2024-01-29 10:00:00
It was a ritual for many. Historically, at 6 p.m. sharp, dozens of residents of Manchester, New Hampshire, sat in front of their televisions to listen to… the Téléjournal Estrie! This daily meeting allowed them to stay in touch with their mother tongue, French. But on August 8, things changed.
I was in front of my television when it cut out. I cried so much, I was devastated. For older people like me, it’s all we had left as a link to our roots, says Sherbrooke native Huguette Gosselin, her voice trembling.
That day, the last cable distributor to offer Radio-Canada channels in this neighboring state of Quebec has decided to end this service. According to the company, low demand no longer justified it.
A devastating blow for these Francophones, many of whom still do not have access to the Internet or are simply not comfortable with other types of platforms. The Invoice, Investigation, Discoveries… on the small screen, they are passionate about it.
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Pierrette Duquette is sorry to no longer have access to Radio-Canada broadcasts from her home in Manchester, in the state of New Hampshire.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Guillaume Renaud
I’m losing my French a little, since my husband speaks more English than French at home. Without the Radio-Canada station, I’m really afraid that my family would no longer speak French. We risk losing him.
Even if these few dozen diehards have lived with our neighbors to the south for a long time, life in the neighborhood they affectionately nickname Petit Québec takes place almost exclusively in French.
Surprisingly, even after living in the United States for more than half a century, some of them only know a few words of English. I’m managing, says Cécile Quirion, originally from Beauce, shyly. Me, I confuse the others!, retorts her friend Laurette Gingues, in a sneering tone.
The tireless Pierrette Duquette, a true local celebrity, doesn’t let her difficulties in English stop her either. She intends to fight to continue to be able to live in her mother tongue, until the very end.
It’s a big fight for us. We can’t just wait to die, so we’ll fight until the end. If we lose our French, what do we have left?
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The Sainte-Marie church, located in the heart of the Petit Québec district, welcomes many French-speaking faithful.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Guillaume Renaud
Pierrette’s fight or that of David against Goliath
With the entire community behind her, Pierrette Duquette was far from having said her last word. On August 8, 2023, David’s fight against Goliath had just begun.
The Richelieu Club of Manchester, the latest in a long list of groups bearing the same name spread across the four corners of the American Northeast, has given itself a very clear mission: to ensure and celebrate the presence of French in the United States.
Founded and directed by Pierrette Duquette, the Manchester unit meets every week around poutines and crepes, the specialties of the Chez Vachon restaurant located near the city center. The poutine is not as good as Louis’, but it’s good. job!, warns Ms. Duquette, referring to the emblematic restaurants of Sherbrooke.
Photo album: Little Quebec of New Hampshire.
Quebec heritage is everywhere in the area, a place that Pierrette Duquette knows like the back of her hand. A few steps away, the Sainte-Marie church watches over the entire neighborhood. The imposing building was built in 1880, under the supervision of Mgr Pierre Hevey, originally from Quebec. The approximately 140 years that have passed have not succeeded in removing French from homilies and evangelical readings.
At the end of the same street is the Caisse populaire Sainte-Marie, founded in 1908 by Mgr Hevey, with the help of Alphonse Desjardins himself. The financial institution now prides itself on being the very first credit union in the history of the United States.
The senator, the ex-mayor and even Nikki Haley arrested
Wishing to defend her roots and be able to pass them on, she expressed her concerns to the highest authorities in the State of New Hampshire. I contacted my district senator and former mayor. They told us that they had met with the company and that only 24 people listened to Radio-Canada. I can tell you that it’s completely false,” she explains, visibly shocked. His subsequent complaints went unheeded.
Frustrated by the ineffectiveness of her approach so far, Pierrette Duquette decides to contact the local newspaper Union Leaderwhich is widely distributed in the municipality of 107,000 inhabitants.
There are still several French-speaking citizens in Manchester. Most are from Canada or still have family members there. We needed this television channel from Sherbrooke to get news, we can read, in English, in a short text published last year.
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Ms. Duquette’s demands have been in the local newspaper in recent months. She carefully kept her last cable bill where she was billed for the Radio-Canada channel.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Guillaume Renaud
French is really established everywhere, not just in New Hampshire. There are really a lot of people who speak French. It is unfair!
The words written by Ms. Duquette resonated throughout the community, even attracting the sympathy of several English-speaking fellow citizens.
The next Sunday, at church, people greeted me and thanked me for what I had done. Even people who don’t speak French were trying to get out a few words. There, I became emotional. Seeing that we weren’t alone in this was beautiful, she says, proudly showing a copy of her text.
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Republican primary candidate Nikky Haley made a surprise visit to Chez Vachon restaurant on Tuesday. Local French speakers immediately took advantage of the opportunity to raise awareness of the fragility of their language in this state.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Guillaume Renaud
French in life and death
Pierrette Duquette’s son, Éric, was born in New Hampshire, but he picked up his mother’s turns of phrase well. Therapist in a rehabilitation center near Manchester, he sometimes has to speak French to be understood by his patients.
About ten years ago, the very specific request of a patient at the end of her life caught her attention. She wanted to hear a song from her youth before she died. Finally, Eric learned it and sang it with her!, says his mother.
This song was Ah! Strawberries and raspberries of the Soucy Family. With eyes full of tears – and a heart swollen with pride – Pierrette Duquette says she helped her son memorize the words.
From then on, Eric and his patient hummed together the Believe me, dear villagers, I have never been so pleased with this tune which rocked the lady’s childhood and where French was full to her ears. She died some time later, with a peaceful heart having reconnected with this language that was so dear to her.
Pierrette Duquette’s friends know this story well. They heard her say over and over again how her Eric makes her so proud.
Pierrette leaves no room for doubt: the torch of her fight to keep French alive in her community has now passed.
And it will never go out.
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Even if these French speakers all have white hair and hands tired by time, their ears want to hear French spoken for a long, long time to come. The words of their past on Quebec soil are what make them smile.
Photo : Radio-Canada / Guillaume Renaud
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