French is highlight of reception at UM’s Franco-American Center

ORONO – The launch of a French-language book drive, the showing of a documentary on Franco-Americans’ efforts to preserve their culture and language, and opportunities for people of French descent to speak their native tongue were some of the highlights of a reception Friday night at the University of Maine’s Franco-American Center.

Guests of honor for the event were members of the administrative board of the Conseil de la Vie Francaise en Amerique (Council for French Life in America), an organization based in French Canada.

While in Maine, CVFA board members wanted to strengthen ties with Maine and New England and meet Franco-Americans, and Franco-Americans turned out in full force. At least 70 attended, from as far north as the St. John Valley in the northernmost part of Maine and as far south as Massachusetts.

As is usually the case when Franco-Americans gather, the reception quickly took on a party atmosphere, complete with music, laughter and impromptu genealogy. Mainers and New Englanders of French descent who’d never met greeted each other and the visiting delegation like long-lost cousins, which in many ways they actually are. Communities like Lewiston, Biddeford and Old Town were settled by French Canadians who were part of a mass exodus from Quebec in the 1800s, when many left for work in textile and other mills of New England.

The board’s visit to Orono this weekend included a meeting early Friday afternoon with the Franco-American Center’s Conseil Consultatif Communautaire, a statewide advisory board consisting of Franco-Americans from across the state, as well as the Beauce region of Quebec. The board also will conduct a business meeting here today.

The CVFA, with headquarters in Quebec City, was founded in 1937 to support French-speaking communities in North America, according to board member Pierre La Fleche.

Among its initiatives are scholarships for the study of French-language issues and the Prix Champlain for exemplary French-language literature, poetry and prose.

As part of the organization’s recent efforts to revitalize itself, its leaders decided to make a concerted effort to reach out to French-speaking Americans in Maine, Louisiana and elsewhere.

Last year, the Franco-American Center at the University of Maine was asked to represent Francos of the United States and was given a seat on the administrative board. Yvon Labbe, the center’s director, is the only member of the 12-member administrative board who is from the United States.

During the reception, CVFA representatives launched a campaign aimed at collecting at least 5,000 French-language books for the Franco-American Center, which will in turn distribute them to community groups, libraries and schools, to name a few. There’s a strong likelihood that more books will be collected. The CVFA’s book drive for French-immersion programs in Louisiana last spring yielded 30,000 volumes.

Gordon Kulberg, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, delivered the university’s official welcome, as well as one of the first contributions to the book drive, an 1874 French grammar.

“We’re real proud of the fact that the Franco-American Center is in the college,” Kulberg said. “… We’re also happy that we started the Franco-American studies program.”

For many, a highlight of the evening was a sneak preview of Ben Levine’s documentary, “Waking Up French (Reveil).” The 20-minute portion he showed during the reception featured the St. John Valley’s struggle to preserve its French culture and language and the headway that has been made to that end.

Levine, who produces documentary videos out of Rockport, said the work is still in rough cut form, but that he hopes to have the documentary polished by later this fall.

CVFA officials were intrigued by what they saw. They suggested that a French-language version of the video be developed to help French Canadians develop a better understanding of their counterparts in the United States.