Richard Marceau (born August 25, 1970) is a Canadian former

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (, , BQ) is a centre-left politics, centre-left and list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism, Quebecois nationalism, social democracy, and the promotion o ...

Member of Parliament, who served as an MP for nearly nine years. He is now Vice President, External Affairs and General Counsel for the

Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA; ) is a Zionist and Jewish advocacy organization and an agency of the Jewish Federations of Canada. It was founded in 2004 as the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CCIJA) and headqu ...

. He authored ''A Quebec Jew: From Bloc Québécois MP to Jewish Activist'' (2011).

Early and personal life

Marceau was born in

Charlesbourg, Quebec City Charlesbourg () is a borough of Quebec City, in the northeastern part of the city, west of the borough of Beauport. History The origins of Charlesbourg began with the concession of the seigniory of Notre-Dame-des-Anges in 1626. The seigniory e ...

. He is an 11th-generation Quebecker, from a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

family, and has four siblings. His father was a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

and a practising Catholic, and his mother Michelle was a homemaker. His ancestors arrived from France in the colony of

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

(now Quebec) in 1635. Marceau was educated by priests in Quebec City. He graduated from law schools at Faculté de droit de l'Université Laval and at the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law. He also studied at the

École nationale d'administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...

in France. He became a lawyer in both

Québec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

and

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. Marceau lives in

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...

, Québec. Until her death of cancer in 2014, he was married to Lori Beckerman with whom he had two sons.

Political career

Marceau was first elected to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

as a Member of Parliament in the 1997 federal election for the

(which advocates for national independence for the Canadian province of Quebec) in the riding of Charlesbourg at the age of 26."A Quebec Jew,"
''Aish''. He served in Parliament for the better part of nine years, and was a

sovereignist Sovereigntism, sovereignism or souverainism (from , , meaning "the ideology of sovereignty") is the notion of having control over one's conditions of existence, whether at the level of the self, social group, region, nation or globe. Typically ...

. He was re-elected in the 2000 election in the riding of Charlesbourg—Jacques-Cartier, and again in the

2004 election The following elections occurred in the year 2004. Africa * 2004 Algerian presidential election * 2004 Botswana general election * 2004 Cameroonian presidential election * 2004 Comorian legislative election * 2004 Equatorial Guinean legislativ ...

in the riding of Charlesbourg. Among the bills he sponsored was the Act to establish Holocaust Memorial Day, which received royal assent on November 7, 2003. He served beginning in 2005 as Chair of the Parliament's Subcommittee on the process for appointment to the Federal Judiciary of the Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. He also served as the Bloc's critic to the

Solicitor General of Canada The Solicitor General of Canada () was a position in the Canada, Canadian The Ministry, ministry from 1892 to 2005. The position was based on the Solicitor General for England and Wales, Solicitor General in the Great Britain, British system and wa ...

, International Trade,

Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada Crown''–''Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC; )''Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Crown''–''Indigenou ...

, Intergovernmental Affairs, and the

King's Privy Council for Canada The King's Privy Council for Canada (), sometimes called His Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council (PC), is the full group of personal advisors to the monarch of Canada on State (polity), state and constitutional affair ...

. He was their critic to the

Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada The minister of justice and attorney general of Canada () is a dual-role portfolio in the Cabinet of Canada, Canadian Cabinet. The officeholder in the role of Minister of Justice () serves as the minister of the Crown responsible for the Depar ...

and the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness."Mr. Richard Marceau, M.P.,"
bdp.parl.ca. He was also the party's spokesperson in

English Canada English Canada comprises that part of the population within Canada, whether of British origin or otherwise, that speaks English. The term ''English Canada'' is also used for any of the following: *Describing all the provinces of Canada ...

. He was defeated in the 2006 election by Daniel Petit of the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

by under 1,400 votes, 41%-38%."Richard Marceau,"
''Equitable Vote''. Marceau ran unsuccessfully as the

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (PQ; , ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishi ...

candidate in Charlesbourg in the 2007 Quebec election.

Conversion to Judaism

Marceau

converted to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( or ) is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. "Thus, by convertin ...

in 2004, 10 years after his marriage to Lori Beckerman, who had been a fellow law student of his and is Jewish. He said she opened "the door to a people, a nation, a culture and a religion that I grew to love." He converted first into Reform Judaism, but became more observant and later converted as well in an Orthodox conversion. Regarding his circumcision, Marceau said: "I quickly came to believe that it is better to undergo surgery at eight days old than at 34 years." He had co-chaired the Canada-Israel Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group and sponsored a bill establishing a national

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

remembrance day. He is now fluent in Hebrew. He described himself as a "pro-Palestinian

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

" in an op-ed piece he wrote for the ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'' in 2005.

The Canada-Israel Committee and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

From 2006 to 2011, Marceau worked for the

Canada-Israel Committee The Canada-Israel Committee (CIC) was the official representative of the organized Canadian Jewish community on matters pertaining to Canada–Israel relations. The Canada-Israel Committee maintained offices in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouve ...

. Since 2011, he has worked for the

initially as a senior advisor and senior counsel, and now as Vice President, External Affairs and General Counsel."Richard Marceau,"
CIJA.

Writing

In 2011, Marceau published ''A Quebec Jew: From Bloc Québécois MP to Jewish Activist'', detailing his spiritual journey from a Catholic family to Judaism against the backdrop of Quebec politics. It was published in French and English, and won the 2012 Canadian Jewish Book Award for best memoir.

References

External links

* * Richard Marceau (September 28, 2023)
"Our government unwittingly applauded a man who fought for the Nazis. We must take steps to ensure it never happens again,"
''The Forward'' * Richard Marceau (April 8, 2024)
"Richard Marceau: Why we're taking the federal government to court over UNRWA funding,"
''National Post''. 1970 births Bloc Québécois MPs Canadian Orthodox Jews Canadian Reform Jews Canadian Roman Catholics Canadian Zionists Converts to Judaism from Roman Catholicism École nationale d'administration alumni Jewish Canadian politicians Jewish Canadian writers Lawyers in Ontario Lawyers in Quebec Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Politicians from Gatineau Politicians from Quebec City Université Laval Faculté de droit alumni Western Law School alumni Writers from Gatineau Writers from Quebec City 21st-century Canadian Jews 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 21st-century Canadian memoirists 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada {{BlocQuébécois-MP-stub