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OTTAWA, March 16, 2010  —  The University of Ottawa is proud to announce that Benoît Pelletier, professor at the Faculty of Law’s civil law section, will be made a Commandeur of the Ordre de la Pléiade. He will be awarded the order during a ceremony at the Québec national assembly on March 17, 2010.

A graduate of Université Laval, University of Ottawa, Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and Université d’Aix-Marseille III, Benoît Pelletier was a regular faculty member at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law from 1990 to 1998 and assistant dean from 1996 to 1998.

Elected member of the Québec Liberal Party for Chapleau in 1998, Benoît Pelletier has also served as the minister responsible for portfolios such as Canadian intergovernmental affairs, Francophones within Canada and Aboriginal affairs. He returned to teaching in 2008 with the civil law section of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law.

“I am very happy to receive this honour and to be recognized for my commitment to the Canadian Francophonie and the French language—a very rich and beautiful universal language,” said Benoît Pelletier.

The Ordre de la Pléiade was created in 1976 to recognize the merits of distinguished figures who serve the ideals of the Francophonie and the Assemblée internationale des parlementaires de langue française. The order has five levels. They are, in descending order of importance, the Grand Croix, Grand Officier, Commandeur, Officier and Chevalier.