Franco-Newfoundlander
Encyclopedia
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
and/or French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
residents of the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
province of Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
. The name Franco-Terreneuvian derives from Terre-Neuve, the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
name of Newfoundland.
The Franco-Newfoundlander community is most prominently associated with the Port au Port
Port au Port Peninsula
The Port au Port Peninsula is a peninsula in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Roughly triangular in shape, it is located on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland.-Geography:...
area near Stephenville
Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador
Stephenville is a Canadian town in Newfoundland and Labrador on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland....
, in communities such as Trois-Cailloux
Three Rock Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador
Three Rock Cove is a village lacated northwest of Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador. The population was 94 in 1940; 113 in1951 and 230 in 1956....
, Cap-Saint-Georges
Cape St. George, Newfoundland and Labrador
Cape St. George is a headland and community of the same name, located at the southwestern tip of the Port au Port Peninsula on the Canadian island of Newfoundland.The headland marks the northwestern limit of St...
, La Grand'Terre
Mainland, Newfoundland and Labrador
Mainland is a community in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the western shore of the Port au Port Peninsula near Cape St. George....
, L'Anse-aux-Canards and Maisons-d'Hiver. This region is unique as the only area in the province that is officially designated by provincial law as a bilingual district. However, francophone communities are also present throughout the province, particularly in St. John's
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...
, Labrador City and Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador
Happy Valley – Goose Bay is a Canadian town in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.Located in the central part of Labrador, the town is the largest population centre in that region. Incorporated in 1973, the town composes the former town of Happy Valley and the Local Improvement District of...
.
Newfoundland and Labrador's francophone community and its culture derive from a unique mix of influences and immigrants from Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Acadia
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
and the Basque Country, much of it predating Newfoundland's admission as a Canadian province in 1949. Some aspects of the community's unique culture, however, have been lost or threatened as the community became more closely integrated into the mainstream of French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
culture and society after 1949.
Flag
The Franco-Newfoundlander flag is based on the French tricolourFlag of France
The national flag of France is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured royal blue , white, and red...
and Acadia
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
n flag, with three unequal panels of blue, white, and red. Two yellow sails are set on the line between the white and red panels. The sail on top is charged with a spruce twig, while the bottom sail is charged with a pitcher flower. These emblems are outlined in black.
The sails represent early Basque
Basque Country (historical territory)
The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast....
, Breton
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, and French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
fishermen that came to the area in 1504. At the same time, they are symbols of action and progress. The yellow is taken from the star of the Acadian flag. The spruce twig is the emblem of Labrador and is also found on the Labrador flag. Newfoundland and Labrador's provincial flower is the insect-eating pitcher plant
Pitcher plant
Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants whose prey-trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled with liquid known as a pitfall trap. It has been widely assumed that the various sorts of pitfall trap evolved from rolled leaves, with selection pressure favouring more deeply cupped leaves over...
.
Language
Historically, Franco-Newfoundlanders were associated with the distinct Newfoundland FrenchNewfoundland French
Newfoundland French or Newfoundland Peninsular French refers to the French spoken on the Port au Port Peninsula of Newfoundland. The francophones of the region are unique in Canada, tracing their origins to Continental French fishermen who settled in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and not to the...
dialect. However, that dialect is now endangered, and most francophones in the province now speak either Acadian French
Acadian French
Acadian French , is a regionalized dialect of Canadian French. It is spoken by the francophone population of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, by small minorities in areas in the Gaspé region of eastern Quebec, by small groups of francophones in Prince Edward Island, in several tiny pockets...
, due to the influence of the Maritime Provinces, or Quebec French
Quebec French
Quebec French , or Québécois French, is the predominant variety of the French language in Canada, in its formal and informal registers. Quebec French is used in everyday communication, as well as in education, the media, and government....
, which is the primary dialect of French instruction in schools.
The majority of Franco-Newfoundlanders, however, live their day-to-day lives partially or predominantly in English, due to their status as a small minority in a primarily anglophone province. In the Canada 2006 Census
Canada 2006 Census
The Canada 2006 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 16, 2006. The next census following will be the 2011 Census. Canada's total population enumerated by the 2006 census was 31,612,897...
, just 650 people in the entire province identified themselves as being exclusively French-speaking, while 30,545 identified themselves as being of at least partial French descent.
The Port au Port region's current representative in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly
Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly
The Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly is one of two components of the General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador, the other being the Lieutenant-Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Newfoundland and Labrador General Assembly meets in the Confederation Building at St...
, Tony Cornect
Tony Cornect
Tony Cornect is a Canadian politician from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. He represents the district of Port au Port in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party....
, became the first MHA in the province ever to take his oath in French when he was sworn into office in 2007.
Media
Radio-CanadaCanadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
serves the province through rebroadcasters of its stations in other provinces, and does not originate any radio or television programming in Newfoundland and Labrador. CBAFT
CBAFT
CBAFT-DT, branded as Télévision de Radio-Canada Acadie, is Radio-Canada's television service in Atlantic Canada, serving Acadians in the Maritimes and Franco-Newfoundlanders in Newfoundland and Labrador....
