Christopher Terry Mosher, (born 11 November 1942) is a Canadian political cartoonist for the Montreal Gazette. He draws under the name Aislin, a rendition of the name of his eldest daughter Aislinn (without the second 'n'). Aislin's drawings have also appeared in numerous international publications, such as Punch, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, National Lampoon, Time, The Washington Star, The New York Times and the Canadian edition of The Reader's Digest. According to his self-published website, as of 2020, he is the author of 51 books.
Life and career
Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Mosher attended fourteen different schools in Montreal, Toronto and Quebec City, graduating from the École des Beaux-arts in 1967. He famously won entrance to this fine arts college (now part of UQAM) by forging his high-school graduation certificate, which he called his most successful work. During his summers as a student, Mosher started drawing cartoons, "portraits of American tourists" on the cobbled stone streets of Quebec City. After graduating with a Bachelors of Arts degree, rather than paint, Mosher decided to continue to draw and become a political cartoonist. However, he adapted quickly, and in 1969, he was appointed official cartoonist of The Montreal Star, one of two Montreal English-language newspapers. He moved to the Montreal Gazette in 1972.
Mosher began his career during a period of political change in Canadian and Quebec history. In 1967, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson stepped down as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, and Pierre Elliott Trudeau assumed its leadership, becoming the 15th Prime Minister of Canada. In the fall of 1970, Montreal found itself in the middle of what is known as the October Crisis, in which the pro-sovereigntist group Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped and killed Pierre Laporte, a senior Quebec cabinet minister. It was about a police raid of an African entertainment group that had been rumoured to have gone topless. is one depicting the newly elected Premier of Quebec, René Lévesque, holding his customary cigarette, saying, “ O.K. Everybody Take a Valium!” reflecting the Anglophone community's angst towards their future in the province. He also provided a cartoon for the logo of a Montreal bookstore, Paragraphe Bookstore.
Mosher and fellow Montreal cartoonist Serge Chapleau were the subject of a 2003 documentary film, Nothing Sacred, directed by Garry Beitel.
Exhibitions
In 1997, Mosher's work was presented in the McCord Museum of Montreal alongside fellow cartoonist Serge Chapleau's work.
Personal life and philanthropy
Mosher has two daughters, Aislinn and Jessica, who are both McGill University graduates.
Mosher has had a long association with the Old Brewery Mission, Montreal's largest shelter for the homeless, and in 2001, was appointed to the institution's board of directors.
Honours and awards
Mosher is the recipient of two National Newspaper Awards and five individual prizes from the international Salon of Caricature. He was awarded President Emeritus by the Association of Canadian Cartoonists. and the Canadian Version of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.
In June 2018, Mosher was awarded an honorary doctorate from Concordia University.
Controversy
In 1993, MP Robert Layton denounced Aislin's cartoon depicting outgoing Prime Minister Brian Mulroney lying face down in the snow after having been tripped by a whistling Pierre Trudeau as "a crime against fundamental Canadian values of decency and mutual respect", making him the first political cartoonist censured in the House of Commons.
On 12 March 2010, Mosher drew a cartoon depicting a woman in a niqab with prison bars and a lock in place of her eyes. The cartoon was drawn in reference to a Montreal Muslim woman who refused to remove her niqab upon entering a French-language school and was asked to leave. Salem Elmenyawi, the president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, pointed out that he had made similar cartoons about women wearing a hijab. Elmenyawi explained that the cartoon creates an inaccurate depiction of women who wear niqabs by "not respecting the fact they tried to be true to the faith the way they understood it and the way they think it's right." As a result of the extreme backlash towards the cartoon, the Montreal Gazette published a modified version of the cartoon without the swastika included in the emblem.