Volume 97 Number 1, 2004 Issue #412

2004 IS A VERY IMPORTANT YEAR FOR FRANCOPHONE COMMUNITIES IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR. 2004 marks the 500th year of French presence in the province, the 400th anniversary of the founding of l'Acadie and the 100th year since France gave up its fishing rights on the historic French Shore. The province's francophones will have many candles to blow out this year.

According to the 2001 Census of Canada, there are 2,180 people in Newfoundland and Labrador whose mother tongue is French. This represents approximately 0.4% of the population. Despite their small number, these francophones will be more than able to blow out all 500 candles this year. Their secret? Pride in their language, their culture and their heritage, and an immense determination to assert their minority language rights.

There are indeed francophones living on Newfoundland and Labrador soil, and there have been for many generations. Sadly, too few people know it.

Gerry Benoit, the king of Candlemas, dances with Margaret Ryan during the gala at the local French centre, Black Duck Brook, 1989. La fête de la Chandeleur, or Candlemas, on February 2 is an ancient Christian celebration that French-speaking settlers brought to the Port-au-Port Peninsula. The anointed king collects money for a communal supper, tying a streamer onto his staff for each contribution. After the meal, he leads the dancing. Photo by Louise Abbott.

The Beginnings of French Presence in Newfoundland
Fishing was so good in the waters off Newfound-land that by the early 16th century the area had already acquired its reputation as the "grand banks." It had attracted numerous visitors as well. The earliest French expedition, led by Jean Denys of Honfleur, dates back to 1506. However, the first French fisherman known to have fished in our waters, a Breton by the name of Bergeron, fished here two years before the Honfleur expedition, in 1504.

Go West, Young Man
Columbus, Vespucci, Cabot and Cartier's expeditions of the 15th and 16th centuries fed the imperialistic and economic aspirations of Europe's great powers. Henry IV of France decided to found colonies in New France and Acadie as a result of Jacques Cartier's discoveries. In 1603, he named Pierre Dugua DeMonts lieutenant-general of the coasts and confines of Acadie, of Canada, and of other areas of New France.

DeMonts, along with Jean de Biencourt dit Poutrincourt, Samuel de Champlain, and 120 men, set sail for Acadie where, in 1604, they set up their first colonial outpost on Île Saint-Croix. During the winter of 1605, 30 men died there of scurvy. The following spring, DeMonts moved the colony to Port-Royal, where he also built a fort.

In 1606, Poutrincourt was named lieutenant-general of Acadie when DeMonts was named governor. In 1607, the king withdrew their exclusive fishing and fur trading rights. This rendered the fledgling colony economically unviable, prompting DeMonts to order Poutrincourt back to France with his men. Champlain, for his part, went on to found Québec in 1608.

Colonies Won, Colonies Lost
The French who fished off Newfoundland realized that their rights would be more defensible if some part of the island's coast were theirs. After numerous battles, England conceded certain parts of the coast to France. Because of its excellent harbour, Placentia (Plaisance) became the French capital of Newfoundland and remained so until 1713.

In that year, the Treaty of Utrecht granted exclusive fishing rights to the French off the coast between Cape Bonavista and Point Riche. But these fishing rights did not include the right to residency. It is clearly stated in the treaty that the French could possess no permanent establishments on the island, nor could they occupy the coasts in winter. As for the English, they had no right to fish in this zone, nor were they allowed to occupy the coasts.

In 1763, the Treaty of Paris re-established these French fishing rights. In 1783, however, the English, through the Treaty of Versailles, managed to restrict French fishing rights to the west coast of Newfoundland, to what became known as the "French Shore," as well as the east side of the Great Northern Peninsula from Cape St. John to Cape Ray.

A Brief Historical Geography of Newfoundland's French Population
England, having acquired Acadie in 1713, stripped the Acadians of their land in 1755, ostensibly because of their questionable loyalty to the English crown. It was known as the "Grand Dérangement." The English deported the Acadians to various places. Some families returned to France, many settled in or eventually made their way to Louisiana, and others hid out in the woods until they found other lands in what would eventually, become the maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

The St. George's Bay area of Newfoundland also seemed like a good spot: it had virgin lands and the government of the time was not able to exert much control over the area. Thus, in the midst of all this chaos, a small number of Acadian families settled in Newfoundland, in the area of St. George's Bay, near the current towns of Stephenville and St. George's. There were approximately 2,000 souls divided into four groups: 400 English, 1,200 Acadians, 400 French and Aboriginals.

