Pierre Dufault (born November 5, 1934) is a Canadian former journalist and sports commentator. He began as a political correspondent and reporter for the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

(CFL) in radio at

CKCH CKCH was a radio station which operated at 970 kHz on the AM band in Hull, Quebec, Canada from 1933 to 1994. CKCH was also the original call sign of Ottawa radio station CNRO (later known as CBO) from February 27 to July 15, 1924 History On Ju ...

then on television at

CBOFT-DT CBOFT-DT (channel 9) is an Ici Radio-Canada Télé station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is part of a twinstick with CBC Television station CBOT-DT (channel 4). Both stations share studios at the CBC Ottawa Broadcast Centre on Queen Street (a ...

. He joined the sports department of

Radio-Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

in 1972 as a

play-by-play announcer In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio wa ...

for CFL games and regularly covered the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

and

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 British Empire Game ...

. He was president of Football Reporters of Canada in 1984, became the late night sports report host for Radio-Canada in 1993, and was inducted into the reporters section of the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about ...

in 2001.

Early life

Dufault was born on November 5, 1934, in the

Lower Town Lower Town (also spelled "Lowertown" (french: la Basse-Ville) is a neighbourhood in Rideau-Vanier Ward in central Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to the east of downtown. It is the oldest part of the city. It is bounded by Rideau Street to the south ...

neighbourhood of

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. He became interested in

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

in 1948 at the

36th Grey Cup The 36th Grey Cup was played on November 27, 1948, before 20,013 fans at Varsity Stadium at Toronto. The Calgary Stampeders defeated Ottawa Rough Riders 12–7. The game is remembered fondly for being the year in which Calgary fans brought pagea ...

. He started in journalism in 1952, writing for Ottawa's French language daily newspaper, ''

Le Droit ''Le Droit'' is a Canadian French-language daily newspaper, published in Gatineau, Quebec. Initially established and owned by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the paper was published by Martin Cauchon and his company, Capitales Média ...

''. Dufault later said he was fired a few months into the job for not being competent enough. He subsequently studied at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottaw ...

Career

Dufault worked in radio at

Hull, Quebec Hull is the central business district and oldest neighbourhood of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the west bank of the Gatineau River and the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly opposite Ottawa. As part of the Cana ...

, from 1955 to 1964, where he started as a reporter then eventually became the director. During his tenure at CKCH, he began a career covering the

(CFL), and was a political correspondent for 22 municipal, provincial and federal elections. He then worked for

in Ottawa from 1964 to 1972. CBOFT-DT broadcast French language coverage of the

1968 Canadian federal election The 1968 Canadian federal election was held on June 25, 1968, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 28th Parliament of Canada. In April 1968, Prime Minister Lester Pearson of the Liberal Party resigned as party leader as ...

on short notice when a conflict arose the day before the election between Radio-Canada in Montreal and the local journalists' union. Dufault was phoned at home 50 minutes before the broadcast was to begin and rushed to the studios as an emergency news anchor. He later said that station management had congratulated him the next day on a job well done, but had been unaware of his prior experience as a political correspondent. Dufault joined the sports department for Radio-Canada in 1972. He was a radio broadcaster for the

from 1972 until 1980, then worked television broadcasts for the Olympic Games until 1998. He also covered swimming events for the

from 1974 to 1994, and was a regular

for CFL games on Radio-Canada from 1973 to 1988. Dufault began teaching a radio course in Canadian French at The Dave Boxer School of Broadcasting in 1979, then became a part owner of the school in 1981. He hosted the

CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award The Most Outstanding Player Award is annually awarded to the best player in the Canadian Football League. The two nominees for the award are the Terry Evanshen Trophy winner from the East Division, and the Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy winner from ...

presentations in the 1980s and was president of Football Reporters of Canada in 1984. He became the late night sports report host for Radio-Canada in 1993. Dufault retired from full-time sports broadcasting in 1996, and was inducted into the reporters section of the

in 2001. In a 2018 interview with ''Le Droit'', Dufault recalled that he pieced together an eight-minute radio report of what happened in the

Munich massacre The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian militant organization Black September, who infiltrated the Olympic Village, killed two members ...

at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972 ...

, and claimed to have been the first reporter at the scene. He also stated that his coverage of the 1968 Canadian federal election and the Munich massacre were days he would never forget. He referred to himself as a "voice guy", and that he worked for Radio-Canada at a time when its sports commentators, hosts and journalists were hired for their skills, knowledge and experience, rather than a reputation as an athlete or a coach.

Family

Dufault is a nephew of artist and writer Ernest Dufault, better known by the alias Will James. He is also related to singer

Luce Dufault Luce Dufault (born August 19, 1966 in Orleans, Ontario) is a Canadian singer. She is of French descent. She performed in two musicals from Luc Plamondon, La Légende de Jimmy and Starmania. She recorded a few hits including ''Soirs de scotch ...

Notes

References

External links

Chronology of Pierre Dufault
via

CJFO-FM CJFO-FM (branded as ''94,5 Unique FM'') is a radio station which broadcasts a francophone community radio format on the frequency 94.5 FM/ MHz in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Radio de la communauté francophone d'Ottawa (RCFO), the stat ...

''(interview in French)''
Pierre Dufault remembers 1972
via

TVA Sports TVA Sports is a Canadian French-language sports specialty channel owned by the Groupe TVA, a publicly traded subsidiary of Quebecor Media. The channel is a general-interest sports network, and the first major competitor to RDS, the only other ...

''(interview in French)'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Dufault, Pierre 1934 births Living people 20th-century Canadian journalists Canadian colour commentators Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Canadian Football League announcers Canadian football people from Ottawa Canadian male journalists Canadian political commentators Canadian radio hosts Canadian radio sportscasters Canadian television journalists Canadian television sportscasters Franco-Ontarian people Ice hockey people from Ottawa Journalists from Ontario Olympic Games broadcasters University of Ottawa alumni