MONTREAL — The Parti Québécois says Jacques-Yvan Morin, who held several prominent cabinet roles and served for a time as the head of the official opposition in the province, has died. He was 92.Morin taught constitutional law at the Université de Montréal and contributed to the conception of Quebec's first charter of human rights before entering politics in the 1970s.
He was elected to the province's legislature in 1973 and served as leader of the opposition for three years before party leader René Levesque could secure a seat of his own. Morin became deputy premier and minister of education in Levesque's Parti Québécois government after its victory in the 1976 provincial election.
He helped shape The Charter of the French Language, which defined French as Quebec's official language, before becoming minister of cultural and scientific development in 1980 and minister of intergovernmental affairs in 1982. The party statement praised Morin as an early supporter of Quebec's independence from Canada and an author of important works on the right to self-determination.