View source for Le Devoir

{{Short description|Canadian newspaper in Montreal, Quebec}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=November 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{See Wiktionary|the Montreal newspaper|devoir}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| name               = {{Lang|fr|Le Devoir}}
| logo               = [[File:Logo Le Devoir.svg|frameless|class=skin-invert]]
| image              = [[File:2003 Quebec general election, Le Devoir.jpg|225px|centre|''The battle of three begins.'' {{Lang|fr|Le Devoir}} on the 2003 Quebec election.]]
| type               = [[Daily newspaper]]
| format             = [[Broadsheet]]
| founded            = {{start date and age|1910}}
| owners             = Le Devoir Inc.
| headquarters       = 1265, [[Berri Street|rue Berri]]<br />[[Montreal]], [[Quebec]]<br />H3A 3M9
| political_position = [[Quebec nationalism]], [[social democracy]]
| circulation        = 29,812 daily<br/>48,228 Saturday
| circulation_date   = 2011
| circulation_ref    = <ref name="ecirc">[[Audit Bureau of Circulations (North America)|Audit Bureau of Circulations]] [http://www.accessabc.com/products/freereports.htm e-Circ data] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022055025/http://www.accessabc.com/products/freereports.htm |date=October 22, 2012 }} for the six months ending September 30, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2012.</ref>
| publisher          = Brian Myles
| editor             = Marie-Andrée Chouinard
| website            = {{URL|ledevoir.com}}
| ISSN               = 0319-0722
}}

'''{{Lang|fr|Le Devoir}}''' ({{IPA|fr|lə də.vwɑʁ}}, {{gloss|Duty}}) is a French-language newspaper published in [[Montreal]] and distributed in [[Quebec]] and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician [[Henri Bourassa]] in 1910.

{{Lang|fr|Le Devoir}} is one of few independent large-circulation newspapers in Quebec (and one of the few in Canada) in a market dominated by the [[media conglomerate]] [[Quebecor]] (including {{Lang|fr|[[Le Journal de Montréal]]}}).

Historically {{Lang|fr|Le Devoir}} was considered Canada's francophone [[newspaper of record]],<ref>[https://communication.revues.org/2784?lang=en "Les parlementaires québécois et Le Devoir dans le monde des médias"]. ''Communication'', Vol. 29 No. 2 (2012).</ref> although by the end of the 20th century, that title was mostly used for its competitor {{Lang|fr|[[La Presse (Canadian newspaper)|La Presse]]}}.{{efn|''La Presse'' ceased physical publication in 2016, and is now available only as a digital newspaper.}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/endorsements-opinions-flourish-in-quebec-1.710688 |title=Endorsements, opinions flourish in Quebec |date=October 10, 2008|work=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|cbc.ca]]|access-date=January 17, 2010}}</ref> As of 2023, ''La Presse'' retains a higher readership compared to ''Le Devoir.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Presse quotidienne |url=https://www.cem.ulaval.ca/economie/propriete/presse-quotidienne/ |access-date=2025-12-03 |website=Centre d'études sur les médias |language=fr-FR}}</ref>

== History ==
[[Henri Bourassa]], a young [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Party]] MP from [[Montreal]], rose to national prominence in 1899 when he resigned his seat in [[Parliament of Canada|Parliament]] in protest at the Liberal government's decision to send troops to support the British in the [[South African War]] of 1899–1902.<ref name="autogenerated1">[https://web.archive.org/web/20040518095239/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0000912 Bourassa, Henri<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Bourassa was opposed to all Canadian participation in British wars and would go on to become a key figure in fighting for an independent Canadian foreign policy. He is considered both a forebear of [[French Canadians|French-Canadian]] nationalists as well as a Canadian nationalist more generally. He was also an early promoter of the bi-cultural [[Anglo-French concept of Canada]], and an impassioned advocate for the political and cultural equality of all French Canadians within Confederation, wherever they may reside.<ref name="autogenerated1" />

In 1910, he founded {{Lang|fr|Le Devoir}} as an outlet for his anti-imperialist [[Ligue nationaliste]] and to fight for the rights of French Canadians within Confederation. In its first edition, published January 10, 1910, Bourassa explained the name ("the duty" in English) and the mandate of the newspaper as "To ensure the triumph of ideas over appetites, of the public good over partisan interests, there is but one means: awake in the people, and above all in the ruling classes, a sense of public duty in all its forms: religious duty, national duty, civic duty."<ref>[https://www.ledevoir.com/histoire/bourassa1.html Avant le combat – ''Le Devoir''<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Bourassa was both publisher and [[editor-in-chief]] of the newspaper until August 3, 1932, when he was replaced by [[Georges Pelletier (editor)|Georges Pelletier]]. After the death of Pelletier in early 1947, the role of editor-in-chief would pass to [[Gérard Filion]], former editor of ''[[La Terre de chez nous]]'', under whose editorship the paper would publish highly controversial critiques of [[Maurice Duplessis]]'s government in Quebec by journalists and figures such as [[André Laurendeau]]. [[Claude Ryan]], a [[Quebec federalist ideology|federalist]], took the helm in 1964, followed by [[Jean-Louis Roy]] in 1980, then [[Benoit Lauzière]] in 1986. In 1990, the paper appointed its first woman editor-in-chief when [[Lise Bissonnette]] succeeded Lauzière, and firmly establishing the paper's [[Quebec sovereignty movement|sovereignist]] orientation following the federalist years of Ryan and his successors.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> She would continue on in her post until 1998, with the current editor-in-chief, [[Bernard Descôteaux]], taking over the following year.

