Fransaskois Heritage

Fransaskois Heritage. Grandparents: N. Paul Remlinger was born in Saskatchewan in 1933 in his grandmother’s house. He spent most of his life in Liberty. Carol Mae Cook was born in California in 1938. She grew up in California and moved to Liberty when she was 18 when she married grandpa. Rachel Rompre was born in the hospital in Prince Albert in 1928. She was born in a hospital instead of at home because she was 2 months premature. She was second youngest out of 10 children. She grew up in Henribourg and Albertville area on her parents homestead. (Northeast of Prince Albert.) Grandma Rompre was a nun for 23 years. She left the convent after Vatican II and eventually finished high school and worked as a nanny. Grandpa Rompre’s parents came from Quebec. Great Grandpa Rompre was a blacksmith who came west by working as a blacksmith for the railroad. Great Grandpa Rompre was born in St. Anne de la Perade and Great- Grandma Rompre was born in St. Alban. Great Grandma Rompre was a seamstress and a milliner. (She made hats.) They met during World War II when Great-Grandpa was working in a factory where you make gun parts, and Great- Grandma was making gloves for the war effort. Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Gobeil came from Maine, up to Quebec, then to Saskatchewan. Great Grandma was working in the mills when she was only 6 years old tying knots in the threads under looms. My family and I live on our great grandparents (remliger) farm. Our house was built by my great grandpa and my grandpa. My dad is a farmer and my grandpa helps him. My grandma drives the grain truck and my mom helps them when they need help.

There have been ancestors of the Rompres and Gobeils in Canada since 1600. My mom is 100% French Canadian. Dad is English, Irish, Scotch, Dutch, French, and Germen. So I’m more than 50% French.

The Fransaskois Flag. The flag is yellow with a green cross on it. A Red Fleur De Lis is on the lower part of the flag. The yellow stands for the wheat fields. The green stands for the forests. The red stands for the heart. The flag was the first Francophone Flag in western Canada. It was chosen in the late 70’s.

Fransaskois Music. Fransaskois settlers who came to the prairies and they brought some of their traditional music with them. The music has been here for a very long time. The musicians make the music comes alive. The music is very important to the Fransaskois. When they have festivals or events, it is very rare when it ends without music.

Fransaskois Liticure. Liticure is also very important. More than 30 books and stories are made by Fransaskois authors. It was developed in the Fransaskois community. It is supported very well.

Fransaskois Dance. Some generations ago Fransaskois settlers filled their homes with music and dance. They usually do this on long cold winter nights. The dancers have a good spirit, and they like to keep the music and dance alive.

Fransaskois Communities. There are lots of communities where there are Fransaskois groups. Some of them are in Debden, Albertville, Duck Lake, Gravelbouge, Marcelan, Val-Marie, and Doremy. There are lots of other communities too. Doremy was made by settlers from France. Auguste Bodarde helped a lot. He was an official immigration agent. There are only 24,000 Fransaskois left in Saskatchewan.

About Fransaskois. Fransaskois culture is the culture of French-speaking people in Saskatchewan. The ancestors of the Fransaskois were pioneers. The pioneering history is important to the Fransaskois people. The Catholic Church is important to the Fransaskois. The religious feast days are also important to the Fransaskois. One of mom and auntie’s favorite days was the Fete de St.Catherine (Nov.24) when they would make pull toffee in the snow. The Fransaskois culture is well spoken in their language. They speak French but it is a bit different then the Québec language. People who still live in French communities have a different accent when they speak French. The Fransaskois

newspaper is called L’eau vive (living water), and a Fransaskois radio-station (CBKF Saskatchewan). There are lots of French cultural association, is 2 Fransaskois dance groups, a choir, and lots of bands. There is also a French lending library in Prince Albert. Great Grandpa Rompre homesteaded in Ens, SK. He moved to Doremy because it was a French place. The people in Ens spoke Ukrainian and English, he didn’t understand them. Great Grandpa and Great Grandpa Gobiel homesteaded in the Henribourge /Albertville area. Great Grandma was only 16 when she moved to Canada. Her first child was born just before she passed the border in to Canada in 1909. The last name Remlinger means “Farmer”. The last name Rompre is a French name that means, “break”. Fransaskois food is simple. It is just pioneer food. They ate lots of meat, potatoes, bread, and whatever could be grown in a garden. Maple Syrup and Cream Feature was usually in their desserts. Maple Syrup was hard to get in SK so it was replaced with brown sugar. One of the desserts were Sucre a la cream (sugar pie) and Grandperes auSyrop d’Erable (dumplings in maple syrup). Mocha cake is a special dessert. Tourtiere (meat pie made up of ground pork and ground beef) is a well known of the traditional French Canadian food. Pea soup and backed beans were often eaten too. The Ceinture-fleche is the name of the belt traditionally worn by th ecourreurs du bois. The fiddle and the spoons were the most common instruments. Marionnettes (wooden puppets) were fun entertainment.