Mr. Speaker, there is a feeling of sadness today in Quebec, as we are mourning the passing of Pauline Julien.
The Bloc Quebecois extends its condolences to her children Pascale and Nicolas, to her granddaughter Marie, whom she adored, and to her friends and family.
Pauline Julien was an actor, a singer and a composer, and she used her exceptional voice to interpret the songs of the greatest French and Quebec songwriters. When she came back to Quebec in the early sixties, she said “It is important for me to sing my own songs. I had things to say as a woman, a singer and a Quebecker, things that others could not say on my behalf”.
For many, Pauline Julien is synonymous with political commitment to Quebec and to the feminist cause. We will remember her kindness, her compassion for the needy and her anger at seeing the increasingly wide gap between rich and poor.
It is this woman, this singer, this Quebecker and this champion of so many social, national and international causes, that Quebec salutes with respect and pride.