LA PAROISSE DE DONNELLY, AB (156 ENGLISH)
THE DONNELLY PARISH (# 156 )
During the 1905-1910 years, the Government surveyors had surveyed the land. Before 1911, except for the surveyors, only some hunters, the Indians and the Métis had travelled the land covered by forests and bush. The closest railroad was about 400 miles distance and it followed a very rudimentary route.
Bishop Grouard had often discussed with the surveyors in order to know their opinion about whether or not this corner of the country could be profitable to a group of French-Canadians who would come to settle in a new area. Bishop Grouard, aged 70, had travelled on foot (75 k one way) part of the area to ensure that this region would be advantageous to new settlers.
Upon his return, Bishop Grouard contacted the federal authorities in order to become acquainted with the rules and laws covering homesteaders (those who’d come to take land, to take 160 acres.) Bishop Grouard also chose Father Henri Giroux to recruit as many future settlers as possible. I don’t know for sure, but Bishop Grouard must have been inspired by On High for he could not have chosen a better recruiter than Father Giroux: a man always in good humor; one who talked to everyone; one who could slip in a joke now and then; one who always saw that everyone was well and one who was cordial to everyone. Father Giroux spread his message everywhere: in the streets, in the homes, in the tramways, everywhere possible. His office was on Saint Antoine Street, number 172 in Montreal. Every Friday evening he set out on a recruiting tour of the American cities: Boston, Lowell, Fall River, Woonsocket, Worchester or Lewiston.
Some people felt that Father Giroux liked to praise or to brag about the West. Mrs. Marie-Rose Dandurand told us that in Woonsocket Father Giroux told them clearly that in order to go West, one had to be courageous and have a strong physical constitution. During his campaigns, when he talked the people would get close to him. He was easy to approach; he was always eager to talk to French-Canadians who wanted to know about the Canadian West.
One day in a tramway, the conductor said to him, “You are a foreign priest, a missionary perhaps? From around Morinville?”
“No, farther north, at Lesser Slave Lake. But you know the Morinville area?”
“Yes, I went there with my family because my widowed mother wanted to establish her children. My brothers and sisters are still there. For me? The area did not appeal to me, and now that my mother is dead, I came back here. But I’d like to talk to you about the West.”
“This would please me also. Give me your name and address, and I’ll go to see you.”
“I’m Ovila Sabourin and I live at such and such a number on Saint Denis Street…and you, Father, what is your name?”
“Jean Baptiste Henri Giroux from St, Sebastien, in the diocese of Saint Hyacinth, in the province of Quebec. So, I’ll see you tonight !”
And thus began the beginning of Father Giroux’s recruiting in Montreal.
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| Mgr. Emile Grouard 1840-1931 |
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| Father Giroux 1869-1956 |
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| Ovila Sabourin (1880-1963) |
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