Caricature Editorial cartooning Obituary

Christian Daigle – RIP

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D. D. Degg Published: August 5, 2025 Updated: August 5, 2025 1 minute 0 comments

Editorial cartoonist Christian Daigle (“Fleg”) has passed away.

We first learned of Christian Daigle’s passing from Guy Badeaux:

It is with sadness that we learned of the passing of Christian Daigle, better known by his pseudonym Fleg.

He died yesterday from grade 4 pancreatic cancer, which he had been suffering from for the last year.

As Guy notes his passing was not unexpected, especially by Christian himself. From last month:

From Jérôme Blanchet-Gravel of Libre Média:

On August 1, 2025, cartoonist Fleg passed away from pancreatic cancer. His death represents a huge loss for freedom of the press, freedom of expression and artistic freedom.

Before joining Libre Média in spring 2023 Fleg had already led a long and prolific career. He worked for Le Soleil from 2002 to 2011, then for the Yahoo news website from 2010 to 2015, as well as for Le Devoir in 2016. In 2008-2009, he had also collaborated with André Arthur on the TQS network.

He served as vice-president of the Canadian Cartoonists Association twice between 2003 and 2015. Some of his works are held at the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal.

Fleg has also excelled internationally, including appearing in cartoons in Charlie Hebdo.

More from Jérôme Blanchet-Gravel and Libre Média:

Fleg’s absence is a huge loss to freedom of speech, freedom of the press and artistic freedom. He was hugely liked by our readers, who recognized his creative genius, biting humor and sharp sense of subversion. He was a free artist, with a rare and indocile talent … At the time when satire recedes under the blows of ideological correctness, he had chosen to remain upright, faithful to a critical tradition that does not practice with power.

Christian’s entry at Canadian Animation, Cartooning and Illustration:

In the early 1980’s his interest in caricature was sparked by a meeting with Robert LaPalme. Beginning 2002 he collaborated with Le Soleil [Montréal]. In 1979 he won the J.W. Bengough Award and in 1980 he won the Prix Albéric Bourgeois. In 2014 and 2016, he won the George Townsend Award for best editorial cartoon.

The Fleg Wikipedia page.

FLEG’s Facebook page has a wonderful and impressive archive of editorial cartoons and caricatures.