Lecture: The Francophone Ranchers of BC’s Interior Plateau, 1860s-70s

Ernest Patenaude, left, at Harper’s Camp, today the village of Horsefly, near the present-day city of Williams Lake BC, 1896.
(Source – Horsefly Museum)

Event type: In-person
Time and Date: 4:30 pm en francais; 7pm in English. Both on Tuesday, April 15th (doors open 6:30pm for 7pm lecture)
Location: Rotary Gallery of the Courtenay and District Museum
Speaker: Historian Maurice Guibord
Tickets: free admission thanks to a Heritage Canada grant to the SHFCB. Please call to reserve a space as seating is limited. 250-334-0686 ext. 2.

The Société Historique Francophone de la Columbie-Britannique (SHFCB) has conducted onsite research in the Cariboo and the Okanagan on the history of Francophones who launched ranches in those regions in the 1860s-70s, holding oral history interviews with their descendants, and creating from the results a bilingual digital exhibition.

The eight families that became the focus of the project are: Boucherie, Guichon, Isnardy, Lequime, Minnaberriet, Patenaude, Pigeon, and Versepuech / Gaspard.

This presentation focuses on how the descendants of these ranchers contributed to the fabric of BC history.

You will also hear how the Indigenous descendants of these families found their respective places during their historical journeys.

Maurice Guibord has been involved in history and heritage for almost 40 years. His museum experience in the curatorial and programming areas in Calgary’s Glenbow Museum and the Burnaby Village Museum matches his involvement in heritage, cultural and museum organizations in Alberta and BC. He is also a founding director of the Heritage Vancouver Society, and is active with the Vancouver Heritage Foundation and with Radio-Canada as a historical chronicler. He holds a master’s degree in history from Simon Fraser University and is a Sessional Instructor there. He is an active Board member of the BC Historical Federation and is the Executive Director of the Société Historique Francophone de la Colombie-Britannique. He has been a resident of the Lower Mainland since 1990. In 2017, he received the Award of Honour for Francophonie Day by the Province of BC “for his invaluable contribution to the research and dissemination of BC’s Francophone history and heritage”.