Roger Lagasse
| Roger Lagassé | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Roger Joseph Marc Lagassé July 15, 1956 Sainte-Anne-des-Chênes, Manitoba |
| Residence | Welcome Woods, Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Citizenship | Canadian |
| Education | B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed. |
| Alma mater | U of Manitoba, U of Calagary, U of British Columbia |
| Occupation | Retired |
| Notable work | Author of children's books |
| Political party |
New Democratic Party (1981) Green Party of Canada (2000) Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (2003) Liberal Party of Canada (2006) Progressive Canadian Party (2011) Independent 2015 |
| Children | Three |
Roger Lagassé has been district principal for indigenous education, librarian, teacher and author. He co-authored several French children's books published by Éditions des Plaines in Manitoba, Canada: la Petite jument blanche, 1981, Le Sorcier, 1986; Tit-Jean l'intrépide, 1993. In 1990 he paddled a single kayak from Sechelt to Nanaimo, BC in the Save Georgia Strait Marathon to bring attention to environmental and nuclear weapons issues. He advocated for the establishment of Tetrahedron Provincial Park and Spipiyus Provincial Park and, as part of the Friends of Caren, helped find the first active marbled murrelet nest in Canada. Lagassé also planned, taught, and created a Francophone public school online course in BC First Nations Studies for secondary school students in British Columbia starting in 2007. He also taught "Aboriginal Education in Canada" at the University of British Columbia in 2012. He was a sessional instructor at University of British Columbia in 2012.
In April 1989, Lagassé became the first person to announce that he would be a candidate in the 1989 New Democratic Party leadership election. The Toronto Star newspaper described him as a "political unknown," and Lagassé himself acknowledged that he was a fringe candidate. He honestly admitted that he did not believe he could run the country explaining to the journalist who asked if he honestly believed he could run the country that every citizen played an important role and no one individual could "run" Canada; in confirming his decision to run, he said that his primary purpose was to draw attention to global issues affecting children, particularly children starvation in the Third World. At different times in the contest, he urged the NDP to focus on environmental issues and international threats, including an end to the military arms buildup, and called for a ban on radioactive nuclear materials in Canadian harbours. He indicated that he did not personally support abortion as a form of birth control and called for greater education on the issue. Throughout the campaign he sought to build bridges between pro-choice and pro-life factions, believing that there was enough common ground to work together to address the issue in a constructive manner. In his "Musings" column in the Vancouver Sun, University of Victoria political science instructor Terry Morley wrote "...But they are all missing a bet. Lagasse is fluently bilingual with interesting views. He believes that 'a child is a human being with consciousness and full human rights long before birth.' yet opposes the recriminaliztion of abortion. Most Canadians have this view." (article: "NDP's best hope isn't from Ottawa", Vancouver Sun September, 1989) At one stage, he criticized the NDP for scheduling its leadership debates in posh hotels such as the Hotel Vancouver.
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