French Speaking Canadians

I wish that I had a little French blood in my veins. I have English and Irish blood, for which I am grateful, but a few French corpuscles would let me bask a little in their remarkable accomplishments in North America.

A couple of the first girls to catch my eye, and to make my heart beat faster in high school, were named St. Onge, and St. Louis. My best friends in the RCAF were Ouellette, Beulieu and Sanfacon. My best man was Jacque Rochon. My brother-in-law is Louis Frenette. My uncle who was dearly admired by all who knew him, spoke no English when he met my aunt, but fell in love anyway. He was named Crete; (and related to the Kretes of Kitchener if resemblance is any key) His ancestry may have been Greek in generations past, but to all he was a French speaking Canadian to the bone. (For those who find this strange remember that Napoleon was of Italian descent).

Several of our most talented people at Simplicity came up from Quebec in the 60s. There were Gagne, Duquette, Garrant to name a few. My father's step-father was a Chedore from Gaspe. My eldest daughter was born in the Hotel Dieu in Chicoutami, Quebec. When she received her Quebec birth certificate, she felt obliged to learn the language, and she did just that -- and very fluently I may add.

As for me, I learned a few swear words in the military; they were just words that meant nothing to me. I can still remember a few, but have no idea what I am saying. Languages have never been by best subject, although I still dabble in Italian.

When my wife and I travel to Texas periodically to visit our younger daughter I am amazed at the towns and cities that bear the names given to them by the first European people who settled there. La Grange (the farm) La Fayette, (every State seems to have one) -- Terre Haute, Indiana (the high ground) -- St. Louis, with its many French named suburbs. The list is endless if you include all of the places that were discovered, and settled, by this adventuresome breed of men and women. Many of the place names have been Americanized but the French origin is obvious.

So what did these French speaking people do that impresses me?

Well, Frontenac fought the English right into their colonies when the war broke out between the two founding countries of France and England. When the British fleet sailed up to Quebec and demanded surrender he answered the blackguards with, "I will answer your general by the mouths of my cannon!" He was so impressive, they left the fiery old devil alone.

In 1692, 14-year-old Marie-Madeleine de Vercheres with only five companions, defended her father's fort for two days against marauding Iroquois until help arrived. Another Joan de Arc, to say the least.

In 1660 Adam Dollard des Ormeaux led a small band of men in a stand against an Iroquois war party that was on its way to destroy the settlement at Montreal. The Indians abandoned their plans when they tallied their dead.

When La Salle's expeditions took him into the heart of America he had a significant claim to much of interior North America. This claim extended from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. No small accomplishment! It was inevitable that this claim would provoke rivalry between the two countries that have a tendency to bring out the worst in the other. The ownership of North America was bound to be contested sooner or later.

The English colonies grew quickly along the eastern seaboard. The French people were more adventuresome. They went deep into the interior of the continent, married several women along the way, and left offspring in their wake (Viva la France).

England's Hudson's Bay Company was originated at the suggestion of Pierre Esprit de Radisson and Medart Chouart, sieur de Groseilliers. Other French speakers Pierre le Moyne, sieur d'Iberville commanded a series of naval raids into Hudson's Bay during the next few years and almost succeeded in driving the English from this part of the continent altogether. If they had succeeded I may be speaking French now.

They built Louisbourg on Cape Breton to protect the entrance to the St. Lawrence River and to protect the remaining remnants of the empire. It was the most heavily fortified bastion in North America during the next 25 years.

Halifax was built as the English response to such insolence. Louisbourg was a remarkable achievement, which eventually changed hands a few times because of American and European wars and the subsequent treaties.

There were many battles in which it appeared as if the Upper and Lower Canadas would become the 14^th colony of the Americas. The occupation of the whole of Upper Canada seemed to be a certainty. At Chateauguay, Col. Charles de Salaberry cleverly posted buglers in the woods about the invading soldiers and convinced the United States troops that they were surrounded by superior forces. This battle and many others instilled a nationalistic pride in the peoples that spanned their diverse origins. But for some French speaking citizens, you may be speaking with an American accent now.

For those of you who like to write to the editor complaining about bi-lingualisim, smarten up. We have a country with two official languages. Just because we outnumber the other, does not make us superior.

Much of facts of this article came from the following web site: http://www.efni.com/~duenorth/canada/history.html.

Have a bon jour.