Tags
Antoine Gérin-Lajoie, Canada, Expulsion of the Acadians, French Canadian, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, McCord Museum, Montreal Canadien
- Façade of the Church at Saint-Eustache, by Lord Charles Beauclerk, 1840
Lord Charles Beauclerk (1813-1842) (below) Photo Credit: Musée McCord, for both illustrations Both paintings are ink and watercolours and are available as lithographs at the McCord Museum. The Battle of Saint-Eustache (information)
Un Canadian errant
We do not know who wrote the music to which the text of Un Canadien errant (“A Wandering Canadian”) was set. However, we know that the words were written in 1842 by Antoine Gérin-Lajoie after the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1836–38 and Lord Durham’s Report. The “patriotes” lost their Bas-Canada. It was their country.
Gérin-Lajoie wrote the words to this song while taking his classical exams at the Séminaire de Nicolet. Successful candidates could enter a “Grand Séminaire” and become priests. With this diploma, it was also possible to study law and medicine.
Un Canadien errant has become an unofficial patriotic anthem for French Canadians. It has been appropriated, in a perfectly legitimate manner, by the Acadians who were exiled in 1755. Their deportation is often called, the Great Upheaval, le Grand Dérangement. The Acadian version of Un Canadien errant is Un Acadien errant.
Un Canadien errant is also the unofficial anthem of all those of have been sent into exile, including African-Americans who were taken away from their country, never to return.
History has given the citizens of the world many reasons to bemoan cruelty, man’s cruelty to man (here the word man includes women and children). These are events we bemoan, but one does not seek revenge. In fact, even retaliation is dangerous because it may fuel a conflict.
Acadians have a more powerful “literary homeland” because Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882), an American, was motivated to write Évangéline (1847). Évangéline is a real person in the mind of Acadians, which seems perfectly acceptable. There were many Évangélines who were separated from the man they loved. People were put in different boats, separating not only couples but entire families.
Related posts: The Voyageur Mythified Évangéline & the Literary Homeland (cont’d) Évangéline & the Literary Homeland La Corriveau: A Legend The Aftermath: Krieghoff’s Quintessential Quebec The Aftermath: Aubert de Gaspé’s Anciens Canadiens ← Related Article: The Tragedy of Politics Overcomes Two Lovers, PRWeb Un Canadian errant (N. B. Paul Robeson sings a bilingual arrangement of Un Canadian errant) 1) Un Canadien errant, Banni de ses foyers, Parcourait en pleurant Des pays étrangers. A wandering Canadian, Banished from his hearths, Traveled through[,] while weeping[,] foreign countries. 2) Un jour, triste et pensif, Assis au bord des flots, Au courant fugitif Il adressa ces mots: One day, sad and pensive, Seated at the edge of the floods, To the fugitive current, He addressed these words: 3) “Si tu vois mon pays, Mon pays malheureux, Va, dis / dire à mes amis Que je me souviens d’eux. “If you see my country, My unhappy country, Go say to my friends That I remember them. 4) “Ô jours si pleins d’appas Vous êtes disparus, Et ma patrie, hélas! Je ne la verrai plus! “O days so full of charm[s] You have disappeared, And my fatherland, alas! I will see it no longer! 5) “Non, mais en expirant, Ô mon cher Canada! Mon regard languissant Vers toi se portera…” “No, but while expiring, O my dear Canada! My longing look toward you will go…”
Nana Mouskouri has also recorded this song. It’s a very beautiful interpretation. To hear her version, just click on her name.
Back View of the Church at Saint-Eustache (Please click on the image to enlarge it.)
I came across this blog through having a weekly google alert about Paul Robeson.
As a British born son of a Canadian, I am actuely aware of the lack of knowledge here in UK of Canadian history and its inter-actions with Britain. One of my interests is in trying to find more about the radical support for the 1836-38 rebellion e.g. that organised by Augustus Beaumont, who gave up being radical candidate and newspaper owner in Newcastle-upon-Tyne to organise support for the rebels. I am also keen to find out the background of the Halifax born Black Canadian Margaret Archer, Mayoress of Battersea (1913/14), wife of the black activist John Archer. No one has found her maiden name, nor her death certificate, so previous attempts by researchers in Canada have hit a brick wall. Congrats overall on the blog site coverage.
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Your questions are fascinating. I have written blogs on the 1836-37 rebellions, but I am returning to the subject using the French entries.
For 22 years, I taught at St. Francis-Xavier University and got to meet members of Nova Scotia’s black population. They have been in Nova Scotia for about 200 years and are considered indigenous citizens of the province, which they are. I remember attending one of their meetings.
Let me look at this because I want to be precise, but I am at least familiar with what you are interested in.
Thank you for writing to me.
Best,
Micheline
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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries there was an exodus of the rural poor from Quebec to the New England states of the USA. In many cases they lived in squalid tenements built next to the “dark satanic mills” of William Blake’s imagination. ‘Un Canadien Errant’ was also sung among these Franco-Americans and with good cause. There is an article I read about this Diaspora in New England written in the 1890s and the author hears a young French-Canadian boy singing this song and he quotes the lyrics in his article. Both the boy and the author knew how poignant it was. In fact, the French-Canadian Diaspora in New England began after the disappointments of 1837-8 so this song as a Franco-American anthem is indeed fitting.
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Micheline, my dear, again an excellent post. Thank you so much. be blessed with happiness! big hugs, Stefania! 🙂
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Thank you Stefania. That song is very special to a lot of people. Nana Mouskouri sing it on YouTube. Both she and Robeson sing it as it should be sung.
Big hugs,
Micheline
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