Edith Bernier was born in Matane, Gaspésie, in the province of Québec. After completing a College Degree in Litterature, Languages & Cinema (2000), she obtained a Bachelor Degree in Journalism (with a History minor) in 2003 at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).
She started writing on the reality of size & weight discrimination through her first blog, The Plus-Size Backpacker, launched in April 2013. This travel blog was dedicated to bring to light the challenges plus-size women face when they are travelling. (First travel blog on the topic, it still holds a special place in the plus-size blogosphere. plus-size.) In 2015, she wrote The Ultimate Guide to Plus-Size Backpacker (in French : Le Manuel des routards taille plus), self-published on Amazon at the beginning of 2016.
Still in 2016, Edith Bernier was a Guest Speaker at the first Montreal Plus Size Fashion Week. (MTL+ Fashion Week). The same year, clothes retailer Sportive Plus asked to be one of the spokesperson for the #NousPouvonsÊtre campaign, meant to remind plus-size women that they can be and do whatever they desire.
In March 2017, the book Big Fit Girl (by Canadian athlete Louise Green) includes her testimony on hiking as a way to channel and develop plus-size women athletic potential. The same year, she started writing and taking position on matters related to Fat-Phobia and Body Positivity. Since that, she was interviewed and featured many times in the medias, from Quebec to English Canada, in the US, France and all the way to New Zealand.
Since 2019, she regularly presents public speakings, notably in schools and work places, on size & weight discrimination and the inclusion of fat people. In August 2019, Edith launched Grossophobie.ca – Infos & référence, the very first québécois reference web site on Fat-Phobia. Her op ed letter, Être gros n’est pas un choix, published in La Presse in December 2019, was cosigned by over 60 public personalities from Quebec, from the entertainment, academia and scientific spheres.
In spite of numerous forced cancellations due to COVID-19 in 2020, Edith Bernier remains present in the news; all through the year, on top of online presentations, she was quoted in many publications, from the COVID-19 Fat-Phobia pandemic to the closures of plus-size clothing retailers AdditionElle. Her second book, Grosse, et puis ? Connaître et combattre la grossophobie (Trécarré), was published in September 2020. With a preface by Dr Benoît Arsenault, PhD, it is the first French-written reference guide of its kind.
Grosse, et puis ? will have a European release at the beginning of 2022 with well-established French publisher Marabout.