While the paper has in recent times become associated with the [[Quebec nationalism|Quebec nationalist movement]], Bourassa himself was in fact opposed to the notion of a separate Francophone state, believing instead in an Anglo-French conception of Canada in which French-speaking Canadians would see their culture recognized as equal and protected and encouraged from coast to coast. Instances of this view can be found in both his campaign for [[Franco-Ontarians|Franco-Ontarian]] rights as well as his ardent opposition to controversial priest and historian [[Lionel Groulx]] in the 1920s following Groulx's musing on the possibility and desirability of a separate Quebec state.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> That said, the history of ''Le Devoir'' would become characterized by varying phases (as well as shades) of French-Canadian and later Québécois nationalism, opening its pages in the troubled 1930s to Groulx and his followers, yet seeing a federalist at its helm in 1964 in the form of Claude Ryan, who in 1978 would go on to become leader of the [[federalist]] [[Quebec Liberal Party]].

Ideologically, ''Le Devoir'' has been a chief voice against military intervention and in favour of [[pacifism]] and [[social democracy]], opposing conscription in [[World War II]] (see [[Conscription Crisis of 1944]]) and endorsing, under federalist Ryan's tenure, the election of [[René Lévesque]]'s [[Parti Québécois]] in the [[1976 Quebec general election|1976 election]], despite its platform centred on Québécois nationalism. Once considered a reformist paper, it has recently been associated less with ideas that challenge the status quo of Quebec's economic, political and cultural issues.

===Endorsements===
{| class="wikitable"
! Election
! colspan="2" | Endorsement
!{{Abbr|Ref.|Reference}}
|-
| [[2006 Canadian federal election|2006 federal]]
| {{party name with colour|Bloc Québécois}}
|
|-
| [[2008 Canadian federal election|2008 federal]]
| {{party name with colour|Bloc Québécois}}
|<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ledevoir.com/2008/10/11/210210.html |title=Élections 2008 - Oui au Bloc québécois |website=www.ledevoir.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013072840/http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/10/11/210210.html |archive-date=2008-10-13}}</ref>
|-
| [[2011 Canadian federal election|2011 federal]]
| {{party name with colour|Bloc Québécois}}
|<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ledevoir.com/politique/elections-2011/322281/elections-federales-d-abord-le-bloc|title = Élections fédérales - d'Abord le Bloc| date=30 April 2011 }}</ref>
|-
| [[2015 Canadian federal election|2015 federal]]
| {{party name with colour|Bloc Québécois}}
|<ref>{{Cite web|title = Prenons garde!|url = https://www.ledevoir.com/politique/canada/452828/elections-du-19-octobre-2015-prenons-garde|website = Le Devoir|accessdate = 2015-10-17|archive-date = 2015-10-18|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151018150045/http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/canada/452828/elections-du-19-octobre-2015-prenons-garde|url-status = live}}</ref>
|-
| [[2019 Canadian federal election|2019 federal]]
| {{party name with colour|Bloc Québécois}}
|<ref name="Myles-2019">{{Cite web|last1=Myles|first1=Brian|date=October 19, 2019|title=Un Bloc fort dans un Canada libéral|trans-title=[We support] A strong Bloc [= Bloc Québécois] in a liberal Canada|url=https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/editoriaux/565151/elections-2019-un-bloc-fort-dans-un-canada-liberal|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210706202901/https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/editoriaux/565151/elections-2019-un-bloc-fort-dans-un-canada-liberal|archive-date=July 6, 2021|access-date=October 19, 2019|website=Le Devoir|language=fr}}</ref>
|-
| [[2021 Canadian federal election|2021 federal]]
| {{party name with colour|Bloc Québécois}}
|<ref>{{cite news |last1=Myles |first1=Brian |title=Tout ça pour ça? |trans-title=All that for this? |url=https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/editoriaux/633423/elections-federales-tout-ca-pour-ca |access-date=September 19, 2021 |work=Le Devoir |date=September 18, 2021 |location=[[Montreal]] |language=fr |archive-date=September 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210919021254/https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/editoriaux/633423/elections-federales-tout-ca-pour-ca |url-status=live }}</ref>
|}

== Business ==
[[File:Croix Grand-Pré 1924.jpg|thumb|Le Devoir trip to Acadia ([[Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia|Grand-Pré]]), 1924]]''Le Devoir'' began as several other businesses besides the newspaper. These ventures included a general printer and publishing house, a bookstore, and a travel agency. Trips were initially organized to coincide with Catholic congresses around the world, as well as for "pilgrimages", allowing Quebecois to visit the French diaspora across North America. Such trips included Acadia (1924, 1927), Ontario (1925), and Louisiana (1931). The purpose of the travel venture was, said Napoleon Lafortune, to "extend the 'work' of the newspaper to defend the French language and the Catholic faith, but by other means."<ref>Paul Bennett, "[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ledevoir.com%2Fplaisirs%2Fvoyage%2F280709%2Fprendre-la-route-avec-le-devoir&edit-text=&act=url Prendre la route avec Le Devoir]," January 9, 2010</ref> The unusual service officially lasted from 1924 to 1947, though it effectively ended at the start of World War II when international civilian travel became very difficult.

