June 1: Building Bridges Launch at Montreal City Hall

Please join McGill-Queen’s University Press and Victor C. Goldbloom in celebrating the launch of his memoir:

BUILDING BRIDGES

Monday, June 1st
5:00 – 7:00 PM
Montreal City Hall
275 rue Notre-Dame E.

Event details >

A life devoted to social reconciliation and public understanding.

A pediatrician, provincial politician, and pioneer of interfaith dialogue, Victor Goldbloom (b. 1923) has led a rich and varied life. Deeply committed to social issues, his dedication to reconciliating French and English, federalists and sovereignists, Christians and Jews, and his understanding of public health, the environment, and minority communities are unparalleled.

Born in Montreal, Goldbloom received his medical degree from McGill University in 1945. A practising pediatrician for many years, he entered public life in 1962 as a governor of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Quebec and in 1966 was elected to the Quebec Legislature.

In 1970 he became the first member of Quebec’s Jewish community to serve in the provincial cabinet, under Premier Robert Bourassa. A minister of the National Assembly until 1979, Goldbloom served as Quebec’s first environment minister, and later as municipal affairs minister and minister responsible for the Olympics Installations Board. In the early 1990s he became Canada’s Commissioner of Official Languages.

In Building Bridges – a collection of personal anecdotes, media coverage of his impressive career, and transcriptions of two historic speeches – Goldbloom recounts the details of his remarkable life and lifelong commitment to Quebec and to Canada.

Receiving an honorary degree from McGill University in 1992, with Canadian astronaut Roberta Bondar, and Barbara Whitley, a long-time stalwart of Montreal’s English language cultural scene.

Being installed as a companion of the Order of Canada by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson in 2000.

Sheila and Victor in 2013, when the Quebec Community Groups Network recognized us by creating a community service award in our honour.

To learn more about Building Bridges, or to order a copy online, click here.
For media requests, please contact publicist Jacqui Davis.