Jean Charpentier
Encyclopedia
Jean Charpentier was a Canadian
journalist
who served as the press secretary
for Pierre Trudeau
, the Prime Minister of Canada
, from 1975 until 1979. He was nicknamed "The Count" by journalists and reporters for his "elegance" and manners.
's, six children. Fulgence Charpentier had his four eldest children with his first wife, who died. Fulgence remarried to his second wife, Louise Dionne, shortly afterwards. The couple had their two youngest children, including Jean Charpentier. Fulgence Charpentier, who had worked as a journalist coverning the Parliament of Canada
, was the acting Mayor of Ottawa at the time of Jean Charpentier's birth.
Fulgence Charpentier worked for the Canadian federal government as a diplomat
and wartime censorship
director during World War II
. His father was posted to the Canadian embassy in Paris
, under Georges Vanier
in 1948, and was the first Ambassador to African francophonie, based in Cameroon
, beginning in the 1960s. Fulgence Charpentier died in 2001.
in 1953 while his father was posted at the Canadian embassy in Uruguay
. In the 1950s, Charpentier began working as a journalist for two French-language Canadian newspapers, Le Devoir
and Le Droit
. A colleague at the Le Driot, Denis Gratton, coined Charpentier's nickname, "The Count," while working at the newspaper, for his courtesy and manners.
He became a television reporter for Radio-Canada, the French language broadcaster for the CBC, in 1961, where he reported from Paris
, London
, Toronto
and Lima
, Cambodia
, Vietnam
, Argentina and Nigeria
's breakaway region of Biafra
. Charpentier covered the October Crisis
in Quebec
in 1970. He became the first foreign journalist to interview Augusto Pinochet
following the 1973 Chilean coup d'état which overthrew Salvador Allende
.
Charpentier left television journalism in the 1970s. His family had connections to then Prime Minister Trudeau through his father and two brothers, who were all diplomats in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Charpentier would serve as Pierre Trudeau's press secretary from 1975 until 1979.
The Prime Minister's communication director, Richard O'Hagan, moved Trudeau's press conferences to the Government Conference Centre
to better fit the Prime Minister's image.
As press secretary, Charpentier headed the Prime Minister's press conferences at the Conference Centre.
He won the respect of the press corps by balancing the competing interests of the print and broadcast media, and, more importantly, the French and English-speaking reporters. He made sure that the same number of French speaking reporters from Quebec
were called upon as the larger English-speaker contingent of reporters.
It is believed that Charpentier had Trudeau write a public letter announcing his separation from his wife, Margaret Trudeau, in 1977, declaring the martial problems as a private matter.
, led by Joe Clark
. Charpentier became a communications consultant
at the Treasury Board
.
The Canadian government asked Charpentier to arrange the official papal visit by Pope John Paul II
to the country. He spent the rest of his career as a freelance translator. He married his wife, Mary Mackay, in 1990.
Jean Charpentier died from cancer on January 8, 2010, in Ottawa at the age of 74. He was survived by his wife, Mary Mackay, and her four children, Tina, Dwayne, Shawn and Derek. He was survived by three siblings - Claire, Louise and Jacques - and predeceased by two brothers, Pierre and Georges.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
who served as the press secretary
Press secretary
A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage....
for Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
, the Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
, from 1975 until 1979. He was nicknamed "The Count" by journalists and reporters for his "elegance" and manners.
Early life
Charpentier was born on May 14, 1935, in Ottawa, Canada, the second youngest of his father, Fulgence CharpentierFulgence Charpentier
Fulgence Charpentier, OC was a French-Canadian journalist, editor and publisher.Born in Sainte-Anne-de-Prescott, Ontario, Charpentier's career included diplomatic, political and bureaucratic positions, but his first love had been journalism ever since he began his reporting career at Montreal's Le...
's, six children. Fulgence Charpentier had his four eldest children with his first wife, who died. Fulgence remarried to his second wife, Louise Dionne, shortly afterwards. The couple had their two youngest children, including Jean Charpentier. Fulgence Charpentier, who had worked as a journalist coverning the Parliament of Canada
Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...
