Honorary degree citation - Serge Chapleau & Terry Mosher
By: David Secko, June 2018
Serge Chapleau and Terry Mosher – political cartoonists and true Montreal originals.
Chaque jour depuis des décennies, ces artistes et commentateurs incontournables parviennent à cerner l’essentiel dans le tourbillon médiatique et à résumer visuellement des situations complexes.
They possess that rare capacity so admired by any educator – to entertain while they inform.
Their work is so popular, Montreal's McCord Museum had to extend its 1997 exhibition of their work by a year. The long-time friends were the subject of the 2003 documentary “Nothing Sacred.” And in 2015, they received together the Hyman Solomon Award for excellence in public policy journalism.
Mr, Chancellor, I am delighted to present Serge Chapleau.
Living as a self-proclaimed hippie in the ’70s, he began working as a professional cartoonist for Perspectives magazine, and contributed to many other Quebec publications.
Après un séjour de cinq ans au journal Le Devoir, il entre au quotidien La Presse en 1996, pour lequel il continue, encore aujourd’hui, de réaliser ses caricatures. Depuis 1993, le recueil annuel de ses meilleurs dessins, intitulé L’Année Chapleau, est un succès de librairie.
Pour ses portraits irrévérencieux – de Jean Drapeau à Donald Trump, il a été quatorze fois en nomination au Concours canadien de journalisme, a remporté sept prix, et, depuis 1995, se retrouve constamment parmi les finalistes.
He has also brought his news reader character Gérard D. Laflaque to life as a puppet, and now a CGI figure, on TV. The show Ici Laflaque has run for 14 seasons on Radio-Canada, skewering more than 100 figures – and counting – from politics, culture and sports.
Mr. Chancellor, on behalf of Senate and the Board of Governors, it is my privilege and honour to present to you Mr. Serge Chapleau, so that you may confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.
Mr, Chancellor, I am delighted to present Terry Mosher, better known by his nom de plume, Aislin.
Drawing for daily papers since 1967, Mr. Mosher has penned more than 13,000 cartoons. His work has also appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Time magazine, and The New York Times, and in his 49 books, his most recent being From Trudeau to Trudeau: Fifty Years of Aislin Cartoons.
His trenchant political satire has won him two National Newspaper Awards and a gold National Magazine Award. In 1985 he became the youngest ever inductee into the Canadian News Hall of Fame.
Mr. Mosher speaks often on cartooning’s value as a communications tool and judges competitions around the world.
Ici à Montréal, il soutient depuis longtemps le plus grand refuge pour sans-abri de la ville, la Mission Old Brewery. Il fait don des ventes de ses imprimés à l’organisme et se dévoue à plusieurs autres causes.
For his cultural contributions and charitable work, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2003.
Mr. Chancellor, on behalf of Senate and the Board of Governors, it is my privilege and honour to present to you Mr. Terry Mosher, so that you may confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.
