French in the West : Les Franco-canadiens dans l’ouest : Essai historique bilingue/bilingual

Grant Macewan

Description

Diverses étapes de la colonisation dans l’Ouest, ainsi que du rôle joué par les «Canadiens». Ils ont lutté pour s’assurer que l’Ouest deviendrait partie intégrante de la Confédération. Texte bilingue.
Quelques noms familiers du passé – De Cartier à Montcalm – Cent ans de guerre pour le monopole de la Baie d’Hudson – La Vérendrye vainc la peur et le doute – Compétition pour le commerce des fourrures – Le voyageur avait la vie dure – Un voyageur et sa femme – La chasse au bison – Louis Riel – La Confédération secouée de violentes tempêtes -Une touche romantique dans la plaine – La lutte pour la sauvegarde d’une culture.

Sujets

• Pre-Confederation
• Histoire
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Éditions des Plaines
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 1984
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9782896117314
• Langue: Français

Extrait

French in the West
Les Franco-Canadiens dans l Ouest
Les ditions des Plaines remercient chaleureusement le Conseil des Arts du Canada et la Fondation des ressources historiques de l Alberta pour l appui financier apport la publication de cet ouvrage.
Acknowledgements
Alberta Historical Resources Foundation for coordinating the project.
La Soci t franco-canadienne de Calgary for arranging for the translation of the series of articles.
Bill Gold, Calgary Herald, for permission to use the articles and for his encouragement.
Provincial Archives of Alberta, Edmonton, for its cooperation and permission to use the photographs.
Maquette de la couverture et dessins: Michel Montcombroux
This material first appeared in the Calgary Herald as a series of weekly columns by Dr. Grant MacEwan
ISBN 0-920944-45-0
FC3230.5.M33 1984 971.2′004114 C84-091425-3E
F1060.97.F83M33 1984
La reproduction d un extrait quelconque de cette dition, notamment parphotocopie ou par microfilm, est interdite sans l autorisation des Editions des plaines inc.
Directeurs: Georges Damphousse
Annette Saint-Pierre
D p t l gal la Biblioth que Nationale d Ottawa 4 e trimestre 1984

DU M ME AUTEUR
ALSO BY GRANT MacEWAN
Canadian Animal Husbandry
General Agriculture
Breeds of Livestock in Canada
Feeding Farm Animals
Between the Red and the Rockies
Eye Opener Bob
Fifty Mighty Men
Calgary Cavalcade
John Ware's Cow Country
Blazing the Old Cattle Trails
Hoof prints and Hitchingposts
Entrusted to My Care
Poking into Politics
Tatanga Mani
Harvest of Bread
West to the Sea (Coll. with Maxwell Foran)
Portraits from the Plains
Power for Prairie Plows
Sitting Bull
The Years in Canada
Battle for the Bay
Mighty Women Too
Memory Meadows
Cornerstone Colony
History of Western Canadian Agriculture
Metis Makers of History
Charles Noble
Guardian of the Soil
Wildhorse ]ack
The Legend of jack Morton
PREFACE
Western Canadians, be they French or English-speaking, know little of the history of French participation in the discovery, exploration and colonization of this part of the country.
The author, preoccupied with the divisions raised recently between Canadians of French origin and Canadians of English origin, proposes in his text to demonstrate to what point (since the first days of the French colonization) the West has been the reason for the numerous activities initiated by the French to maintain control. He retraces the numerous steps of the Western penetration and demonstrates that, even after the conquest, the Canadiens played a most important role. He points out that before and after Confederation the two groups, French and English, co-operated - each within their range of talents - to ensure that the West would become an integral part of the country. By intermarriage with the native Indians of the West, the Metis nation emerged, which has also played a preponderant role in this part of the country. The author traces their history.
Grant MacEwan is a man from the West. He places into perspective the contribution of the French Canadians in the development of the prairies. He wants to make those who read his text understand that if the West is prosperous today, it is due in large part to the interest that Canadians of both races have always displayed towards these immense territories, which are now an integral part of Canada. If French Canadians, because of their small numbers, have lost the influence they once held during the nineteenth century, they have nevertheless never lost interest. They have continued to make it prosper through immigration and through their political influence in Ottawa. Today, in all the Western provinces, one finds small French speaking areas with their
PR FACE
Les Canadiens de l Ouest, fussent-ils de langue anglaise ou de langue fran aise, connaissent peu l histoire de la participation fran aise la d couverte, l exploration et la colonisation de cette partie du pays.
L auteur de ce livre, pr occup par les divisions soulev es r cemment entre le Canada d expression fran aise et le Canada d expression anglaise, se propose dans son texte, de montrer jusqu quel point cette partie du Canada a t , d s les d buts de la colonisation fran aise, l objet de nombreuses d marches de la part des Fran ais pour s en assurer le contr le. Il y retrace les diverses tapes de la p n tration de l Ouest et d montre que m me apr s la conqu te, les Canadiens y ont jou un r le de prime importance. Il d montre qu avant la Conf d ration, et depuis, les deux groupes, anglais et fran ais, ont coop r , chacun selon ses talents, pour s assurer que l Ouest deviendrait partie int grante du pays. En pousant des Am rindiennes des tribus de l Ouest, des hommes des deux races ont form une nation m tisse qui elle aussi a jou un r le pr pond rant dans cette partie du pays. L auteur en trace l histoire.
Grant MacEwan, est un homme de l Ouest. Il remet en perspective la contribution des Canadiens fran ais la conqu te des Prairies. Il veut faire comprendre ceux qui liront son texte que si l Ouest aujourd hui est prosp re, il le doit en grande partie l int r t que les Canadiens des deux races ont toujours manifest envers ces immenses territoires qui font maintenant partie int grante du Canada. Si les Canadiens fran ais cause de leur inf riorit num rique ont perdu l influence qu ils avaient dans l Ouest au 19 e si cle, ils n ont pas cess de s y int resser. Ils ont continu par leur influence politique Ottawa et par leur immigration le faire prosp rer. Aujourd hui dans toutes les provinces de l Ouest, on y retrouve des noyaux de langue fran aise o se

