REYNARD, ALEXIS, O.M.I. (128 ENGLISH)
After some correspondence with Bishop Faraud, Brother
Alexis had to leave Fort Chipewyan, Alberta for the Lac-La-Biche mission. He left on June 1 (1875). Louis Lafrance, Métis-Iroquois working for
the missions since about twenty years accompanied him. With them were two
families: Thomas Huppé and Tremblé. The
Sisters of the Nativity of Fort Chipewyan had put the orphan Geneviève Duquette
aged 14 in the care of one of these families; the sisters were sending her back
to the Sisters of Our Lady of Victories at Lac-La-Biche. Once they arrived, Brother Alexis could build
a barge in order to bring the Sisters and their baggage (to Fort
Chipewyan.)
Now that we have mentioned those who were to travel with
Brother Alexis, it would be useful to know more about the Métis-Iroquois, Louis
Lafrance. Some Métis-Iroquois originally from Caughnawaga, near Montreal, after
having worked for the Hudson Bay Company, had settled near Fort Jasper in the
Rocky Mountains. With time, some had gone to settle in the Lac-Ste-Anne
area.
Louis Lafrance belonged to this tribe. It was he whom Father Tissot had met at Fort
Pitt in 1861 and of whom he had written: “Louis Lafrance is not a protestant,
but he is impure!” Once his services with the Hudson Bay Company were over, he
went to join his friends at Lac-Ste-Anne and became a worker for the
missionaries.
He did not stay long at Lac-Ste-Anne after a letter
written by Father Rémas complained about him.
Towards the end of May 1865, Father Caën went to Ile-à-la-Crosse, passing
by Lac-La-Biche and bringing with him, the Iroquois. Both remained at Our Lady
of Victories from June 2nd up to the middle of August. From
Ile-à-la-Crosse, the Iroquois went to La Nativité. From there the Montagnais
from Athabasca or from l’Ile-à-la-Crosse would have said upon seeing him for the
first time, “This man must have killed
someone.” His brutality was known. One
day Bishop Grandin said that his dogs were not walking in a straight enough line
along the beaten path on the snow. He
got angry and with one hit, he split one of his dogs in two from shoulder to the
tail. Then he put the pieces one on each
side of the road to serve as a lesson to the other dogs.
“He is an overly proud man” said Bishop Grandin. “One needs only to praise him to set him
working like four men.” He always wore
good-looking moccasins and he never ever took them off even to sleep. One day he
was given the rite of extreme unction (later known as the sacrament of the sick) ; his moccasins
were removed and everyone noticed that his feet lacked toes; he had once frozen
his feet.
It should be noted that Louis Lafrance was a good guide,
a good hunter and like all the Iroquois from Caughnawaga, very attached to the
Catholic religion like those of Fort Jasper.
ref: Rev. A Philippot, o.m.i.
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