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{{Short description|Canadian television producer (1953–2004)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Micheline Charest
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1953|2|1|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[London]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|4|14|1953|2|1|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]], Canada
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Ronald A. Weinberg]]|1983}}
| children = 2
}}

'''Micheline Charest''' (1 February 1953 – 14 April 2004) was a British-born Canadian television producer and founder and former co-chairman of [[Cookie Jar Group|CINAR]] (later Cookie Jar Entertainment). In 1997, Charest was ranked 19th in ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]''<nowiki/>'s list of the 50 most powerful women in the entertainment industry.<ref name="CBCNews" />

==Biography==
Born in [[London]] and raised in [[Quebec]], Charest returned to [[England]] to attend the [[London Film School|London International Film School]]. In 1976, she traveled to [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]], where she met her future husband, [[New York (state)|New Yorker]] and [[Tulane University|Tulane]] graduate [[Ronald A. Weinberg]]. While in New Orleans, Charest and Weinberg organized an event for a women's film festival and worked at distributing foreign films to U.S. theatres. The couple moved to New York and formed CINAR, then a budding film and television distribution company.

In 1984, Charest and Weinberg changed their focus from media distribution to production and moved the business to [[Montreal]], where they concentrated on children's television programming because of the favorable tax situation for development and distribution of TV shows. During this time, Charest served as either producer or executive producer for dozens of popular animated series for children, including ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (TV series)|The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'', ''[[Animal Crackers (TV series)|Animal Crackers]]'', ''[[Emily of New Moon (TV series)|Emily of New Moon]]'', ''[[Mona the Vampire]]'', and ''[[The Wombles (1996 TV series)|The Wombles]]''. As a production company, CINAR was also involved in the work of ''[[Are You Afraid of the Dark?]]'', ''[[The Busy World of Richard Scarry]]'', ''[[Madeline (TV series)|Madeline]]'', ''[[Wimzie's House]]'',''[[The Adventures of Paddington Bear]]'', ''[[Space Cases]]'', ''[[Zoboomafoo]]'', ''[[Caillou]]'', and ''[[Arthur (TV series)|Arthur]]''. By 1999, CINAR boasted annual revenues of $150 million ([[Canadian dollar|CAD]]) and owned about $1.5 billion (CAD) of the children's television market. The company had become known for quality, non-violent children's programs broadcast in more than 150 countries and was one of the founding partners in the Canadian television channel [[Teletoon]].

==Scandal==
{{Main page|CINAR scandal}}
The success of Charest, Weinberg, and CINAR ended in March 2000, when an internal audit revealed that about $122 million ([[United States dollar|US]]) was invested into [[The Bahamas|Bahamian]] bank accounts without the boardmembers' approval.<ref>Swift, Michael. {{cite news|url=http://securities.stanford.edu/news-archive/2002/20020315_Headline14_Swift.htm |title=Cinar Co-Founders Fined $1 Million Each, Banned From Company For Five Years |date=March 15, 2005 |accessdate=2006-09-07 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120628192516/http://securities.stanford.edu/news-archive/2002/20020315_Headline14_Swift.htm |archivedate=June 28, 2012 }}</ref> CINAR had also paid American screenwriters for work while continuing to accept [[Government of Canada]] [[grant (money)|grants]] for content. The names of Canadians, most notably, Charest's sister, Helene via the alias Eric Alexandre, were credited for the work, allowing CINAR to benefit from Canadian [[tax]] credits. While the [[province]] of [[Quebec]] did not file criminal charges, CINAR denied any wrongdoing, choosing instead to pay a settlement to Canadian and Quebec tax authorities of $17.8 million (CAD) and another $2.6 million (CAD) to [[Telefilm Canada]], a Canadian federal funding agency. The value of CINAR [[stock market|stock]] plummeted, and the company was soon delisted.<ref name="CBCNews">{{cite news | url = http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/charest_micheline/| title = In Depth: Micheline Charest | work = [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC News Online]] | date=April 14, 2004 | accessdate=2006-09-07 }}</ref>

In 2001, as part of a settlement agreement with the Commission des Valeurs Mobilières du Québec (Quebec Securities Commission) Charest and Weinberg agreed to pay $1 million each and were banned from serving in the capacity of directors or officers at any publicly traded Canadian company for five years. There was no admission of guilt and none of the allegations have been proven in court. In March 2004, CINAR was purchased for more than $140 million (US) by a group led by [[Nelvana]] co-founder, [[Michael Hirsh (producer)|Michael Hirsh]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cinar-sold-for-143-9-million-us-new-owner-outlines-growth-strategy-1.360084| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107152920/http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2003/10/31/cinar311003.html| url-status=live| archive-date=November 7, 2012| title= Cinar sold for $143.9 million US; new owner outlines growth strategy| publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC News Online]]| date=October 31, 2003 |access-date=2006-09-07}}</ref> Charest and Weinberg reportedly received $18 million (US) for their company shares.

In August 2009, Claude Robinson, a graphic artist and writer, won a copyright case against CINAR, Weinberg, Charest and Co. in relation to his work, Robinson Curiosité, which was plagiarized for the internationally successful animated series ''[[Robinson Sucroe]]''.

==Death==
Charest died on 14 April 2004, age 51, following elective plastic surgery.<ref>{{cite news |title=Micheline Charest, 51; Firm She Co-Founded Won Emmys Before Scandal Led to Losses |author=Times Staff and Wire Reports |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-apr-16-me-charest16-story.html |newspaper= The Los Angeles Times|date=16 April 2004 |access-date=15 January 2013}}</ref><ref>Claude Turcotte, "Death drama of Micheline Charest", Le Devoir, April 15, 2004, p. A1.</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1081984270227_77393470/?hub=TopStories| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427005541/http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1081984270227_77393470/?hub=TopStories| url-status=dead| archive-date=April 27, 2006| title= Micheline Charest, co-founder of Cinar, dies| publisher=[[CTV television network|CTV.ca]]| date=April 15, 2004 | accessdate=2006-09-07}}</ref>

The coroner's report indicated that Charest's death was preventable. It said Charest was doing well after the operation, but her oxygen level dropped to 44 percent after she was transferred to the recovery room, without nurses noticing. Jacques Ramsay, the coroner, criticized delays and imprecision in the medical notes and said, "In my opinion, the alarm on the oxygen [[Pulse oximetry|saturometer]] was not on. But it was in working order. I could not know why."<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20121208160657/http://fr.canoe.ca/cgi-bin/imprimer.cgi?id=260268 ]}} Page consultée le 20 septembre 2012.</ref> A few months later, following an investigation by the syndic of the [[Collège des médecins du Québec]], the [[Anesthesiology|anesthesiologist]], Maurice Trahan, resigned. Then-Minister of Justice of Quebec, [[Yvon Marcoux]], declined to bring criminal proceedings.<ref>Katia Gagnon, « Mort de Micheline Charest - La clinique blâmée », La Presse, 26 octobre 2006, p. A8</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name | id=0152855| name=Micheline Charest}}
{{DHX Media}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charest, Micheline}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian television producers]]
[[Category:Canadian women television producers]]
[[Category:Anglophone Quebec people]]
[[Category:English emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Canadian expatriates in England]]

Micheline Charest - Revision history

imported>AndrewTheWikiEditor at 00:41, 25 February 2025