Gaétan Gervais, who co-created the Franco-Ontarian flag in 1975, passed away Oct. 20 at age 74.
His sister, Joanne Gervais, announced his passing on Facebook, saying that he was surrounded by his family when he passed on after a “long and difficult battle with Parkinson's.”
His death comes less than a year after the passing of Michel Dupuis, the Franco-Ontarian flag's co-creator, who passed away in January at age 60.
See: Michel Dupuis, co-creator of the Franco-Ontarian flag, passes away at age 62
Gervais was a professor at Laurentian University and Dupuis was his student when they created the white and green Franco-Ontarian flag, which has since become a symbol for Francophones across the province.
Laurentian University issued a statement about Gervais' passing over the weekend.
“The Laurentian University community learned with great sadness the passing of one of its leading Franco-Ontarian leaders, Professor Gaétan Gervais, earlier today,” said the statement, issued by Yves Pelletier, Laurentian's associate vice-president, academic and francophone affairs.
He “dedicated his life” and career “to documenting the triumphs and the struggles of Franco-Ontarian communities across the province,” the statement said.
Gervais participated in creating the Institut franco-ontarien as well as the Franco-Ontarian flag. “His name and his legacy will forever remain strong and celebrated,” the statement said.
Dupuis spoke to Sudbury.com about the flag in 2015 at a ceremony at the University of Sudbury celebrating its 40th anniversary.
He and Gervais created the flag when Ontario's Francophones were in the midst of a cultural revolution. Writers, artists, and musicians, like the seminal Franco-Ontarian band CANO, were telling their own stories in their own language, Dupuis said.
Even though there had been a Francophone presence in Ontario for more than 350 years at that time, Franco-Ontarian culture, as we know it today, was still in its nascent stages.
When the cultural revolution brought unique Franco-Ontarian voices to the forefront, Dupuis and Gervais decided they needed a symbol to rally behind and to represent them.
“The success of a symbol comes from its ability to convey a message,” Dupuis said.
An obituary and funeral information for Gervais has not yet been released.
