Fernand Ouellet

He was educated at Université Laval and gained a PhD in 1965. Ouellet taught at Université Laval, Carleton University, and the University of Ottawa in 1961–1985, prior to joining the History Department at York University in 1986.

Throughout his career, he used techniques imported from economics and psychology to challenge the foundations of Quebec nationalism. His contributions to the historiographical debates over the British Conquest and the 1837 Rebellion have been especially controversial. In particular, he drew attention to the role played by women in Quebec society. He accused fellow historians of trying to "normalize" Quebec's past, so as to provide a stronger justification of sovereignty.^[1] In response, other French-speaking historians ^[who?] have been hostile to his suggestion that French-Canadians are the agents of their own difficulties. These historians, instead of dwelling on economic shortcomings, have stressed the deep roots of modernity, a position that Ouellet strongly rejected. In a nutshell, Ouellet insisted that Quebec's history offers "more support for the thesis of backwardness than for that of modernization."^[2][3] A devout follower and admirer of Pierre Trudeau and his political ideology (Trudeauism), Ouellet was strongly against Quebec nationalism and the Quebec sovereignty movement. Trudeau and Ouellet intellectually influenced each other in their respective texts, though they never formed a personal and emotional friendship.^[4]

He died on 28 June 2021 in Toronto, aged 94.^[5] Married to Thérèse Roy, he had three children and four grandchildren.