The settlement at Cape St. George, "Le Cap," as it is affectionately known to Franco-Newfoundlanders today, was founded in approximately 1837 by a French deserter named Guillaume Robin, originally from Roch-Derrien in Brittany. In fact, the area became a haven for deserters, who populated it in the 19th century.

Two other areas settled by the French are the Port-au-Port Peninsula and Red Island. No permanent settlers on Red Island were counted before 1829, when there were 29. Ten years later there were but 10, while 29 settlers lived in Mainland (La Grand' Terre) just across the water.

And then there is Black Duck Brook (l'Anse-à-Canards). The first settlers came during the 1840s. Among the first families were the Benoits (1852-56), Bosecs (1888), Buissons and Felixes (1844) and Roblots (1870).

Port-aux-Basques and Codroy were also settled in the mid-18th century. In Codroy the population is primarily of Irish descent, although there were a dozen French families. In Port-aux-Basques, however, there were quite a few more French people.

The "Petit Nord" region, on the Great Northern Peninsula, was highly valued by the Bretons who settled there "to hunt whales and fish cod." In the mid-19th century, Croque (Croc) became the Newfoundland headquarters for the French Navy. To the east was Conche, the largest French settlement in the region. In Conche, even though the population was a mix of French and Irish, the inhabitants respected the terms of all treaties, which led to their being hired by the captains to watch over their buildings, flakes and other property during the winters. The captains measured their importance by how many "subjects" they hired. These regions, isolated from the moment French rights were relinquished, were quickly assimilated. In Croque and Conche, the English "subjects" were tolerated and French settlers married them in order to be more easily assimilated.

"Le Cap" Photo courtesy of Department of Tourism.

The main centre of activity on the west coast was Pointe-de-Sable, known today as Sandy Point. The first settlers arrived there at the beginning of the 19th century, which makes it one of the oldest settlements on the coast. Officially, the first family, the Garniers, did not arrive until 1840. The population had a large proportion of Acadian immigrants who came mostly from Cheticamp, Margaree and the Magdalen Islands.

France Relinquishes its Fishing Rights
The completion of the railroad in 1898 brought economic growth, most notably in the area of primary resource extraction. English settlers became more numerous and settled more and more lands, in spite of the treaties.

Newfoundland authorities were not as concerned as they had previously been with the outcomes of negotiations between England and France. France, which was a major imperial power, was not as dependent as it once had been on the strategic advantages offered by its position off the coast of Newfoundland. As a result, it paid less and less attention to the situation in Newfoundland.

Improvements in processing techniques, such as the ability to salt fish aboard ship instead of on land as before, reduced the need for fishermen to settle on the island. Unfortunately, too, it became clear that the stocks were not as abundant as they had been.

In 1904, France relinquished its fishing rights off the west coast of Newfoundland. French settlers continued to subsist by returning to the stations on Red Island to fish cod and trap lobster, doing mixed fishing off the coast of St. George's Bay and by hunting, gardening and foraging.

The Abandonment of the French Shore
As cod was worth less in Europe than coffee or African wood, France exchanged its fishing rights in Newfoundland for: an equal summer fishery; access to Newfoundland ports for bait, supplies and shelter; financial compensation to French out-fitters who had premises on the French shore; and territory in northern Nigeria, Gambia and on the islands of Los in West Africa. The French Shore was to be French no more.

The French language began to lose ground. Although there were numerous Acadian and Breton families in Port-au-Port and Stephenville, many of them were assimilated during the Second World War. The Americans built the Ernest Harmon military base in Stephenville because of the areas strategic location for the protection of North America. Many descendents of the west coast French went to work on the base, where they were forced to hide their French background.

