Jacques-Yvan Morin

Education and Law Career

Jacques-Yvan Morin undertook graduate studies in law at the Université de Montréal, McGill, Cambridge and Harvard. He was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1953 and became professor of international and constitutional law at Université de Montréal in 1958. He focused his attention on international law and the nature of federalism, and was involved in the arbitration of numerous labour disputes in Quebec.

Between 1964 and 1968, he was a member of the Cour international d'arbitrage at the Hague, Netherlands, as well as several other associations dealing with international legal issues.

Political Career

In 1964, Morin began advocating a highly decentralized form of federalism for Canada, a genuine "confederation". He presided over the États généraux du Canada français between 1966 and 1969, and the Mouvement national des Québécois from 1971 to 1973, championing the ideology of sovereignty-association advocated by the Parti Québécois (PQ).

Morin ran unsuccessfully as a PQ candidate in the 1970 election, but was elected in 1973 to the National Assembly, where he was Leader of the Official Opposition for the Parti Québécois. Following the PQ victory in November 1976, Morin was appointed vice-premier and held the position until 1984. Between 1976 and 1985, he headed up several ministries, including those of education (1976 to 1980) cultural and scientific development (1980 to 1982 and intergovernmental affairs (1982 to 1985).

He retired from active politics in 1985 to pursue his scholarly interests and teach constitutional law at Université de Montréal.

Honour

In 2001, Jacques-Yvan Morin became Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec (Ordre national du Québec).