Actress, teacher and former senator Viola Léger has died at the age of 92. A press release from the management company Le Grenier musique indicates that Léger died on Saturday in Dieppe, New Brunswick.
Actress, teacher and former senator Viola Léger has died at the age of 92.
A press release from the management company Le Grenier musique indicates that Léger died on Saturday in Dieppe, New Brunswick.
Léger was best known for her portrayal of the character La Sagouine in Antonine Maillet’s play of the same name, performing the role more than three thousand times and winning the Dora Mavor Moore Award in 1981 for her portrayal. In 2013, she was recognized with the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards with Lifetime Artistic Achievement for Theatre.
She was appointed to the Senate in 2001 by then Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, representing New Brunswick until 2005.
In a statement on Facebook, federal Minister of Official Languages Ginette Petitpas Taylor wrote that Acadie will never have such a loyal ambassador again, saying La Sagouine was not just the role of career and Léger’s life, but “also represented a symbol of great pride and tenacity”. for all Acadians.
Léger was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1989.
She retired from public life in 2017 after suffering a stroke.
Funeral arrangements will be announced shortly.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on January 29, 2023.
The Canadian Press
“Pop culture fanatic. Introvert. Devoted food trailblazer. Bacon geek. Lifelong coffee evangelist.”