Serge Mongeau

Serge Mongeau

Serge Mongeau in 2010
Born (1937-03-24) March 24, 1937
in Montréal
Occupation Writer

Serge Mongeau (born March 24, 1937 in Montréal) is a physician, writer, publisher and politician from Quebec. He is one of the best-known Canadian advocates of simple living.

Biography

Serge Mongeau studied medicine at Université de Montréal. After practising general medicine for two years, he went back to U. de M. and obtained a master in social work, option community organization. In the early 1960s, Mongeau was one of the few resource persons in sexology in Quebec.[1] In 1965, he became president of the Family Planning Association of Montréal and called on the Catholic church to develop a more modernist approach to contraception.[1] Dr. Mongeau was the director of the Family Planning Centre (Centre de planification familiale du Québec), a multi-disciplinary centre in Montréal.[2] In 1967–1970, he published Cours de sexologie, a five-volume work about sexology written for the general public, which was a best-seller. By 1970, he had published eleven books at Jacques Hébert's Éditions du Jour.[3] He also wrote for the left-leaning weekly newspaper Québec-Presse.[4]

In politics, he became a member of the Parti québécois. During the Quebec general election, 1970, after alleged irregularities in the nomination of the Parti québécois candidate J.-Y. Lefebvre in the riding of Taillon,[5] Mongeau ran as an independent candidate in the riding and obtained 7.6% of the votes.[6] In June 1970 he participated in the founding of the Movement for the defense of political prisoners.[7] During the time of the October Crisis, when the War Measures Act was decreed by the government of Pierre Trudeau, Dr. Mongeau, while on his way to work at the Family Planning Centre on the morning of October 16, 1970, was intercepted by police, thrown in jail without accusation and kept there secretly for ten days without contact with the exterior.[8] He wrote about that experience in his book Kidnappé par la police (kidnapped by police).

In the 1970s, he traveled and studied political science at the Facultad latinoamericana de ciencias sociales in Chile. Back in Canada, he became the director of the Centre local de services communautaires of Saint-Hubert.[9]

From 1978, he dedicated himself full-time to writing and publishing. He became the director of the "Heath" collection at the Québec/Amérique publishing house. In 1985, he published the first edition of his book on simple living. He wrote "I try to realise within myself what I think should be the basis of a fair universe for all: I try to be good, tolerant, honest and just."[10] In 1986, he became director of the "Peace" collection at the Libre Expression publishing house. In 1992, with a group of friends, he founded the publishing house Écosociété, specialized in the themes of society, economy and environment. Mongeau lived in l'île d'Orléans for twenty years. He moved back to Montréal in 2008.

In the Quebec general election, 2008, Serge Mongeau was candidate for Québec solidaire in the electoral district of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. He obtained 12.9% of the votes.[11]

He published a two-part autobiography, in 2006 and 2012.[10]

Books

Electoral record

Electoral record
Election Division Party Votes % Place Winner
Quebec general election, 1970 Taillon Independent 2,998 7.6 4/7 Guy Leduc, Quebec Liberal Party[6]
Quebec general election, 2008 Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Québec solidaire 2,508 12.93 3/6 Carole Poirier, Parti Québécois[11]

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 André Dupras and Hélène Dionne, "L’émergence de la sexologie au Québec", in Scientia Canadensis: Canadian Journal of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine / Scientia Canadensis : revue canadienne d'histoire des sciences, des techniques et de la médecine, vol. 11, n° 2, (33) 1987, p. 90-108, at pages 96 and 98. Accessed December 5, 2012. (French)
  2. ↑ Andrea Goeb, "Women, Professionals Teach One Another", The Gazette, Montreal, April 25, 1968. Accessed December 5, 2012.
  3. ↑ Serge Mongeau, Kidnappé par la police, Éditions Écosociété, Montréal, 2001, 187 pages, ISBN 2-921561-58-1, at p. 103 (French)
  4. ↑ Mongeau, op. cit., 2001, p. 47
  5. ↑ Paul Waters, "Separatist coalition only as strong as election hopes", The Gazette, Montreal, April 22, 1970. Accessed December 5, 2012.
  6. 1 2 Les résultats électoraux depuis 1867, Assemblée nationale du Québec. Accessed December 5, 2012.
  7. ↑ Mongeau, op. cit., 2001, p. 106
  8. ↑ Mongeau, op. cit., 2001
  9. ↑ Serge Mongeau, Non, je n'accepte pas. Autobiographie, tome 1 (1937–1979), Éditions Écosociété, Montréal, 2006, 296 pages, ISBN 2-923165-15-2 (French)
  10. 1 2 Kamel Bouzeboudjen, "Serge Mongeau, l'infatigable", Radio-Canada.ca, May 5, 2012. Accessed December 5, 2012. (French)
  11. 1 2 General elections – 2008, December 8 – Official results by electoral divisions – Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Directeur général des élections du Québec. Accessed December 5, 2012.
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