Rolland Brunelle

Career

After studies in piano, violin, solfège, and voice, Roland Brunelle turned to teaching. He took part in many musical activities in Joliette, conducting the band, the vocal ensembles and the orchestra of the Séminaire where he had completed his classical studies.

Brunelle was ordained priest in 1937, after which he worked at the Séminaire de Joliette (1939-78). A European stay (1949-50) allowed him to study sacred song at the St-Cecilia Academy in Rome and at the Catholic Institute of Paris, Gregorian chant at Solesmes, counterpoint at the École César-Franck, and violin at the Brussels Conservatory.

Returning to Canada, Brunelle taught at the Camp musical de Lanaudière (1966-87) and at the Joliette Cegep. In 1970 he founded the Orchestre symphonique des jeunes de Joliette. He also contributed to The Canadian Encyclopedia as an author.

His pupils include Quebec violinist Angèle Dubeau and bassoonist and singer Yoland Guérard.

Class Action Lawsuit Against the Clercs de Saint-Viateur

In 2001, a class action lawsuit was launched against the Clercs de Saint-Viateur by more than 375 victims of sexual abuse. The name of Rolland Brunelle, who died in June 2004, is mentioned. The lawsuit alleges “acts” committed by the abbot in 1969 at the Camp musical de Lanaudière. The lawsuit was filed in 2017, and a settlement was finally reached in 2022.

In 2022, the city of Joliette's toponymy committee (see Place names) decided to replace the names of two of its streets bearing the names of ecclesiastics (including Brunelle), opting instead for the names of two women “who have contributed to the city's development”: France Robertson, Innu activist and defender of Indigenous rights, and Jacqueline Poirier-Lachance, activist, broadcaster and columnist. The Cégep régional de Lanaudière à Joliette’s auditorium, whose name honoured the memory of Rolland Brunelle, was also renamed Centre culturel Desjardins.

Honours

Rolland Brunelle received the Canadian Music Council Medal in 1983 for his contribution to teaching and to the promotion of music in the Lanaudière region, and the Prix d’Art de la SNQ de Lanaudière in 1985. He is awarded the title of Chevalier of the National Order of Quebec in 1992.

In Brunelle’s native city of Joliette, a street and a CEGEP auditorium (Cégep régional de Lanaudière à Joliette) were named after him until 2022, at the end of a class action lawsuit for sexual abuse against the Clercs de Saint-Viateur.