What I Wish I Had Told My Children

In this letter addressed to his children, we discover the extraordinary journey of Michel Bastarache, former Supreme Court judge: his childhood in Acadia and his multiple careers.
In this beautifully written biography penned by journalist Antoine Trépanier, the Honourable Michel Bastarache recounts his youth in Acadia and the various professional roles he occupied before becoming the first Acadian to accede to the Supreme Court of Canada._x000D__x000D_Written as a letter addressed to his two children, who died of an incurable disease, Bastarache recounts his constant fight for equality between francophone and anglophone communities. He reminisces on his commitment among groups protecting francophones outside Québec, then on his careers as teacher, civil servant, lawyer, and judge._x000D__x000D_He takes the reader backstage to the most important causes he worked on and reveals some of the secrets of the highest court in Canada. He also weighs in on the controversy surrounding the Inquiry Commission on the process for appointing judges of the Court of Québec, as well as his mediator work for reconciliation and compensation of alleged victims of sexual abuse by ex-priests in New Brunswick.