When I think of Gilles Grondin, it’s the word “faith” that most readily comes to mind – his strong faith in God, in Jesus and in Christian principles of morality. What concerned Gilles above all was the salvation of his soul and the souls of his family members. To this end, he prayed every day. His dedication to the pro-life cause was an integral part of the way he lived his Christianity. Instead of quietly retiring after 30 years of diplomatic service for Canada, he devoted his life to the restoration of legal protection for all human life, from conception to natural death.

Founding and leading Campagne Quebec-Vie was not an easy task in what is now the most secular part of Canada. Gilles’ strong suit was not his practicality, but he loved to think and write philosophical articles. He was a perfectionist when it came to the style and accuracy of his writings. He was one of the first to do an expose of NSSM 200, which was for a long time a secret U.S. government document detailing America’s policies for controlling the world’s population for the benefit of its own interests. Gilles loved to tell delegates of developing countries about this infamous memorandum and they greatly appreciated the perspective he gave them.

I got to know Gilles very well when we travelled to several UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing and New York to lobby against the anti-life and anti-family policies being pushed in their official documents. We also lobbied parliamentarians in Ottawa to explain first-hand what was really going on at the UN international conferences and Canada’s very negative role in them. Meeting delegates one on one was Gilles’ strong point. His diplomatic experience enabled him to start and carry on conversations easily and amicably. So he was very effective in this role.

In doing this work, Gilles was very dedicated. We would get up early to go to Mass and stay up late preparing for the next day’s lobbying. I was particularly proud of Gilles at the preparatory meeting in New York for the Copenhagen Conference on Social Development. He lobbied so hard that he had to be ordered by a doctor to rest for a day or two.

Gilles was a man of principle. He once confided in me that he could have gone further up the diplomatic ladder if he had been willing to help implement immoral family-planning methods in Africa.

Sometimes, Gilles would become downhearted at the lack of progress on Quebec’s pro-life front. Volunteers were hard to find and the books were always in the red. Gilles even bailed out Campagne Quebec-Vie with his own credit cards on more than one occasion. A sure cure for his despondency was a conversation with CLC’s president Jim Hughes and accountant Dick Cochrane. No matter how blue he felt, he would start laughing hysterically at their jokes and needling. Invariably, he was encouraged to continue the struggle for the lives of the unborn.

Most people knew Gilles as a mild-mannered, soft-spoken man with some self-doubts, but there was another side to him. He could tell a joke very well, especially in French, with subtle and nuanced humour. He was a different man behind the wheel. He loved to drive and sometimes he would go for a drive to think and relax. Of course, he would first put on his leather driving gloves, turn the stereo to full blast and proceed to drive very aggressively. I believe driving appealed to him because he was in control when he drove. One thing that made his eyes sparkle was arriving at the CQV mailbox after a mailout and finding a lot of return envelopes with the financial contributions that would keep the organization afloat.

Gilles was very proud to be a Quebecois. He deplored the demographic and cultural suicide of his province and constantly reminded everyone of this with the motto, “Un peuple qui tue ses enfants n’a pas d’avenir.” (A people that kills their children have no future.) However, Gilles was a man of hope. He firmly believed in the eventual re-conversion of Quebec to once again become a beacon of light for all. Quebec and all of Canada should be grateful to Gilles for tenaciously refusing to allow the pro-life candle to be extinguished.

May his soul rest in peace.

Father Louis Di Rocco is pastor of Sacred Heart of Mary (Madoc) and St. Bernadette (Ormsby) Roman Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Kingston. He was formerly on staff at Campaign Life Coalition.