Mr. Speaker, Anne Hébert, one of Quebec's greatest writers passed away recently at the age of 83.
Poet, novelist and playwright, this gentle discreet woman caught the imagination of Quebecers through her writing with its shadows of love and hate, life and death, red and black and dark and light.
Born in Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier, cousin of another famous writer, Saint-Denys Garneau, she produced works that earned her an international reputation and prestigious awards, including the Prix France-Canada, the prix Fémina and the prix des Libraires de France, to name but a few.
Anne Hébert died at the dawn of the year 2000. Like the century marked by concern and great hope, she left us a body of work drawn on our roots.
The Bloc Quebecois would like to express its deepest sympathies to her family and say to them, in the words of one of her lines, that she who ceaselessly secretly weighs our soul will remain in the hearts of Quebecers.