Bruno Roy

Childhood

After being abandoned as a baby, Bruno Damase Roy, named after his maternal grandfather, ended up at the Crèche de l'Hôpital de la Miséricorde in Montreal for two years. From there, he was sent to the Crèche Saint-Paul for five years. In 1950, at the age of seven, he was at Mont-Providence, a medical-pedagogical institute for so-called educable orphans.

Four years later, Mont-Providence was transformed into a psychiatric hospital, as stipulated in a decree issued by Maurice Duplessis’ government. From then on, the orphans were given the false diagnosis of being mentally ill. (See also Psychiatry). This meant that each child would receive more federal-provincial subsidies per day. A mentally ill child received $2.25, while an orphan received only $0.70. Now considered to have mental disabilities, these children received almost no education, only the equivalent of third grade. These abandoned children, dubbed Duplessis Orphans because Maurice Duplessis was the Premier of Quebec at the time, were now wards of the state.

Roy was a wonderful child with a keen intellect despite the emotional, cognitive, intellectual and relational delays typical of neglected children. His endearing personality attracted considerable support, which is why Sister Olive-des-Anges took him under her wing. The same was true of Madelaine Dauphinais-Rolland, a volunteer visitor at Mont-Providence with her husband Roger Rolland. Roy was a member of the choir, and, during a concert, Madelaine Rolland pointed him out. This prompted Roy to write to Roger Rolland in 1987 at the time of his wife’s death: “You’re not learning this from me: Madeleine, is the one who pointed me out; the one who, at Mont-Providence, recognized me, the one who pointed me out to the others and to you. And, may I say, she pointed me out to myself? However, even if Madeleine chose me, I think you’re the one I’ve identified with.”

In his autobiography, Roy quotes neuropsychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik, the “democratizer” of resilience, who says the following of his journey:

Before arriving in the world of the spoken word, little Bruno Roy had probably acquired a preverbal resilience. Perhaps a taste for beauty that appears from the very first months. [...] The acquisition of this charming behavior, an early sign of a relational style and a way of resolving conflicts, is undoubtedly one of the main factors of resilience. [...] Perhaps adults were delighted to reach out to this child?

Education

The Rollands invited Bruno Roy to their home in Ville Mont-Royal during his vacations. They insisted that he attend school. And so, in 1958, when Roy was 15, he was at the Orphelinat Saint-Georges de Joliette, run by the Clerics of Saint-Viateur (see Joliette). Within a year, he had caught up on his last year of primary school and part of his secondary education, which he successfully completed at the Collège Louis-Querbes in Berthier.

In 1964, he entered the novitiate of the Clerics of Saint-Viateur in Joliette, then went to Rigaud to attend the École normale, where he obtained his teaching certificate. He went on to study at the Université de Montréal where he received a teaching certificate (1969) and at the Université du Québec à Montréal for a bachelor's degree in literary studies (1976).

While teaching at secondary, college and university levels, he obtained a master's degree in literary studies (1981) from the Université du Québec à Montréal, and a doctorate in French studies [literature (1992)] from the Université de Sherbrooke. His doctoral thesis is entitled Chanson québécoise : dimension manifestaire et manifestation(s) : (1960-1980).

In addition to his calling as a teacher, Roy wrote over thirty books, novels, stories, newspapers, over 200 opinion pieces and a television series entitled Les orphelins de Duplessis (1997). This prolific writer called himself a writer who teaches rather than a teacher who writes. He also believed that to write is to be born, and to teach is to seduce. As a writer, he held a number of positions on the Board of Directors of the Union des écrivaines et écrivains québécois (UNEQ) since 1982. From 1987 to 1996, and again from 2000 to 2004, he was president of the union. He is responsible for the Maison des écrivains (head office of the UNEQ), for setting up the Copibec program, a non-profit corporation that manages authors' rights, and for creating the Festival international de littérature.

Duplessis Orphans Committee

A man of boundless energy, Bruno Roy became, in spite of himself, the spokesman for the Duplessis Orphans. It was an orphan named Réjean Hinse who called Roy to ask him to become the group's representative. Roy initially refused, but Hinse was tenacious. On his sixth call to convince Roy, he said: "You exist, you teach, you write, you belong to the Writers' Union, you have a family, we see you on TV, whereas we've been exploited all our lives, and we don't count. We don't exist, not even for you, our childhood companion." Roy realized that his attitude was totally unacceptable and accepted Hinse’s offer. In 1994, he became spokesman and president of the Duplessis Orphans Committee.

And so began a series of proceedings, including a class action suit, and countless battles for dignity to obtain recognition of the abuse suffered by the Duplessis Orphans and to demonstrate the collusion between the Church, the State and doctors to the detriment of the children entrusted to their care. In 2001, Roy succeeded in getting the Quebec government to pay an average of $25,000 in compensation to each Duplessis orphan.

Personal Life

In 1970, Bruno Roy, who had never known his family and described himself as fatherless, decided to start his own family and married Luce Michaud. They went on to have twin daughters Catherine and Isabelle.

Awards and Distinctions

Recipient of numerous awards, Buro Roy received the most precious gift to honour his memory. The Literature Department at Collège André Laurendeau, where he taught, created the Prix Bruno-Roy award in 1999 to encourage the next generation of literature students.