''Le Devoir'' has a relatively low circulation of about 34,000 on weekdays and 58,000 on Saturdays. Its financial situation has often been precarious. For example, in 2002 it had revenues of $14,376,530, with a meager profit of $13,524, while the previous year it had incurred a small loss.

== Other information ==
The newspaper's original slogan was ''"Fais ce que dois"'' (Do what [you] must). ''"Le Devoir"'' means "the duty" in French. Its current slogan is ''"Libre de penser"'' (Free to think).

In 1993, following a redesign by Lucie Lacava, a Montreal-based design consultant, the [[Society for News Design]] awarded ''Le Devoir''  Best of Show award for "Overall Design Excellence" and in 1994 the same group awarded it its Gold award in the Feature Design category.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://office.snd.org/about/history_contests.html#15|title=Society of News Design – Best of Newspaper Design|website=office.snd.org|language=en|access-date=January 25, 2017}}</ref>

In September 2011, the [[National Film Board of Canada]] and ''Le Devoir'' announced that they will be jointly hosting three interactive essays on their websites, ONF.ca and ledevoir.com.<ref name=devoir>{{cite news|title=L'ONF et Le Devoir s'associent pour diffuser des essais interactifs|url=http://www.cyberpresse.ca/arts/medias/201109/13/01-4447261-lonf-et-le-devoir-sassocient-pour-diffuser-des-essais-interactifs.php|access-date=September 15, 2011|newspaper=[[Cyberpresse]]|date=September 13, 2011|location=Montreal|language=fr}}</ref>

''Le Devoir'' headquarters have been located in Montreal at 71A [[Saint Jacques Street|rue Saint-Jacques]] from 1910 to 1914; at 443 rue Saint-Vincent in [[Old Montreal]] from 1914 to 1924; at 430 [[Notre-Dame Street|rue Notre-Dame East]] from 1924 to 1972; at 211 rue du Saint-Sacrement from 1972 to 1992, at 2050 [[Park Avenue (Montreal)|rue de Bleury]] from 1992 to 2016; before moving to 1265 [[Berri Street|rue Berri]] on December 11, 2016.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/actualites-en-societe/486843/une-page-se-tourne-mais-l-aventure-du-devoir-se-poursuit «Le Devoir», un journal qui déménage], Jean Dion, ''Le Devoir'', December 10, 2016.</ref>

== Publishers ==
* [[Henri Bourassa]] (1910–1932)
* [[Georges Pelletier (editor)|Georges Pelletier]] (1932–1947)
* [[Gérard Filion]] (1947–1963)
* [[Claude Ryan]] (1963–1978)
* [[Jean-Louis Roy]] (1980–1986)
* [[Benoît Lauzière]] (1986–1990)
* [[Lise Bissonnette]] (1990–1998)
* [[Bernard Descôteaux]] (1999–2016)
* [[Brian Myles]] (2016–current)

== Contributors ==
Notable contributors have included the following.
* [[Stéphane Baillargeon]]
* [[Pierre Bourgault]]
* [[Sylvain Cormier]]
* [[Gil Courtemanche]]
* [[Michel David]]
* [[Fabien Deglise]]
* [[Henriette Dessaulles (Fadette)]]
* [[Jean Dion]]
* [[Louis Hamelin]]
* [[Chantal Hébert]]
* [[Normand Hudon]]
* [[Napoléon Lafortune]]
* [[Pierre Laporte]]
* [[André Laurendeau]]
* [[Jean-Marc Léger]]
* [[Gilles Marcotte]]
* [[Christian Rioux]]
* [[Michel Roy]]
* [[Paul Sauriol]]
* [[Michel Venne]]

== See also ==
*[[List of Quebec media]]
*[[List of newspapers in Canada]]
Montréal newspapers:
* ''[[The Gazette (Montreal)|The Gazette]]''
* ''[[La Presse (Canada)|La Presse]]''
* {{Lang|fr|[[Le Journal de Montréal]]}}
* ''[[Métro (Montreal newspaper)|Métro]]''
* ''[[Montreal Daily News]]'' (defunct)
* ''[[Montreal Star]]'' (defunct)

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{official website|https://www.ledevoir.com}}

{{Quebec sovereignty movement}}
{{Canadian journalism}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devoir, Le}}
[[Category:French-language newspapers published in Quebec]]
[[Category:Newspapers published in Montreal]]
[[Category:Quebec sovereigntist media]]
[[Category:Daily newspapers published in Quebec]]
[[Category:Newspapers established in 1910]]
[[Category:1910 establishments in Quebec]]
[[Category:Le Devoir people| ]]