, Télévision de Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada is a Canadian French language television network. It is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, known in French as Société Radio-Canada. Headquarters are at Maison Radio-Canada in Montreal, which is also home to the network's flagship station, CBFT-DT...
's station in Moncton, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, airs on transmitters in St. John's, Port au Port, Labrador City and Churchill Falls. CBAF-FM-5
CBAF-FM-5
CBAF-FM-5 is a French-language Canadian radio station located in Halifax, Nova Scotia.Owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation , it broadcasts on 92.3 MHz with an effective radiated power of 91,000 watts using an omnidirectional antenna.The station has an ad-free news/talk...
, Première Chaîne's station in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, has transmitters in St. John's and Port au Port, while Labrador City and Churchill Falls receive the service from CBSI-FM
CBSI-FM
CBSI-FM is a French-language Canadian radio station located in Sept-Îles, Quebec.Owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation , it broadcasts on 98.1 MHz with an effective radiated power of 96,700 watts using an omnidirectional antenna.The station has an ad-free news/talk format...
in Sept-Îles
Sept-Îles, Quebec
For the islands in north of Brittany, see JentilezSept-Îles is a city in the Côte-Nord region of eastern Quebec, Canada. It is the northernmost town in Quebec with any significant population...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. CBAX-FM
CBAX-FM
1In the 1980s, the 101.9 frequency was assigned to the CKO network, which folded in 1989 before the St. John's station had a chance to open.-External links:...
, Espace musique
Espace musique
Espace musique is the French-language music radio service of Canada's national public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation...
's station in Halifax, has a rebroadcaster in St. John's.
The only francophone radio or television service which originates programming in the province is CJRM-FM
CJRM-FM
CJRM-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 97.3 FM in Labrador City. It is a francophone community radio station branded as Rafale FM....
, a community radio
Community radio
Community radio is a type of radio service, that offers a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting. Community stations can serve geographic communities and communities of interest...
station in Labrador City. In 2009, that station applied to the CRTC to add rebroadcasters in La Grand'Terre and St. John's.
A provincewide francophone newspaper, Le Gaboteur, is published in St. John's.
Culture
The community's main political and social organization is the Fédération des Francophones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador.One of the most famous francophone Newfoundlanders was Émile Benoît
Émile Benoît
Émile Joseph Benoît was a Canadian fiddler, who became known for popularizing Franco-Newfoundlander folk music traditions....
, a fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
r from L'Anse-aux-Canards.
Great Big Sea
Great Big Sea
Great Big Sea is a Canadian folk-rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year-old Irish, English, and French heritage...
, a popular folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
band from Newfoundland, included a cover of "Trois navires de blé", a traditional folk song associated with the francophone community of Port au Port, on their 1999 album Turn. Figgy Duff
Figgy Duff
Figgy Duff was a Canadian folk-rock band from Newfoundland. They played a major role in the Newfoundland cultural renaissance of the 1970s and 80s. Formed in 1976 by Noel Dinn, who named the band after a kind of traditional white pudding, Figgy Duff travelled across Newfoundland, learning...
also recorded a number of French folk songs associated with the community, including "Quand j'étais fille à l'âge quinze ans" on their 1980 album Figgy Duff
Figgy Duff (album)
-Track list:# Half Door/Larry's Lancer/Mother On The Doorstep# Rabbits In A Basket# Now I'm 64# The Greenland Disaster# Tinker Behind The Door# Fisher Who Died In His Bed# 4-Stop Jigs# Quand J'Etais Fille A L'Age Quinze Ans# Kissing Dane Medley...
and "Dans la prison de Londres" on their 1982 album After the Tempest, as well as a song titled for Benoît, "Emile's Reels". A volume of Franco-Newfoundlander folk songs, Songs Sung by French Newfoundlanders, was published by Memorial University of Newfoundland
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Memorial University of Newfoundland, is a comprehensive university located primarily in St...
in 1978.
Other notable Franco-Newfoundlanders
- Claude BarratClaude BarratClaude Barrat was a notary and a clerk of the court in Placentia , Newfoundland.A census in 1691 confirms Barrat's presence in the New World and involved in the fishing industry at Saint-Pierre. In 1696, he was appointed notary and a clerk of the court in Placentia by Governor Jacques-François de...
- Émile BenoîtÉmile BenoîtÉmile Joseph Benoît was a Canadian fiddler, who became known for popularizing Franco-Newfoundlander folk music traditions....
, musician - Tony CornectTony CornectTony Cornect is a Canadian politician from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. He represents the district of Port au Port in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party....
, politician - Francois-Gabriel D'AngeacFrancois-Gabriel D'AngeacFrançois-Gabriel D'Angeac , Knight of Saint-Louis, was an officer in the French colonial regular troops and the first French governor of Saint Pierre and Miquelon.-Early years:...
(or Dangeac, Danjaique, Don Jaque), governor - Danny DumaresqueDanny DumaresqueDanny Dumaresque is a Canadian politician. He represented the riding of Eagle River in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly from 1989 to 1996 as a member of the Liberal Party....
, politician