As a proud French Canadian, my mother tongue is important to me. Being surrounded by 400 million english speakers, we often forget that other french speaking communities also exist in North America. Reality is that French is all over Canada and much stronger then we can imagine. Hence the reason why I was so happy to be invited to visit the Prairies by the CDEM. This resulted in a short documentary on the French people representing 5% of the Manitoba population. Ouradventure began in Ottawa, driving through Ontario along the Great Lakes. Swimming in Lake Superior is a must as the water is so beautiful, almost pristine!
We arrived in Manitoba right on time for the Winnipeg Folk Fest where we saw many local bands. We got lucky to be there the same night Milky Chance was headlining! After hanging out around Winnipeg visiting the brand new Museum of Civil Rights and the St-Boniface neighbourhood (French part of the city), we made our way to Grand Beach alongside Lake Winnipeg. Our new friend Daniel Koenig from Boost Kiteboarding gave an all-time kitesurfing performance!
After a quick stop at the St-Norbert farmers market, we headed to St-Pierre-Jolys where they have a traditional frog jumping contest! Forty years ago this event started as a rebellion about how English people would call French people frogs. Nowadays it’s mostly a fun family event and we had to participate, right?
We spent the night in St-Malo Provincial Park before driving south to O’Roseau where we met the one and only Georges Beaudry. This one-of-a-kind storyteller bought a huge land by the Roseau River where people are welcome to camp. If you’re in the area you should definitely plan a visit. Ask Georges to play his guitar or to take you rafting on the beautiful river…
Thank you to
CDEM
Tourism Winnipeg
O’Roseau