France appoints Prof. Pierre-Yves Mocquais to prestigious order

University of Calgary professor Pierre-Yves Mocquais has been elevated from the rank of Knight to that of Officer of France’s prestigious Ordre des Palmes Académiques recently for his teaching, promotion of French culture and research on early French immigration to Western Canada.

Mocquais became an Officer of the Order in a Calgary ceremony April 1 when the Vancouver-based consul-general of France visited this city.

“It is the equivalent in France of receiving the Order of Canada,” says Luis Torres, acting head of the Department of French, Italian and Spanish. “He’s in very good company.”

“I was very surprised,” says Mocquais. “When I was first appointed in 2005 (as a Knight of the Order), I was told I had been nominated but this one I didn’t know about.” Mocquais’ nomination was submitted by the consul of France in Calgary to the French Ambassador who in turn submitted it to France’s minister of education – and the minister then recommended Mocquais to the prime minister.  

Mocquais has been at the University of Calgary since 1999, and was dean of the former Faculty of Humanities from 1999 to 2004. Since then, he has taught French language and literature, specializing in French-Canadian literature and French literature of the Renaissance.

His present research focuses upon “narratives of memory” found in autobiographies and journals, or in live testimonies, involving people who immigrated to Western Canada from France in the 19th century. Most narratives are from people who moved to Alberta and Saskatchewan. This has led Mocquais to conduct further research on the theme of exile.

Mocquais is organizing a major international conference to be held on campus in September on the topic of exile, Langages et écrituresde l’exil: l’Ouest canadien terre d’asile, terre d’exil (The languages and writings of exile: the Canadian West, land of refuge, land of exile.) More than 40 paper proposals have already been accepted from across Canada, France and the United States for the SSHRC-funded initiative co-sponsored by the Department of French, Italian and Spanish, the Language Research Centre, the Faculty of Arts and the Interactions culturelles et discursives research group at the University François Rabelais of Tours (France).

The Ordre des Palmes Académiques is also rooted in history. Created by Napoleon I in 1808, it is the academic equivalent of the Legion of Honour and has three ranks: knight, officer and commander.