A Beiseker author’s first novel explores the complex history of French Catholics in Manitoba and their struggle to maintain their language, faith and educational rights in the late 19th century.
Jeannette Lebleu Richter is the author of Spoiled Heritage – The Manitobans. The novel is set in Winnipeg, Man. in 1882, 12 years after the Métis’ Red River Rebellion and three years before the hanging of Louis Riel.
“When Manitoba became a province [in 1870], one of the things Riel and his Métis were concerned about and wanted to be enshrined in the agreement to join Confederation was that Manitoba should have two official languages, which are French and English, and that the French should have their own schools,” said Richter, who is a distant relative of Riel.
According to Richter, the plot centres on a 16-year-old French Canadian woman from Manitoba who becomes infatuated with her older cousin – an ambitious Catholic who dreams of succeeding within Winnipeg’s largely English-speaking, Protestant business community.
“He is ambitious and very smart, and he wants to make it where all the money is, which is on the English side of the river in Winnipeg,” Richter said.
While the novel is a work of fiction, the setting has several historically accurate elements. Richter said she has spent 20 years researching the history of French Catholics in Manitoba and wanted to incorporate their efforts to resist assimilation into the story.
“I’ve always been interested in this because I’ve always wondered why the French in Manitoba were treated as second-class citizens,” she said.
As a Franco-Manitoban herself, Richter said the story's historical backdrop also has a personal significance. She said she grew up attending a French convent school in Transcona – a suburb of Winnipeg – and she witnessed firsthand the erosion of Franco-Manitobans' language rights.
“I have a memory of this school inspector coming and we all had to hide our French books and the nun had to erase all the French writing on the blackboard and start speaking English," she said. "It always struck me what that was about and it’s made me very interested in minorities.”
Richter said the most challenging aspect of Spoiled Heritage – The Manitobans was teaching herself to write with a novelistic style. While she was a published writer before taking on the project, as well as a member of the Writers' Guild of Alberta, she said her earlier projects were much shorter, like excerpts for the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and contributions to local newspapers.
She said attending a writer's course put on by the Banff School of Fine Arts helped her adapt her writing style.
“I had to bring out the characters and the things they did,” she said. “I also had a lot of stories I’d been told by my parents and friends, and I had to incorporate that by writing a picture story of the scenes – what the weather was like, the animals and flowers and so on. I had to learn how to do that, and I had to rewrite it many times.”
The official launch for Spoiled Heritage – The Manitobans will be held Oct. 26 at the Beiseker Community Hall at 7 p.m., offering people the opportunity to purchase the book in person. According to Richter, the event will comply with Alberta Health Services protocols.
For those who are unable to attend the launch, Richter said the novel is available for purchase online through Chapters, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Richter said she is already working on her second novel, which is set in the 1960s and focuses on the re-establishment of French Canadians’ rights in Manitoba.
Scott Strasser, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @scottstrasser19
