ISSN 0213-7771 - e-ISSN 2443-9991
https://doi.org/10.12795/CP.2025.i34.v1.00

Cuestiones Pedagógicas, 1(34), 2025, 9-10 9

Paul Belanger. In memoriam

No man is an island,

entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent,

a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less,
as well as if a promontory were,

as well as if a manor of thy friend’s
or of thine own were:

any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind,
and therefore never send to know

for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.

(John Donne)

One of my best memories of Paul happened in Denmark following the triumph

of the Hamburg CONFINTEA UNESCO Conference on Adult Education in 1997. A
group of us had travelled to Elsinore, site of the first world conference on adult
education in 1948, to share reflections on what had just taken place in Hamburg. A
group of us were standing on ridge overlooking a beach leading to the Baltic Sea.
Paul, in a great burst of energy began to run towards the water, stripping off his
clothes. “We are Canadians who are not afraid of the cold water”, he said as he dove
into the sea. It was a moment of exultation that all of us who had been involved in the
planning of the Hamburg events had felt. It was Paul who embodied the joy on all our
behalf with his plunge into the sea.

I met Paul in the mid-1970s when I was planning the first ICAE World Assembly
of Adult Education in Tanzania. Paul was the Secretary-General of the ICEA, the
Institut de coopération pour l’éducation des adultes. We had invited the ICEA to
become a member of the newly formed International Council for Adult Education. Paul
began his years of activism as part of the student-worker movement in Quebec. He
worked as an animator for a progressive cine-club that brought thoughtful films for
discussions about politics, culture and the future. He did a PhD looking at the work of
animation rural in Senegal before becoming the Secretary General of the ICEA. The
ICEA became a powerhouse of research, policy development and advocacy for the
adult education movement in Quebec. The ICEA was and remains a model of bringing
together the social movements of adult education together with the professional adult
education bodies to form a remarkable space to promote not only learning itself, but
the lives of learners.

Cuestiones Pedagógicas, 1(34), 2025, 9-10
ISSN 0213-7771 - e-ISSN 2443-9991
https://doi.org/10.12795/CP.2025.i34.v1.00 10

Paul played a critically important role in the International Council for Adult
Education during my time as Secretary-General. He and his team from Quebec were
the main authors of the UNESCO Declaration, the Right to Learn. The Right to Learn
was adopted by the 4’th UNESCO Conference on Adult Education in Paris in March
of 1985. From 1989-1999 Paul served as the Director of the UNESCO Institute for
Lifelong Learning in Hamburg, Germany. His best-known achievement during that
period was the hosting of the Fifth UNESCO International Conference on Adult
Education. CONFINTEA in Hamburg brought 1500 people from 190 countries to
Hamburg to produce The Agenda for the Future and the Hamburg Declaration.

Following his time with the UNESCO Institute, Paul was a highly productive
scholar at UQAM, the Universite de Quebec a Montreal. Paul was recognized with
Honorary Doctorates from St. Francis Xavier University in Canada and the University
of Surrey in England.

Daniel Baril, Chair of the Board of the UNESCO Institute in Hamburg and
Secretary-General of ICEA says, “I have lost my mentor, the person who taught me
all about what is essential in Adult Learning and Education, about ICEA, ICAE and
about the Hamburg Institute”

Prof Leona English, celebrates, “His long and distinguished career in adult
education.”

Paul Belanger was born March 19, 1939, and passed away in January 31, 2025
May he rest in Peace.

Budd L. Hall. University of Victoria, Victoria B.C., Canada