Léo Bureau-blouin
Marcel Blouin worries that his son, Léo BureauBlouin, suffers from Jesus Christ syndrome.
“He thinks only of the greater good, not of himself,” said the proud father of the president of the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec. “Sometimes I tell him, you can’t save the planet by yourself.”
At 20, Bureau-blouin is the youngest of the three student leaders, but already has distinct goals and a strong social conscience.
His parents both work in the field of visual and contemporary art and, while not militants, did have a real involvement with the more vulnerable in society. His father worked with unemployed youth and always had to answer a lot of complex questions from BureauBlouin, even when he was as young as 7.
“You couldn’t answer him in generalities because he could understand nuances,” said Blouin, who now spends a good part of every day fielding calls from people congratulating him or asking for news about the student strike.
Bureau-blouin skipped Grade 4, was a public speaking champion at École secondaire St. Joseph in St. Hyacinthe (which his father describes as a “modest” private school) and grew up with almost no TV and no video games. At home, he read, devouring the memoir of Barack Obama, among others.
A gifted student, he was accepted into law at Université de Montréal right from CÉGEP, an offer he declined to pursue his responsibilities as president of the FECQ, which represents about 80,000 students. “He’s a very nice boy but you can’t argue with him when he gets a firm idea,” said Blouin.
Bureau-blouin said he wouldn’t change his decision – even though he is currently only wait-listed for law at U de M. He’s been accepted into political science for September.
“Giving up law school was definitely worth it,” he said. “Students weren’t part of the debate before and I felt I wanted to change that. Now I’m hoping when the next election comes, students will realize their votes matter.”
It was at the CÉGEP de St. Hyacinthe, where he became president of the student association, where he whetted his appetite for politics. Bureau-blouin then rose through the ranks to become head of the FECQ – at possibly the most critical moment in the organization’s history. “I never thought this fight would be such a big thing,” said Bureau-blouin, whose mandate as president ends in June. “I never dreamed I would be part of the biggest student strike ever.”