Quebec community leader Dr. Victor Goldbloom releases memoir ‘Building Bridges’

MONTREAL — Eager visitors lined up at Montreal city hall Monday, to get a few minutes with community leader Dr. Victor Goldbloom.

The 91 year old released his memoir Building Bridges at a packed event in the hall of honour.

The title of the book is a fitting for the story of a man who has spent decades fostering communication between various communities.

Goldbloom was a minister in Robert Bourassa’s cabinet in the 1970s.

The CEO of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews in the 80’s and Canada’s Official Languages Commissioner in the 90s.

At one point in the evening, some guests were told that they had temporarily run out of English copies of the book. Not at all surprising to those who admire Goldbloom’s life and work.

“Dr. Goldbloom’s work is important to every generation,” Quebec Community Groups’ Network president Sylvia Martin-Laforge told Global News on Monday.

“He’s a renaissance man.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: <strong>"He's a renaissance man."</strong>

Goldbloom said his children prompted him to write his memoirs, which include stories of his experience as Quebec’s first Jewish cabinet minister.

“There had been a barrier of prejudice for a long time and i was privileged to be the person that broke that barrier.”

The 91 year old insists that even after years of building relationships between various communities, he has no intention of slowing down.