with his father to demonstrations and union assemblies where was supposed to do his homework, but listened to the speeches instead. He became interested in politics and began reading La Presse hoping to become an international journalist.[5]

At the Collège Regina Assumpta, a highly ranked private school in Montreal, he obtained good grades but questioned everything, although he "was not a rebel", according to his father, Gilles Dubois. When the school's management wanted to appoint student representatives, he opposed the decision, saying that students should elect them instead. His request was realized the following year.[5]

Post-secondary student life

In Fall 2007, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois joined the Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ) as a student at the Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne. That year, the student association decided in a general assembly to no longer be affiliated with the ASSÉ. Nadeau-Dubois unsuccessfully tried to get the student association to rejoin the ASSÉ. The young activist was nevertheless elected as vice-president of his student association and was in charge of external affairs.[6]

In 2009, he started a humanities degree at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM). In order to focus on the student struggles, he enrolled as a part-time student, with only three credits per session. He received a Millennium Scholarship. During the 2010–2011 session, he was elected as a member of the ASSÉ's newspaper committee. In April 2010, he was also elected as Communications Secretary and spokesperson. In December 2011, he became a co-spokesperson of the ASSÉ's Coalition large (CLASSE), a broad coalition of student associations opposed to the $1,625 tuition hike introduced by Jean Charest's government, along with Jeanne Reynolds.[6]

He holds a degree in Humanities from the Université du Québec à Montréal. He is currently studying philosophy at Université de Montréal.[2]

2012 student protests

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois at a news conference during the June 22, 2012 protest in Quebec City.

Ever since the beginning of the 2012 Quebec student protests, Nadeau-Dubois was considered by the media as one of the leaders, if not the leader, of the student movement.[1][7] The CLASSE is based on direct democracy; it does not have any leaders, but instead has spokespersons, of which Nadeau-Dubois was one along with Jeanne Reynolds.[7]

This personification of the movement led to several rumours, personal attacks and even five death threats a week, both on Twitter and by mail. He was consequently protected by three or four bodyguards at demonstrations.[8]

In June, he admitted that he was "psychologically tired" and announced that while he would request a renewal of his term as spokesperson at the CLASSE's congress, he would quit his position at the end of the strike, citing "both internal and external pressure". He qualified the media coverage of him as "ironic", since he was the least powerful of the three student association leaders, yet he was also the one who was watched the most by the media.[9]

As a result of the constant attacks on him, Nadeau-Dubois resigned from his role as CLASSE spokesman on August 9, 2012. In his resignation letter, published by Le Devoir, a left-leaning periodical, he expressed his opinion that the strike movement had raised deeper issues and "questioned corrupt institutions". However, he regretted the fact that Jean Charest was still Premier [of the province of Quebec], saying that his government was "the incarnation of corruption".[3][10]

Morasse v. Nadeau-Dubois

On April 12, 2012, a visual arts student at Laval University, Jean-François Morasse, asked for and obtained an injunction from Justice Jean Hamelin of the Quebec Superior Court against his student association to be able to continue his studies.[11] The student, whose provisional injunction was renewed twice, was able to go to class. He nevertheless decided to press charges of contempt of court against Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois after having heard what he said to the TV channel RDI on May 13:[12]

I think that it is completely legitimate for students to take action to make sure that the democratic choice to strike is respected. It is very regrettable that there is a minority of students who use the courts to bypass the collective decision that has been taken. We think it is totally legitimate for people to use the necessary means to make sure the strike vote is respected. And if that requires picket lines, we think that is a completely legitimate way to do it.
— Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois

Even though the injunction was no longer effective since Bill 78 was passed by the National Assembly on May 28, Article 32 of the special law[13] allows for contempt of court procedures to continue. This article was nicknamed the "Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois clause" by Parti Québécois MNA Véronique Hivon.[14]

Morasse, who is represented pro bono by Maxime Roy Martel, asked that Nadeau-Dubois be given a prison sentence. The prosecutor, who was referred by the Quebec Bar Association, said that Nadeau-Dubois "incited other people not to respect the court's decision. And this incitation had a very wide reach, because [Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois] has a lot of media coverage." It is the only court case regarding contempt of court relative to an injunction which was given during the student protests.[15]

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, who pleaded not guilty to the accusation, said that the situation was "sad and regrettable". The hearings for this case were undertaken on September 27 and 28, 2012, at the Court of Quebec.[16] He was found guilty of contempt of court on November 1, 2012.[17] On December 2, Nadeau-Dubois launched a campaign called Appel à tous ("appeal to everyone") to raise funds to appeal the verdict.[18][19] On December 5, Justice Denis Jacques sentences Nadeau-Dubois to 120 hours of community service,[20] but his sentence was suspended until his appeal was decided.

Un January 2015, Quebec's Court of Appeal overturned the ruling. Three justices found for Nadeau-Dubois, who was acquitted.

