Jean-Marie Cossette

Jean-Marie Cossette (October 30, 1928–April 28, 2007) was an aerial photographer, newspaper manager, and activist in the Canadian province of Quebec. He was a prominent member of the Quebec sovereigntist movement and was president of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society of Montreal on three occasions.

Cossette was born in Saint-Roch-de-Mékinac in Quebec's Mauricie region, the son of a farmer. He became an aerial photographer in 1949 and worked in the field for many years, founding the companies Point du Jour Aviation and Globe Airview and working in Quebec, Ontario, and the United States of America. Cossette is regarded as a pioneer of aerial photography in Quebec, and Point du Jour's collection of more than four million aerial photographs taken between 1954 and 1996 is now held by the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.

Cossette became associated with the Quebec independence movement when living in Montreal. During the 1970 October Crisis, he was detained without charge for a period of three weeks.

Cossette served as president of Montreal's Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society on three occasions (1975–76, 1978–80, and 1985–86). His third tenure as president was unexpected; he was elected at the party's annual convention following the surprise resignation of Gilles Rhéaume. Cossette planned to run for the position again in 1992 against incumbent Jean Dorion, but was disqualified after he lost his position on the society's executive.

During the 1980 Canadian federal election, Cossette said that he would support any party that would pledge to abolish the War Measures Act and uphold the Keable Commission into police wrongdoing during the October Crisis.

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