Instead of spending the summer of 1964 in
Jersey, I chose to make a pilgrimage to the
Gaspé area. My brother, Sydney, who lived in that region in his youth (he
is now established in Ottawa), came with me on this trip
because he wanted to renew old acquaintances.
Ah! The Gaspé Coast! A country that still can thrill my old Jersey
heart. I had heard so much about the Coast, all through
my youth in Jersey, that I decided that, now an old man, I
would visit this country, long witness to the serenity,
the efforts and miseries (and the joys, for sure) of
so many Jersey men and women, born in Jersey, but now residing
along the beaches of the Gaspé Coast and at the foot of its mountains.
For many Jersey-born, the Gaspé Coast was also the end of the
road, their ashes integrated to the sacred earth of
the cemeteries, alongside their churches.
Others were born on the Coast, and, although they were Jerseymen at hearth
and by parental links, they worked
and lived and eventually were put to rest on the Coast,
without ever having
seen Jersey. In many cases, their children and grandchildren
also spent their whole life on the Coast. And, having very
little Jersey women around, a good number were married
to French Canadian women and, losing their Jersey identity
and characteristics,
became real French Canadians, in everyway but the name.
Jersey French was heard more often than English or French, in many
villages of the Gaspé Coast,
especially from Rivière-au-Renard, in the north,
to Paspébiac in the south, and even further right down to the small
town of Bonaventure where a true Jerseyman can still be
found : his name is Douglas Barette and he owns a general
store. About twenty old Jerseymen still use our beautiful
old Jersey French, in Gaspésie. Which amounts approximately
to the number of Jersey born who still live on the Gaspé
Coast. Their children do not speak Jersey French. The same
goes for Jersey, where our young people speak English.
The French Canadians' Gaspé peninsula, the Coast to Jerseymen, is
part of the province of
Québec. I am often asked if the Gaspé Peninsula is bigger than Jersey. Well! I
can easily answer: yes! The north and east part of the peninsula
are mountainous formations called the Shikshoks, the
north-eastern end of the Appalachian mountain range. The
name Shikshok comes from an Indian word, a Micmac
word meaning "steep and rocky".
Of a mean height of 3300 feet, the Shikshoks are imposing and look
down on the Saint-Lawrence River and Gulf. To the south, the
slopes gentle down towards the Baie des Chaleurs. I can't
tell you how this bay came to be named that way : I have
often had the opportunity of swimming in it and always found
its waters cold. The weather is beautiful during summer,
but it is excruciatingly cold in winter. Curiously enough,
Sub-Arctic flora can be found on high plateaus!
Generally speaking, the Gaspé peninsula starts, on the north side,
with the village of Sainte-Flavie, 200 miles north
of the city of Lévis, situated directly opposite Québec
City, on the other side of the Saint-Lawrence river. From Sainte-Flavie, the
road runs towards the north-east, following the Saint-Lawrence,
for some 230
miles, to Grande Grève, et from there, it turns directly southwards, to Percé. Driving
west, to the Matapédia Valley, there is roughly another
240 miles. The
Matapédia Valley is the western limit of the Gaspé Coast and spreads
over 98 miles from the city of Matapédia back to Sainte-Flavie, on
the northern side.
Very nearly 165 miles in length and 87 miles
wide, the Gaspé peninsula covers roughly 9,000 square miles. The
sea and vast forest areas give work to a population of
140,000 people who live mostly on the side of the road that runs along
the coast and, of course, in the Matapédia Valley.
The nice little town of Gaspé (1,700 inhabitants), built at the
foot of the mountains on the side of Gaspé Bay, on the eastern
limit of the peninsula, is well known because it is
there, at the end of its harbour, that, on July 24 1534, the
French explorer Jacques Cartier, born in Saint-Malo, took
possession of Canada in the name of the King
of
France. Setting foot on the land, he dug a hole to hold the base of
a 30 foot high wooden cross decorated with three fleurs-de-lis. Today,
a high and beautiful cross made of stone can be seen on the same site, elevated
to commemorate the 400th anniversary of that faithful event. In September 1758, General Wolfe
destroyed the buildings on the bay of Gaspé, and it can be said that this
pillage marked the beginning of the war that led to the
loss of Canada to England.
I will now talk to you about the Jersey men and women who still
live in the Gaspé Peninsula, and I will give you the names
of many who have passed away there, and whose names can
be read on their tombstones.
George Francis Le Feuvre
Jersey
