During the 1980s, he took action for the rights of injured workers; he created the Fondation pour l’aide aux travailleuses et travailleurs accidentés (FATA) in 1984.

Chartrand is considered to have been a promoter of socialism, a severe critic of capitalism,[1] and a leading figure of syndicalism in Quebec.

In 1940, he enrolled in a history course at the Université de Montréal taught by Lionel Groulx, a Quebec nationalist Roman Catholic priest.

Chartrand is reported to have joined the Canadian Officer Training Corps in 1941 following the outbreak of World War II in September 1939.

This program, conducted across Canada, allowed university students to be credited with military service while continuing their studies without being posted to active duty.

Chartrand protested that the Canadian Army documents were only in the English language and returned to the Trappists' monastery in the village of Oka, Quebec.

In a 1994 interview, Suzette Rouleau, Pierre Trudeau's sister, described engaging in a fist fight with Chartrand, to prevent him bullying her baby brother, when they were all teenagers.

In 1968, Michel Chartrand was elected president of the Montreal Central Council of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux, serving in that position until 1978.

As a member of the Quebec Independence movement, Chartrand staunchly supported the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ).

Even after the murder of Quebec vice-premier Pierre Laporte, Chartrand remained steadfast in his beliefs, and proved it by bailing FLQ leader Charles Gagnon out of jail, paying nearly three thousand dollars of his own money.

He represented the Rassemblement pour l'alternative progressiste (now Québec solidaire) against Lucien Bouchard in Jonquière, finishing third with 14 per cent of the votes.

[5] Earlier, in 1994, Michel Chartrand appeared besides former FLQ members Charles Gagnon and Pierre Vallieres, in a documentary directed by Jean Daniel Lafond, La liberté en colère.