, was the acting Mayor of Ottawa at the time of Jean Charpentier's birth.
Fulgence Charpentier worked for the Canadian federal government as a diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
and wartime censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
director during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. His father was posted to the Canadian embassy in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, under Georges Vanier
Georges Vanier
Major-General Georges-Philéas Vanier was a Canadian soldier and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 19th since Canadian Confederation....
in 1948, and was the first Ambassador to African francophonie, based in Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
, beginning in the 1960s. Fulgence Charpentier died in 2001.
Journalism career
Jean Charpentier learned SpanishSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
in 1953 while his father was posted at the Canadian embassy in Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
. In the 1950s, Charpentier began working as a journalist for two French-language Canadian newspapers, Le Devoir
Le Devoir
Le Devoir is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and the rest of Canada. It was founded by journalist, politician, and nationalist Henri Bourassa in 1910....
and Le Droit
Le Droit
Le Droit is a Canadian daily newspaper, published in Ottawa, Canada. Initially established and owned by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the paper was has been published by Gesca since 2000.-History:...
. A colleague at the Le Driot, Denis Gratton, coined Charpentier's nickname, "The Count," while working at the newspaper, for his courtesy and manners.
He became a television reporter for Radio-Canada, the French language broadcaster for the CBC, in 1961, where he reported from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
, Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, Argentina and Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
's breakaway region of Biafra
Biafra
Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra . The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious...
. Charpentier covered the October Crisis
October Crisis
The October Crisis was a series of events triggered by two kidnappings of government officials by members of the Front de libération du Québec during October 1970 in the province of Quebec, mainly in the Montreal metropolitan area.The circumstances ultimately culminated in the only peacetime use...
in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
in 1970. He became the first foreign journalist to interview Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
following the 1973 Chilean coup d'état which overthrew Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
.
Charpentier left television journalism in the 1970s. His family had connections to then Prime Minister Trudeau through his father and two brothers, who were all diplomats in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Charpentier would serve as Pierre Trudeau's press secretary from 1975 until 1979.
Trudeau's press secretary
Charpentier became Trudeau's press secretary at a time of increased friction the Prime Minister and the Canadian media. Trudeau severely disliked the press corps, who had developed a reputation for confronting parliamntarians in the hallways of Parliament with difficult questions.The Prime Minister's communication director, Richard O'Hagan, moved Trudeau's press conferences to the Government Conference Centre
Government Conference Centre
The Government Conference Centre is a government building in downtown Ottawa, Canada, located at 2 Rideau Street. It is situated at the intersection of Wellington Street and the Rideau Canal, just a short distance from the Parliament buildings and Confederation Square, and across the street from...
to better fit the Prime Minister's image.
As press secretary, Charpentier headed the Prime Minister's press conferences at the Conference Centre.
He won the respect of the press corps by balancing the competing interests of the print and broadcast media, and, more importantly, the French and English-speaking reporters. He made sure that the same number of French speaking reporters from Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
were called upon as the larger English-speaker contingent of reporters.
It is believed that Charpentier had Trudeau write a public letter announcing his separation from his wife, Margaret Trudeau, in 1977, declaring the martial problems as a private matter.
Later life
In 1979, Trudeau's government was ended by the opposition Progressive ConservativesProgressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
, led by Joe Clark
Joe Clark
Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician...
. Charpentier became a communications consultant
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
at the Treasury Board
Treasury Board
The Treasury Board is the Government of Canada's only statutory Cabinet committee and is responsible for the federal civil service much of the operation of the Canadian government. Among its specific duties are negotiating labour agreements with the public service unions and serving as Comptroller...
.
The Canadian government asked Charpentier to arrange the official papal visit by Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
to the country. He spent the rest of his career as a freelance translator. He married his wife, Mary Mackay, in 1990.
Jean Charpentier died from cancer on January 8, 2010, in Ottawa at the age of 74. He was survived by his wife, Mary Mackay, and her four children, Tina, Dwayne, Shawn and Derek. He was survived by three siblings - Claire, Louise and Jacques - and predeceased by two brothers, Pierre and Georges.