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Figureheads of the Sovereignty Movement
Players involved in the sovereignty cause included founders and leaders of the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale (RIN) (rally for national independence) such as André d'Allemagne, Marcel Chaput and Pierre Bourgault. The RIN was founded in 1960 by some thirty people meeting at a hotel in the Laurentians. It was, as its name indicated, a forum for discussion and the convergence of pro-independence advocates of various allegiances. Its mission was to heighten the awareness of the population regarding the issue of independence. Through his many writings, the RIN's first president, André d'Allemagne, revealed himself to be a Quebec independence theoretician. Andrée Ferretti, a passionate RIN militant, viewed this political science professor as a pioneer of decolonization. Also at the sides of d'Allemagne during the foundation of the RIN was another man of conviction, Marcel Chaput. In 1961, the year he lost his job with the federal civil service because of his political activism, he published Pourquoi je suis séparatiste, (Why I am a separatist), a resounding success during the era and in which he refuted arguments against Quebec's sovereignty. Discussions on independence within the RIN did not lead to the outcomes anticipated, and Chaput created the Parti républicain du Québec (PRQ) (Republican Party of Quebec) in 1962, leading to his expulsion from the RIN the following year.
In 1964, the RIN chose a new leader in the person of Pierre Bourgault, former president of the Montreal branch of the movement. Bourgault was a flamboyant and spectacular orator capable of mesmerizing crowds. This incarnation of freedom was gifted with what was known as a fiery tongue.
