He was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Merit (France) as per the Canada Gazette of 26 November 2011.
Career and private life
He is married to Marcia (Babineau) with one daughter, Sara-Jane. He served in many positions (director, playwright, journalist, researcher) with Radio-Canada from 1968 until 1985. During this time, he also made many contributions to the cultural framework of New Brunswick: directing the Galerie d'art de l'Université de Moncton in 1974, serving as President of the Galerie sans nom in 1980, helping found the Editions Perce Neige in 1984 and the Aberdeen Co-op in 1985. He worked on several such projects after leaving Radio-Canada before becoming a professor of the history of Art and Cinema at the Université de Moncton in 1988. He is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts[2] In 2017 Chiasson received the biennial Strathbutler Award for visual art in New Brunswick.[3]