Autism panel invites barber to Parliament

A Quebec barber who got down on the floor to trim the hair of a young client with autism was applauded in Canada’s Senate chamber Wednesday, several weeks after a photo of him garnered worldwide attention.

Francis “Franz” Jacob was invited to Ottawa by Sen. Marie-Francoise Megie for the Senate’s autism awareness day.

Jacob, 45, made headlines last month for a photo that showed him lying on the floor of his Rouyn-Noranda shop as he cut the hair of a six-yearold boy named Wyatt.

He explained to The Canadian Press at the time that Wyatt doesn’t usually sit still for haircuts so he bought a pair of wireless clippers in order to follow him around.

Megie invited Jacob and Wyatt’s mother, Fauve Lafreniere, to meet with her and participate in a panel discussion on autism.

They also visited an autism resource fair, lunched with Megie and were acknowledged in the Senate chamber.

Jacob, who owns an oldfashioned barber shop in Rouyn-Noranda, about 600 kilometres northwest of Montreal, said being invited to Parliament was “a huge honour.”

“I have my small shop, but receiving an invitation from your government to speak your mind about what you realize and what you did, and receiving some recognition, is quite a feeling,” he said in a phone interview.

“I’ve never been that proud in my life of being Canadian.”

Jacob says he’s received thousands of messages from around the world ever since the photo of him lying on the ground next to Wyatt was widely shared on social media sites.