The Road System
With an abundant and relatively skilled labour force handy, the francophone villages were linked to Stephenville by road. The road, which stopped in Port-au-Port in 1930, was extended to Lourdes around 1939 and then on to Mainland, Black Duck Brook and Cape St. George in 1946. From that point on, communications ran west to east, to Stephenville, and back again. Assimilation continued and the French language slowly began to disappear.

For a quarter of a century the entire Port-au-Port Peninsula depended on this American-driven economy. The francophones' fishing boats and equipment were cast aside and became obsolete. The Mainland fishing co-operative (La Coopérative des pêches de La Grand'Terre) closed its doors in 1949 just as Newfoundland entered Confederation.

Confederation
According to Joey Smallwood, once they were citizens of the rich country that Canada was, Newfoundlanders would have access to a whole gamut of social programs such as unemployment insurance, old age pensions and family allowances.

The Canadian government of the time did not acknowledge that there was a francophone population on the west coast. And yet, in the mid-1940s, nearly 9,000 Newfoundlanders spoke French; 6,000 of these were on the west coast. In 1961, the Census counted more than 17,000 persons of French origin, 8,500 of whom lived in the St. George's Bay area and on the Port-au-Port Peninsula.

1970: A Turning Point for Franco-Newfoundlanders
The 1970s were significant years for the province's francophone communities. The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (the Laurendeau-Dunton Commission) was a determining factor in the survival of the French language in the province.

As the federal public service set up numerous offices to offer services in French and English in the provincial capital, many Canadian francophones, as well as Saint-Pierrais and Miquelonnais, were attracted to the city. Approximately 1,000 francophones came to the Greater St. John's area at the time.

Where the Francophones Are Today
The province's francophones are currently concentrated in three regions: the Port-au-Port Peninsula on the west coast, St. John's in the east, and Labrador City in Labrador West.

The greatest concentration of old stock Franco-Newfoundlanders is in Port-au-Port. They number approximately 1,000. In St. John's and the surrounding area there are approximately 700 francophones, with roughly 600 in Labrador City, Wabush and the Happy Valley-Goose Bay military base rounding out the population.

The First Francophones in Labrador
The French presence in Labrador dates back to the age of the fur trappers. The first Frenchman known to have been in Labrador, Louis Fornel, established fur trading posts at North West River and Davis Inlet in 1743. Alexis Bélanger, a Catholic priest from Québec who spent 18 years at Sandy Point, also went to southern Labrador, enabling the French there, who were mostly Catholic, to practise their faith. Churches and priests of any faith were rather rare in the area in early times.

Left: Joseph ("Joe") and Alice Leroy outside their house, Blue Beach, 1985. Blue Beach is located near the tip of a finger of land called Long Point. When the Newfoundland government closed the one-room schoolhouse here in the early 1970s, all the permanent residents moved away except Joe and Alice Leroy. Right: Mathilde Bozec spinning wool in her living room, Black Duck Brook, 1989. Photos by Louise Abbott.

A Francophone Population Forged in Steel
A.P. Low discovered huge iron ore deposits in Labrador West in 1892. It was another 40-odd years, however, before the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOCC) acquired the rights to the area, in 1936.

The first mines—the Wabush Project—were started in 1956 by a consortium of three companies: Dominion Foundries and Steel, Steel Company of Canada and Wabush Iron Ore. The consortium, which invested $300 million in the project, began preliminary work in 1957. Construction started in 1960.

Given the Wabush Project's success, the IOCC decided to work its deposits in the region. The twin cities of Labrador City and Wabush were founded in 1961 and 1962, respectively. Given the need for labour in the area, many francophones from Québec, New Brunswick and Europe came to the North. Although most only intended to stay for a short time, the excellent wages offered by the mining companies soon had them sending for their families and laying down permanent roots.

Education
A French immersion program was started at Notre-Dame du Cap school on Cape St. George in 1975. That same year, on June 28th, Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau went to Cape St. George to officially launch the program. However, the program failed to meet the expectations of the area's francophone minority, who really wanted a French first-language program for the area.

