Céline Dion
If you ask a French-Canadian where most of their “cousins” are from, you would assume that they would be in France. The truth is that since contact between France and “Nouvelle-France” became quite rare after 1760 (British Conquest), no one in Québec can claim to have even far, far distant cousins from France. On the other hand, many could easily name cousins in Eastern U.S.A. The relationship between Québec and its American neighbor is quite complex...
Between the mid 1800s and the early 1900s, for various reasons, but mostly because of poverty, many French-Canadians migrated to the states bordering Québec, especially New-England, Maine and New Hampshire, where they would be hired as cheap labor in newly built textile manufactures. Yep, some of my ancestors were illegal immigrants in the US... It is estimated that over 900,000 Québécois crossed the border and this is known in French-Canadian history as “la Grande Saignée” (“the Great [Demographic] Hemorrhage”). Over time, their children would become American citizens by birthright and many "Americanized" their name because an American name can get you an better paid job. Among the most interesting adaptations we have: Boileau => Drinkwater, Courtemanche=> Shortsleeve, Rheault=> Rowe.
My paternal grand-father was born at the very end of the 19th century in Manchester, New Hampshire. In his 20s, he decided to move back to Québec, leaving behind his sisters and cousins. Later, during summer time, my dad would take his wife and kids (including me) to the States to visit those cousins that were still close. Today, for me, these connections have become thin and are fading away, but there are still lots of family ties between Québec and Northeastern US.
Searching Wikipedia, I found hockey players named “Rheault” born in New Hampshire. I have never met them but I am sure we are related. I also found another distant American cousin, Robert Rheault, who made the front page of Life Magazine but not for good reasons. I will let Francis Ford Coppola explain: “After the [Vietnam] war, Francis Ford Coppola, director of the 1979 film “Apocalypse Now” said that the character Colonel Walter Kurtz in the film was loosely based upon Rheault, of whom he had become aware through the 1969 news accounts of the Green Beret Affair.” [Wikipedia] Yikes, not a family member I would to sit beside at the Christmas dinner table...
The American Dream is something all French-Canadian artists have in mind when starting their career. Is the local public good enough ($) or could they get contracts in the US ($$$$$)? Of course, the latter, more tempting option means singing in English (just like ABBA :-)), but learning and mastering a new language is a tall order. Very few French-Canadian artists are able or willing to overcome the language barrier and achieve international status. Céline Dion is one of those rare exceptions.
When most people think of Céline Dion, they have in mind a mature woman with a powerful voice. However, for most people in Québec, including myself, we kept in our memory the image of a sweet teenage singer who is also a good daughter and a good catholic. Céline was born in a family of 14 children and she created her first song at the age of 12 in 1980. In 1984, on September 11th, aged 16, she famously sang “Une Colombe” (“A Dove”) in front of a full Olympic stadium (65k seats) for John-Paul II, who was visiting Montréal in order to re-kindle catholic faith in the city. Later, in 1990, Céline Dion learned English and gradually became the super-star she is today. Of note, because Catholicism teaches its adepts that no one should be above the others, French-Canadians often made mean jokes about Céline’s successes, but today everybody agrees that she was and still is an exceptional person.
So here is “Une Colombe”.
Next week: Léonard Cohen
