Chantal Hébert, 2025 CCA Conference keynote speaker
Political Raconteur | Columnist
Chantal Hébert is a political columnist whose work appears in The Toronto Star and the magazine, L’Actualité. She is also a weekly participant on CBC The National’s political panel “At Issue”. A prolific journalist who is passionate about Canadian politics ― particularly in relation to Quebec ― Hébert speaks with authority and passion on public policy and other matters of national importance.
Hébert began her career in Toronto as a reporter for the regional newsroom of Radio-Canada in 1975 before moving on to Parliament Hill for Radio-Canada. She has served as parliamentary bureau chief for Le Devoir and La Presse.
Currently a Senior Fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto, Hébert holds honorary degrees from a dozen Canadian Universities and is a graduate of Glendon College at York University. She is a recipient of two Asia-Pacific media fellowships (Malaysia and Japan), and was awarded the APEX Public Service Award in 2005, the Hyman Solomon award for excellence in journalism and public policy in 2006, and York University’s Pinnacle Achievement Bryden Alumni award. In 2012, Hébert was appointed to the Order of Canada and in 2019, her peers in the Parliamentary Press Gallery awarded her the Charles Lynch award for her longstanding coverage of national issues.
Hébert is the author of two books: French Kiss: Stephen Harper’s Blind Date with Quebec, and her most recent book, The Morning After: The 1995 Quebec Referendum And The Day That Almost Was.