Thérèse Paquet-Sévigny In Memoriam
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1 hour, 29 minutes ago
IPRA pays its respects to Thérèse Paquet-Sévigny who died in Montreal on 17 March 2025. She was a member of IPRA from 1988 – 1995 and a pioneer in global communications.
Alain Modoux, IPRA President 1988, and Assistant Director-General UNESCO at the time recalls her spirit of determination. The year was 1993 and two years after the Windhoek Declaration that led to the UN proclaiming 3 May as World Press Freedom Day.
“Thérèse had left her position as Assistant Secretary-General of the UN and returned to Montreal to take up a professorship at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). UNESCO’s Director-General, Federico Mayor, offered her the UNESCO Chair in Communication. She made it clear that she would accept under three conditions: first, her chair had to be part of an international network; second, the network had to extend beyond academia. and third it needed a permanent secretariat. Within a year she got all three conditions and UQAM became the host for the secretariat”.
A year later in 1994 Thérèse founded the UNESCO communication network known as Orbicom. It brought together all of the UNESCO chairs in communication and dozens of communication professionals from all over the world. Several IPRA members joined Orbicom, including past presidents, Göran Sjöberg and Charles van der Straten Waillet.
IPRA signed the Orbicom sponsored International Declaration for a healthier world in 2021.
Thérèse Paquet-Sévigny 1934 – 2025
Contact
International Public Relations Association Secretariat
United Kingdom
[email protected]
Telephone +44 1634 818308
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