Senator Serge Joyal

Appointed to the Senate by the Rt. Honourable Jean Chrétien, Senator Serge Joyal represents the province of Quebec and the Senatorial Division of Kennebec. He has served in the Senate of Canada since November 26, 1997.

He is currently a Member of the following Senate Committees: Legal and Constitutional Affairs, and Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament. He has been involved with Parliamentary groups including the Canada-U.S. Interparliamentary Group, the Interparliamentary Union, and the Francophone Parliamentary Assembly. His areas of interest and specialization include legal and constitutional affairs, and culture. He is an art collector and expert evaluator.

Senator Joyal has achieved significant accomplishments in both the public and private sectors. A lawyer by trade, recently he has served as Art Counsel with Private Sector Collectors & Museums, as Counsel with the public relations firm Gervais Covington & Associates, and as Chairman of PA Management International in Montreal. He has served as Director of the Canadian Museum Association, President of the Quebec Museum Association, and as a Benefactor Emeritus of the Quebec Museum of Civilization.

In his public career, Senator Joyal served as a Member of Parliament. He was elected in 1974, 1979, and 1980, and was appointed to positions including Secretary of State for Canada (1982-84), Minister of State (1981), and Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board (1980). His Parliamentary career also includes serving as the Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on the Patriation of the Canadian Constitution (1980-81), and Founder of the Joint Standing Committee on Official Languages (1980). Earlier in his career, Senator Joyal served as Vice-President of the Liberal Party of Canada (Quebec), and also as an Assistant to the Honourable Jean Marchand (1973).

He has been the recipient of numerous honours, including the Order of Canada, France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. He holds a Honourary Doctor of Laws from the University of Moncton.

Educated at universities in Canada and abroad, Senator Joyal received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Montreal (1964), a Master of Laws from Sheffield University in England, and a M. Phil. (Studies in Law) from the London School of Economics and Political Science (1971). He holds a post-graduate degree in Comparative Law from the Faculté internationale de droit comparé in Strasbourg, France.

He was born in Montreal, on February 1, 1945.