Welcome to the Encyclopedia of French Cultural Heritage in North America! As you browse the site, you will learn about the heritage of French-speaking North America, as well as about its history and diversity. Get to know the people who preserve and cherish it, discover the places where it finds expression and become familiar with the trends that have shaped and influenced its evolution throughout history.

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Maillardville clock tower, 2007

By Lapointe, Geneviève

Maillardville, a francophone community in British Columbia

For more than two centuries, French-speaking people have been in British Columbia. Francophone members of the Mackenzie and Fraser expeditions crossed the Rockies on the way to the Pacific. Later, voyageurs working in the fur trade settled in various parts of the province over the course of the nineteenth century. From 1909 on, the Maillardville community has been an example of the role played by French Canadians in development of the province. Several hundred of them came to British Columbia, recruited to work in a sawmill on the banks of the Fraser River east of Vancouver. At that ti...

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The English version of the Encyclopedia of French Cultural Heritage in North America is online since December 15th, 2009. It features an ever growing number of articles, documents and resources on the heritage of French-speaking North America.

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Encylcopedia of French Cultural
Heritage in North America

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