Guy Rocher, Ph.D. (Harvard) is a sociologist, taught sociology at Université Laval (Quebec City) from 1952 to 1960, and was professor in the Department of Sociology (from 1960 to 2010) and researcher at the Centre for Public Law Research of the Université de Montréal (from 1979 up to the present). He is currently professor emeritus and associate professor in the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal. He was deputy minister of cultural and social development on the Executive Council of the government of Quebec (1977-1982). In that role, he participated in the development and implementation of the Charter of the French Language (1977). He has published numerous articles and some twenty books on sociology, law and related topics.
Before 1960, educational institutions in Quebec were denominational from the primary level up to and including the university level, in both public and private systems. With the major reforms of the 1960s and 1970s, a secularization process began. This started with the creation of religiously neutral Cégeps (junior colleges); then the implementation of the Université du Québec network; and new charters for the two French-language universities. Eventually primary and secondary schools also lost their denominational affiliation and religion-based school commissions were finally replaced by language-based school commissions.