unique traditions from Quebec. Despite some hard defeats, the French Canadians have never stopped believing that they were the co-founders of the Western provinces, and they continue to play an important role in this regard. It is partly due to them that we realized the enormous potential surrounding these territories. If other settlers from all corners of the world today enjoy an enviable prosperity, they should remind themselves that the French Canadians, by their humble efforts, long before them, navigated the breadth of this country, discovered it, civilized it, and prepared the ground for the immigrants of the future.
By this little history book, the author appeals to the French Canadians from Quebec to tell them that they have invested too much in this part of the country to now abandon it. On the other hand, he reminds Anglophones - who have a tendency to believe that all French Canadians live in Quebec and that our West does not interest them - of certain truths. History does confer certain rights. Grant MacEwan has gratefully, in his historic resume, described these certain truths.
Dr. Roger Motut

continuent les traditions apport es du Qu bec. Malgr de durs checs, les Canadiens fran ais n ont jamais cess de croire qu ils taient les co-f ondateurs des provinces de l Ouest, et ils continuent d y jouer un r le important. C est en partie gr ce eux qu on s est rendu compte du potentiel norme que renfermaient ces territoires. Si d autres groupes de colons venus de tous les coins du monde, jouissent aujourd hui d une prosp rit enviable, ils devraient se rappeler que les Canadiens fran ais, par leurs humbles efforts, ont longtemps, avant eux, sillonn le pays, l ont d couvert, l ont civilis et ont pr par le terrain pour les futurs immigrants.
Par ce petit livre d histoire, l auteur fait appel aux Canadiens fran ais du Qu bec pour leur dire qu ils ont trop investi dans cette partie du pays pour vouloir l abandonner. D un autre c t , il rappelle certaines v rit s ses concitoyens anglophones qui ont tendance croire que tous les Canadiens fran ais vivent au Qu bec et que l Ouest ne les int resse gu re. Il y a certains droits conf r s par l histoire. Grant MacEwan a le m rite d avoir, dans ce r sum historique, fait la part de la v rit .
Dr Roger Motut
1
A LOOK AT SOME STILL FAMILIAR NAMES FROM AN EARLIER PAST.
If the strength of Canada s French-speaking population lies in the province of Quebec, it is by no means true that it had been insignificant in the rest of the country. Explorers, businessmen, traders, missionaries, politicians - all appeared, together and separately, almost everywhere in what has become modern Canada.
And, for all that, the West sometimes appears today to be a bastion of English and new Canadian strength; it too attracted a variety of French and French-Canadian travellers. This is most apparent today in Manitoba, but Saskatchewan and Alberta were touched by the French fact too, a point borne out as well by names in their histories as by anything.
The de la V rendryes led the French-Canadian parade west, and nothing will dull the glitter of the family name. Hard on their heels were the voyageurs, whose lasting impression shows in their Metis offspring. Then, as the West advanced to the homestead stage, there appeared a relatively small number of French-Canadians of somewhat different texture, men who would be conspicuous for leadership in any company, men like Girard, Dubuc, Royal, Rouleau, Forget, L gar , L Heureux and Lacombe.
Migrants Came From All Walks of Life
Many of the bearers of prominent French names in the early period were churchmen with a fierce zeal for both their ancestry and Roman Catholicism. Some came directly from France. For settlers and others adhering to the faith, it was a memorable day when, in 1818, Fathers Provencher and Dumoulin arrived at Red River, the first of the strictly mis-
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