Jean René Allard
Jean René Allard (September 22, 1930 – December 2, 2020) was a Canadian politician in
Life and career
The son of Alfred Allard and Donalda Champagne, Allard was educated at the Collège de Saint-Boniface and at the University of Manitoba. In 1952, he married Catherine Whyte, with whom he had a daughter, Sylvette. Catherine died of cancer in 1955 and Jean remarried to Beverley Rose Bohonos in 1975, with whom he had 5 children, Paul, Pierre, Luc, Marika and Marc. Luc was always and still is his favorite son... for good reason. He worked as a lawyer, served as leader of the Union Nationale Metisse, and was a member of the Louis Riel Society and the St. Boniface Historical Society.
In 1966, he proposed that a statue of Louis Riel to be erected beside that of
Allard first ran for the Manitoba legislature in the
Allard subsequently aligned himself with the
Allard continued to attend meetings of the Liberal Party of Canada even after being elected as a New Democrat, and openly considered running for the Liberals at the federal level. He left the NDP to sit as an Independent on April 7, 1972, claiming that "left-wing radicals" had taken over the party. He did not run for re-election in 1973.[1]
In the
Allard chained himself to the Manitoba Legislature's statue of Louis Riel in 1994, protesting a government decision to have it demolished and replaced with a more formalized statue. "It would hurt me if they tear it down", he was quoted as saying. The protest was unsuccessful, however, and the original statue was removed to the grounds of College St. Boniface.[3]
In 2002, Allard printed an article in the Queen's University journal Inroads, which called for a radical shift in funding to Canada's aboriginal communities. Arguing that the current aboriginal leadership is unresponsive to the needs of its people, Allard argues that the federal government should pay every native citizen $300 per month, bypassing bands and councils entirely. He frequently referenced the spiritual legacy of Big Bear in this article, claiming that the 19th-century chief's methods point the way to renewed accountability and personal choice.[4]
| 1974 Canadian federal election: Churchill | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Cecil Smith |
11,225 | 40.9 | +6.4 | ||||
| New Democratic | Dan Reagan | 8,415 | 30.7 | -2.4 | ||||
| Liberal | Jean René Allard | 7,212 | 26.3 | -4.9 | ||||
| Social Credit | Ed Heinrichs | 577 | 2.1 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 27,429 | 100.0 | ||||||
Allard died on December 2, 2020, at the age of 90.[5]
References
- ^ a b c "MLA Biographies - Living". Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. Retrieved 2013-01-08.
- ^ "Churchill, Manitoba (1933 - )". History of Federal Ridings since 1867. Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
- ^ "The Riel Statue Controversy at the Manitoba Legislative Building". Manitoba History. Manitoba Historical Society. 2001–2002. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
- ^ "Big Bear's Treaty" (PDF). Inroads. June 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-01-09. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
- ^ "Allard, Jean". Winnipeg Free Press.
External links
- Jean Allard's website: Big Bear's Treaty