In 1987 the immersion program was replaced by a French first-language program. Later that year, the federal government announced that a school and community centre would be built. Two years later, in 1989, the province's first school and community centre, le Centre scolaire et communautaire Sainte-Anne, was officially opened.

A second phase of construction was started in 1994—a road between Cape St. George and Mainland. The ability to move more freely between the two villages was a great boon to students in both communities.

In Labrador, an agreement with the Québec Department of Education meant that francophone residents of Labrador City could learn the Québec curriculum in French as early as 1960.

Organizations and Institutions for Francophones
The province's francophones have established organizations to represent their interests in discussions with various governments. The first francophone association was Les Terre-Neuviens Français (The French Newfoundlanders). Offshoots of this association were then formed in Mainland and Black Duck Brook.

In Labrador City, the Association francophone du Labrador (Labrador Francophone Association) was formed in 1973, the same year in which the Association francophone de Saint-Jean (St. John's Francophone Association) was created. These diverse groups saw a need to present a unified front, so they founded the Fédération des francophones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador (Newfoundland and Labrador Francophone Federation). Ten years later l'Héritage de l'Île Rouge (Red Island Heritage) was born and, in 1987, Chez les français de l'Anse-à-Canards (The French of Black Duck Brook).

At the provincial level, Le Gaboteur, a French-language newspaper, was founded in 1984. Originally a product of the Fédération des francophones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador, Le Gaboteur is now an independent organization in its own right, but it still honours its original mission to serve the community.

In 1989, two newcomers joined the scene: Franco Jeunes de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador (French Youth of Newfoudland and Labrador), which represents the francophone youth element, and the Fédération des parents francophones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador (The Newfoundland and Labrador Francophone Parents' Association). The list just keeps getting longer and longer...

Francophones living in the province today have many reasons to be proud of their heritage and of the contributions their predecessors made to the development of the province. Many towns and villages retain their French names (Baie Verte, l'Anse-au-Loup), while others have been anglicised (Cap Enragé is now Cape Rosey and Forillon is now Ferryland).

There are also traces of history in the names of families with French origins, especially but not exclusively in Port-au-Port. For example, the name Barter comes from Broteyre, a Basque name. And Costard was originally Lacosta, a French name from Brittany.

Today's Reality
Many exogamous couples (couples with one French member and, usually, one anglophone member) unfortunately choose not to give their children the opportunity to learn French, even though they have a right to, preferring English, the international language of business. And yet the hard won French first-language program has spread throughout the province.

There are French first-language schools in St. John's (École française de Saint-Jean), Cape St. George (École Notre-Dame du Cap), Mainland (Centre scolaire et communautaire Sainte-Anne), Labrador City (Centre éducatif l'ENVOL) and Happy Valley-Goose Bay (École Boréale).

Looking Forward
Francophones in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador undoubtedly have more tools than ever before to ensure that their culture flourishes and that their language thrives. Construction of the Centre scolaire et communautaire des Grands-Vents on Ridge Road in St. John's, is underway.

This centre, the realization of a longtime dream for the francophone community of St. John's, will also be the headquarters for local and provincial francophone associations. Its presence on the landscape will be a testament to the pride of a community and to the determination of its members and ancestors.

Although struggles are a fact of life for this small and surprisingly diverse minority group, 2004 is not about commemorating struggles. It is really about celebrating the group's determination, its pride, and its love of a place—this place. And that is something all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, no matter what language they speak, can understand.

For more information on the francophonie in Newfoundland and Labrador, please contact the Fédération des francophones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador at (709) 722-0627, l'Association communautaire francophone de Saint-Jean at (709) 726-4900, or the only French-language newspaper in Newfoundland and Labrador, Le Gaboteur, at 753-9585.

Société 2004 Society was founded by the Fédération des francophones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador and incorporated in 2002. Its mandate is to coordinate all activities related to the 500th anniversary of the French presence in the province, to promote the celebrations, to facilitate communication among all regions and, obviously, to ensure that linguistic standards are met.

A not-for-profit organization, it is managed by a board of directors with members from St. John's, Placentia, Baie Verte, the Great Northern Peninsula, the west coast, Labrador, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, and Conne River.