- Espace pour la vie, Jardin botanique
On June 16, Mr. François Legault, premier of Québec, announced the list of thirty-two people honored with one of the three levels of the Ordre national du Québec, the highest distinction bestowed by the Québec state.
That list includes Michel Labrecque, curator and head of the division of research and scientific development at the Jardin botanique de Montréal since 1997. Considered a pioneer in the field of bioenergy in Canada (producing energy from plants), he is especially interested in phytotechnologies, those techniques that use live plants to clean up the environment.
Over the last few years, this prolific researcher has carried out various projects allowing for the introduction of plants on sites contaminated by organic or inorganic pollutants. He has focused on developing green approaches that involve using plants to decontaminate polluted ground like urban land and industrial sites, and find solutions that will enable such areas to regain their lost ecological integrity at very little expense.
Alongside scientists from the Jardin botanique and the Institut de recherche en biologie végétale (IRBV), Michel is overseeing the building of a series of phytotechnology stations that will make it possible to resolve problems facing the Jardin botanique in a concrete way, such as controlling invasive plants, filtering marshes and a number of others.
Michel Labrecque was named a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec on June 22, 2022. Espace pour la vie is proud to have on its team a pillar of the research community who is demonstrating all the potential of plants for the ecological transition, one of the key objectives of the “Montréal 2030” strategic plan.