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St. Claude, French Citadel in Western Canada?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2017

J. B. Sanders
J. B. Sanders*
Affiliation:
Waterloo College
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Extract

The colonization of many parts of rural Manitoba got well under way in 1870. The arrival in the south of the province of numerous settlers, most of them from France, is an event of considerable importance in the history of the development of the Canadian west. Indeed, the colonization of Manitoba by French Catholics appeared to preoccupy greatly the St. Boniface diocese. Mgr. Taché remained convinced that St. Boniface ar.d St. Norbert would.cease to thrive unless linked to other cities and towns under the patronage of the church and extending to the very limits of the Saskatchewan boundary. Colonization seemed in many ways to be synonymous with Catholic evangelism, and the booklets distributed free of charge to the new settlers upon their arrival in the province did not fail to point out to them the advantages which they could obtain by settling near an established church, the symbol of Christian fraternity on the barren expanse of the uncultivated prairie.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , October 1954 , pp. 9 - 12
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association. 1954

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References

Notes

1 The superintendent of Catholic schools in Manitoba. Mr. T. A. Bernier, appears to have shared Taché's point of view. Bernier recommends ”… the foundation of a line of parishes bringing together the banks of the Red River and the western sections of the province, passing through La Salle-Starbuck. Oak Point, the Pembina Mountains, and the Grande Clairiere … a spinal column strong enough to support future developments on both sides.” Vie de Monsetgneur Taché, by Dom Benoit, Beauchemin, Montreal, 1904, p. 609.

2 Father Joseph Radaz was the untiring curé of St. Claude from 1907 to 1952. He died while still serving his parish.

3 From a phonetic point of view, they have refrained from assuming a French-Canadian accent. In their provincial French accent, still strongly marked, one can distinguish the “a” postérieur which replaces in many cases the “a” antérieur (vache, la, animaux), the aspirate “h” (là-hant, lea herses, le harnais, les Hollandois). In short, one has another indication of their conservatism.

4 Those having arrived with their parents spoke the Breton tongue until the death of the latter. I encountered only one family which received regularly a French newspaper in Breton.

5 The Anglicism is perhaps justified in that the word home (and even the expression at home) are commonly used in France.

6 This Expression is more justifiable than banque de neige (Andre Gide: Si le grain ne muert.)