Dr. Anctil holds a doctorate in anthropology from the New School for Social Research in New York (1980) and was a post-doctoral fellow at McGill University’s Department of Jewish Studies from 1988 to 1991. In 2000 he received a master’s degree in international management from the Université du Québec’s École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP).
He has been an associate professor in the History Department of the Université du Québec à Montréal since 1996 and a member of the Institut québécois d’études sur la culture juive since 1987. He has authored many historical studies on the Montreal Jewish community and its multi-ethnic context, including Yiddish-French translations of works written by Jewish immigrants in the first half of the 20th century.
He was the Director of the Centre d’expertise en relations interculturelles in the Government of Quebec’s Ministère des relations avec les citoyens et Immigration from October 2003 to July 2004; Chair of the Conseil des relations interculturelles, from April 2002 to October 2003; visiting scholar at the Pointe-à-Callière museum from November 1999 to December 2000 for the production of an exhibition on Saint-Laurent boulevard (April to October 2002) and an international exhibition on the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls (June to November 2003); Executive Director of the Miriam Foundation from November 1998 to October 1999; advisor in the Quebec Ministry of Education and in the Ministère des relations avec les citoyens et Immigration (2000-2002 and 1998-1991); Director of the French-Canadian Studies Program at McGill University from July 1988 to November 1991; and researcher at the Institut québécois de recherche sur la culture from October 1980 to July 1988.
In 2003 he received the Yiddish Translation prize from the Izzy and Betty Kirshenbaum Foundation, awarded by the Canadian Jewish Book Awards Committee at the Koffler Center of the Arts, Toronto. In 2002 he received the Jacob-Issac Segal Prize, translation section, awarded by the Montreal Jewish Public Library. In 1998 he was the recipient of the Ezekiel Hart Award, awarded every three years by the Canadian Jewish Congress to a person outside of the Jewish community who has contributed in an outstanding way to intercultural relations with particular emphasis on the Quebec Jewish community.
He writes and speaks fluently in English, French and Yiddish. He has a basic knowledge of Spanish, German, Italian and Hebrew.
