KAMOURASKA, QUE.—You see them everywhere across the country. They might be in the local Tim Hortons, an independent coffee shop in the middle of town, a social club, a shopping mall, or, as in Kamouraska, down by the wharf.
They are the faithful, the friends, the former work colleagues, the civic-minded, some politically engaged, some not, who gather to discuss the issues of the day. It could be for breakfast or lunch, or an afternoon coffee break. I have joined many of them in their conversations in both official languages. Once, the other four people in the booth at the Smitty’s in Saskatoon were wearing their Order of Canada pins.
In Kamouraska, there was a group who congregated at a picnic table near our local wharf in the summer and at the “warm-up” space of the local outdoor rink in winter. We called it “le Sénat (the Senate).” It was not meant in a pejorative way, but as a description of a gathering of our older citizens. The group would meet each day around 4 p.m.
The Senate would thrash out the issues of the day, and gossip a bit after an hour or so, and then adjourn to meet the next day. I would see my Anctil neighbours—brothers Jean-Guy, David, Gilles, and Georges—walk down to the wharf to join their friends, or as I was lacing up my skates in winter. Then, over time they no longer walked, but drove to the rink or the wharf. Then Gilles, Jean-Guy, and David died, and last month, Georges joined them at the age of 94.
For Georges, the conversations offered a chance to connect with his friends and his brothers. His daughter Dominique recently talked to me about him and his long, but not easy, life. A child of the Great Depression, he was one of 13 born to his father Leo, a ship captain, and his mother Marguerite. Georges quit school to work on the family farm and cut pulpwood in the winter. He later joined his father and his brothers on the waters of the St. Lawrence in the “goélettes,” schooners that would dock at the wharf in Kamouraska on their way to the pulp mills downriver.
The era of the goélettes and the wharf faded with the construction of the Trans-Canada Highway in the 1970s, and the use of logging trucks. Georges took his experience to the ships of the Great Lakes, working for Paterson and Sons of Thunder Bay, Ont., for 25 years, mostly on a freighter called the “Kingdoc.” He had a good grasp of English, although we always conversed in French. Despite the time away from Kamouraska, he and his wife Denise had two children and were married 43 years until she died in 2005.
When he retired from the ships, he continued to work into his late 70s for the town of Kamouraska, and for a local potato grower. Georges had an incredible memory, and read voraciously, so the time spent at the Senate was a chance to listen to the opinions of the others.
“He didn’t say too much,” said Dominique, “but if someone said something that didn’t seem right, he would come back the next day with the correct information, having done his research.” He talked to his family about the boats he worked on, and the places he travelled in Canada and the United States. He was a huge hockey fan, and whenever he had a chance, would go to a Canadiens game in Montreal or elsewhere.
Georges was from a family that had a pride and a willingness to work as part of their DNA. My parents respected them enormously, and when the Anctils were children, my great-grandmother and great-aunts doted on them. Now they are fading away, and the stories and memories with them.
At 4 p.m. the other day, I went down to the wharf. There were plenty of tourists from across Quebec and Canada, and the voices of children on the beach echoed across to the picnic tables. There were a few adults having a drink, but there were no “Senators” discussing the events of the day. After several decades of debate, discussion and gossip, our “Senate,” sadly, is no more.
Andrew Caddell is retired from Global Affairs Canada, where he was a senior policy adviser. He previously worked as an adviser to Liberal governments. He is a town councillor in Kamouraska, Que. He can be reached at pipson52@hotmail.com.
The Hill Times