Born in
Montreal,
Quebec, he was elected as Conservative MP for Edmonton-Strathcona in 1972. He followed this by serving as MP for Edmonton South to 1984. His Liberal opponent in the
1980 election was Robert Carney, father of future Canadian Prime Minister
Mark Carney. He did not run for re-election in
1984. In 1984, he was appointed Canada's Ambassador for Disarmament. He has long been concerned with the issue of
nuclear disarmament. He was elected Chairman of the
United Nations Disarmament Committee, the main
United Nations body dealing with political and security issues, at the 43rd General Assembly in 1988. He is also the author of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to thirteen more, including ''Creative Dissent: A Politician's Struggle for Peace'' (Novalis, 2008). From 1989 to 2001, he was appointed Visiting Professor at the
University of Alberta, where he taught "War or Peace in the 21st Century?" In 1997, he was chosen by the Students' Union to receive a SALUTE Award for "outstanding contributions to students". He is an Officer of the
Order of Canada, and a leading organizer of the project in which more than 500 members of the Order of Canada have endorsed a call for Canada to commit to working with other countries to achieve a Nuclear Weapons Convention, which would be a global ban on nuclear weapons. co-sponsored by eight international non-governmental organizations specializing in nuclear disarmament; he now serves as Senior Advisor to the current Chairman, Ambassador
Henrik Salander of Sweden. In 1995,
Pope John Paul II presented him with the
Papal Medal for his service as Special Adviser on disarmament and security matters. In 1998, the
Holy See named him a Knight Commander of the
Order of St. Gregory the Great. Roche has served as President of the United Nations Association in Canada and was elected in 1985 as Honorary President of the
World Federation of United Nations Associations. He was the founding President of
Parliamentarians for Global Action, an international network of 1,300 parliamentarians in 99 countries, and wrote
The Case for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly in 2002. He was also founding editor of the
Western Catholic Reporter (1965–1972), International Chairman (1990–1996) of Global Education Associates, and co-founder of the Canadian International Institute of Applied Negotiation (CIIAN) in 1992, which is dedicated to the prevention and resolution of destructive conflict. In 2009, Roche was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award of the
Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians, "presented annually to a former parliamentarian who has made an outstanding contribution to the country and its democratic institutions." Roche was cited in particular "for his years of Parliamentary service, for his contribution to and respect for the institution of Parliament and for his continued interest and activity in the promotion of human welfare, human rights and parliamentary democracy in Canada and abroad." == Published works ==