Morasse appealed that decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. In October, 2016, writing for the majority, Justices Clément Gascon and Rosalie Abella stated that in Nadeau-Dubois's comments, picketing does not equal blocking classes, the latter being contra to the injunction.[21]

Career

Nadeau-Dubois is not interested in being a politician.[22] He thinks that the best way to achieve social justice and free education is by being an activist in social movements. He said to a journalist in March 2012 that partisan politics discourage him from getting involved.[23]

Shortly after quitting as CLASSE spokesperson, Nadeau-Dubois was hired by the CSN-Construction on a contractual basis. His job mainly consists of research on the history of collective agreements in the construction industry.[24]

In 2013, he was awarded the Prix impératif français for his "commitment to defending accessibility to post-secondary education for all, in a society that is as just as possible."[4]

In 2014, he won the Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction for Tenir tête, a memoir of the events of 2012.[25] Speaking on the popular Quebec television show Tout le monde en parle on 23 November 2014, he announced he had donated his $25,000 Governor-General's Award prize money to fight the Energy East pipeline project, and that he has raised a further $385,000 to support the fight against the project, which is owned by TransCanada Pipelines and would funnel oil sands bitumen via Eastern Canada for export to foreign markets.[26]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gervais, Lisa-Marie (March 19, 2012). "Point chaud – Un printemps étudiant". Le Devoir (in French). Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Speakers". Worldviews Conference. Archived from the original on July 4, 2013. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Nadeau-Dubois resigns from CLASSE". CBC News. August 9, 2012. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  4. 1 2 "PRIX IMPÉRATIF FRANÇAIS 2013 décerné à Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois". Impératif français (in French). March 20, 2013. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 Breton, Pascale (April 21, 2012). "Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois: un militant depuis l'enfance". La Presse (in French). Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  6. 1 2 "Conférence de Gabriel Nadeau Dubois et assemblée générale annuelle". Québec solidaire (in French). February 2, 2013. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  7. 1 2 Gervais, Lisa-Marie (April 16, 2012). "Qui sont les leaders du mouvement étudiant ?". L'Actualité (in French). Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  8. ↑ Gabbatt, Adam (May 27, 2012). "Quebec student spokesman a divisive figure among tuition-fee protesters". The Guardian. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
  9. ↑ Lefebvre, Sarah-Maude (June 1, 2012). "Nadeau-Dubois s'en ira". Journal de Montréal (in French). Archived from the original on June 2, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  10. ↑ Nadeau-Dubois, Gabriel (August 9, 2012). "Lutte étudiante – Pourquoi je démissionne". Le Devoir (in French). Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Université Laval : un deuxième étudiant obtient gain de cause devant le tribunal". Radio-Canada. April 12, 2012. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Requête en outrage au tribunal contre Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois". Radio-Canada. May 15, 2012. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  13. ↑ Article 32, Loi permettant aux étudiants de recevoir l’enseignement dispensé par les établissements de niveau postsecondaire qu'ils fréquentent, Act No. 78 of April 18, 2012 (in French). Retrieved on August 1, 2013.
  14. ↑ Lavallée, Jean-Luc (May 18, 2012). "La " clause Nadeau-Dubois " dénoncée". Journal de Québec (in French). Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  15. ↑ Journet, Paul (May 29, 2012). "La poursuite réclame la prison contre Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois". La Presse (in French). Archived from the original on May 29, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  16. ↑ Journet, Paul (May 29, 2012). "Outrage: Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois plaide non coupable". La Presse (in French). Archived from the original on May 29, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  17. ↑ Paul, Journet and Philippe Teisceira-Lessard (November 1, 2012). "Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois coupable d'outrage au tribunal". La Presse (in French). Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  18. ↑ Gervais, Lisa-Marie (November 3, 2012). "Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois lance un appel à tous". Le Devoir (in French). Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  19. ↑ Dionne, Laurent (November 2, 2012). "Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois interjette appel" (in French). Canoë. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  20. ↑ Néron, Jean-François (December 5, 2012). "Nadeau-Dubois condamné à 120 heures de travaux communautaires". Le Soleil (in French). Archived from the original on December 5, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  21. ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/gabriel-nadeau-dubois-contempt-court-case-1.3823726
  22. ↑ Nicoud, Anabelle (May 30, 2012). "Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, jeune premier de la Classe". Libération (in French). Archived from the original on August 1, 2013. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  23. ↑ Collard, Nathalie (March 17, 2012). "10+1 avec Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois". La Presse (in French). Archived from the original on August 1, 2013. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  24. ↑ Séguin, Félix (September 13, 2012). "Exclusif – Un boulot à la CSN pour GND" (in French). TVA. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  25. ↑ Medley, Mark (November 18, 2014). "Thomas King Wins Governor General's award for fiction". The Globe and Mail.
  26. ↑ Uechi, Jenni (24 January 2014). "Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois helps raise $170,000 to fight Energy East". Vancouver Observer.
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