29th Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick (2003 - 2009)

Herménégilde Chiasson was born in Saint-Simon, New Brunswick (1946). He holds a BA from the Université de Moncton (1967), a BFA from Mount Allison University (1972), a Master's degree in aesthetics from the Université de Paris 1 (1976), an MFA from the State University of New York (1981) and a doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris (1983).

Chiasson has chosen to live and work in Acadie, pursuing his artistic career and making full use of his wide range of talents. He has been actively involved in many areas of art and culture. He has served as director of the Galerie d'art de l'Université de Moncton (1974), founding president of the publishing house Éditions Perce-Neige (1984), president of the Galerie Sans Nom (1980), founding member of the Aberdeen cooperative (1965) and of Imago (1987), founding president of Productions du Phare-Est (1998), invited curator for the exhibition Anecdotes and Enigmas: The Marion McCain Atlantic Art Exhibition, at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery (1994), and president of the Association acadienne des artistes professionnel(le)s du Nouveau- Brunswick (1993-1995).

His artistic production is immense. He has participated in more than 100 exhibitions, including 18 solo exhibitions such as La Frise des Archers (1983) and Mythologies (1996). Among the group exhibitions in which he has taken part is the touring exhibition Quoifaire? Quoi dire? (1986) organized by curator Charlotte Townsend-Gault. Several of his works can be found in public and private collections. In addition to his visual arts, Chiasson has produced more than14 films, including Toutes les photos finissent par se ressembler (1985), Le Grand Jack (1987), Robichaud (1989), Taxi Cormier (1990) and Épopée (1996) which was awarded the Grand prix TV5. He is the author of several books, among them are Mourir à Scoudouc (1974), Claude Roussel/Sculpteur/Sculptor (1985) written in collaboration with Patrick Condon Laurette, Vous (1991) which won the France-Acadie prize (1992), Climats (1996) and Conversations which was awarded the Governor General's Literary Award (1999) Herménégilde Chiasson has also written more than twenty plays, such as Pierre, Hélène et Michael (1990), L'exil d'Alexa (1993) and Aliénor (1997). He has published a dozen texts in literary magazines ( Lèvres urbaines , Liberté et Éloizes , given numerous performances and literary readings, and been respon-sible for a dozen scenographies. He received the Prix France-Acadie (1986 and1992), the rank of Chevalier de l'Ordre français des Arts et des Lettres (1990), l'Ordre des francophones d'Amérique (1993), le Grand Prix de la francophonie canadienne (1999), an honourary Doctor of Letters from the Université de Moncton (1999), the prestigious Prix quinquennal Antonine-Maillet-Acadie Vie (2003) and le Prix Montfort (2004).