During that period, although his patriotic and charitable activities were numerous, his militant activity for independence was limited to writing letters in newspapers on the topic of the hour. He wanted to do much more. He wrote a memoir to the attention of the "chancellerie" of the Ordre de Jacques Cartier (OJC), a secret organization of which he was a member. In response to Chaput's initiative, Pierre Vigeant, editorialist at "Le Devoir" and "grand chancelier" of the OJC, created a study committee on the question of independence of Quebec. Chaput was part of a group of five commissioners who gathered in Montreal in December 1959 and January 1960. As secretary to the commission, Chaput wrote the final report which concluded that French Canadians enjoy the right to self-determination and that members of the OJC should feel free to support independence if such was their political conviction. The direction of the OJC however remained closed to the idea of independence. On March 17, 1961, he was expelled from the secret organization after having insisted on learning the position of the Order on constitutional and political matters.