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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEDAL                                  

MAGOG: Deputé Pierre Reid (Orford) was happy to be able to pay tribute to André Dion, on March 19, 2012, to present him with the National Assembly Medal. A man of action, André Dion is recognized by nature lovers for his publications, particularly on the thousands of ways to attract, lodge and feed the birds. With France, his wife, he created a Foundation for the preservation of breeding ducks, the impact of which benefits all Quebec.

André Dion was an ornithologist and conservationist, well before these terms became familiar to the general public. In 1935, while studying at Collège Sainte-Marie, he won a national contest for his text "Les oiseaux de mon pays" which was published in the media. In 1942, he studied at Cornell University, the only place teaching ornithology in America at that time. His career was launched on these birds, where it has remained. In 2005, he published his fourteenth publication entitled "L'âme des oiseaux", which resulted in his winning le Prix Alphonse Desjardins and la Palme d'or Gutemberg. He has recently published "L'Odyssée du Garrot d'Islande en Amérique".

Since 2010, the Dion's have published two more books, "Plume volante" and "Napoléon-Alexandre Comeau au Smithsonian". Andre Dion and his wife have also created Auto-Correct-Art, a teaching aid used by tens of thousands of Francophone children for forty years.

In 2011, André Dion received the honor of being named Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Pléiade (literary award). As you can see it, André Dion is a public figure but he is also a simple and endearing man, an example for all the citizens who feel that age is not an obstacle to an active lifestyle and that one can play an important role in our society, in our region even at ninety years of age.

"I am very happy to present this National Assembly of Quebec Medal to André Dion for Lifetime Achievement, but in particular for his active persistence in the literary field. I have asked the Quebec National Assembly to engrave the name of his wife France beside that of Mr Dion, because I believe that part of this medal should belong to her too. Congratulations to both of you," noted the Deputy of Orford.