Le Rempart

Le Rempart was founded in 1966 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de l'ouest de l'Ontario (ASJBOO). The organization effectively transformed its regional newsletter into a tabloid. The publication initially had only 500 subscribers. However, the publication had a print run of 5,000 copies to reach all French-speaking households in the region. The first newspapers arrived in people's mailboxes with a note from the president at the time, William Saint-Pierre, encouraging them to subscribe. The newspaper was run by the ASJBOO until the early 1970s.

On February 15, 1972, the newspaper was taken over by a new publishing house, Les Publications des Grands Lacs, created by Louis-Joseph Richer of Pain Court, Marie Bésaire of Amherstburg, Ursule Leboeuf and François Caron of Pointe-aux-Roches, and Roger Bénéteau of Saint-Joachim. Jean Mongenais subsequently took over the reins of the weekly and became the publication's editor. He held this position for approximately thirty years.

In 2002, Les Publications des Grands Lacs was acquired by Denis Poirier, who also became the new publisher of Le Rempart. Mr. Poirier (and later the company Altomédia) also owns the newspapers Le Métropolitain (Toronto), Le Régional (Hamilton-Niagara), L'Action (London-Sarnia), and BonjourOntario.ca.

Essay prepared by Katharine Ball