Maple Sugar Festival celebrates French culture and maple sugar

In the trio (Schryer left, Enblom middle, Dobres right) Enblom jigs, bringing in the mixture of her Métis and Quebecois heritage. She said she is proud to keep this type of performance going and showcasing it at the festival. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm.

The biggest francophone celebration on Vancouver Island kicks off in Nanaimo tonight.

The three-day event is to celebrate French culture, language, food and music. The Maple Sugar Festival is the biggest celebration the Nanaimo Francophone Association puts on every year.

Pauline Maerten is the cultural and administrative coordinator for the Nanaimo Francophone Association.

Maerten said the association is a meeting place for the French community in Nanaimo. They host various French cultural activities and language classes.

This is the 25th anniversary of the Maple Sugar Festival, and she said it was inspired by traditional sugar parties from the eastern regions of Canada. Maerten said food is a big part of the festival as it is used to bring people together.

“Maple syrup is a very important part of Franco-Canadian culture, and I think they'd show that as the main thing in the festival because food is a great way to gather everyone,” Maerten said.

She said the festival is open to all French speakers no matter the background.

“The festival is open to everyone whether it's French-speaking or Francophile,” Maerten said. “We will have West African definition workshops and crepes which are from France and all artists and volunteers come from very different backgrounds.”

The festival is also for those who do not speak French but are interested in the language and culture.

“Everyone is welcome. Even if you don't speak French and you are just interested in discovering new things just come, we are going to feed you and there will be some music so it's always great,” she said.

Maerten said the festival is important for those to pass down French culture in communities in British Columbia where there is a smaller population of French-speaking people compared to the rest of the country.

“So in a multilingual society, like Canada, and particularly in BC, where we are a minority,” Maerten said. “It's important for us to be able to pass on the things that make up our culture for the children who go to French school, or immersion.”

Maerten Also said having a festival like this is important to those new to the community who may only speak French to connect with other French speakers.

“It's important for those who speak French as their first language and those who have language and insecurity in English, to find a safe space where they can meet and in much less dramatic ways,” Maerten said.

CHLY got to go to an early morning performance before the festival started to watch Pierre Schryer with Danielle Enblom and Adam Dobres, who will be performing during the festival this week. CHLY spoke with Schryer and Enblom after their performance. 

This is the second year Schryer has performed at the Maple Sugar Festival and this year he formed a trio with the other two performers. Schryer is a local performer from Gabriola Island and Enblom is a performer who is based between Gabriola Island and Minnesota.

Along with performing at the festival this weekend, the trio has been performing their traditional Celtic and French music and dance at Nanaimo schools this past week. 

 Schryer explained what they do showcases the pride in being French and keeping the culture alive.

“It's like other places that want to keep that spirit of culture, we continue as well as musicians and performers,”  Schryer said. “We continue infusing our shows with French Canadian culture, including the language and also the tunes and the steps as well.” 

Enblom added that there is also beauty in seeing younger people learn about the culture.

“It's such a beautiful opportunity to get to share the joy and the beauty of the culture and the dancing and the music and the language with children and really kind of inspire kids to be proud of where they come from,” Enblom said.

In the trio Enblom jigs, bringing in the mixture of her Métis and Quebecois heritage. She is proud to keep this type of performance going and showcasing it at the festival.

“I love being able to talk about my Métis family heritage and talk about the different kinds of dialects and the different ways you hear French and you hear the mixing with other cultures,” Enblom said. “My family lost our language for a couple of generations, and I feel really proud to be able to learn Michif and to be able to be a part of keeping that part of culture alive. It really connects to French Canadian and shows us how much we're all really connected.”

Schryer said this festival is important to highlight French culture and allow it to be shared with others.

“Tonight, you'll see a lot of families that are probably French Canadian or want to be French Canadian, in a way of their learning language, like the immersions are everywhere,” Schryer said.

Enblom said that although this festival is to celebrate French culture it is also important to celebrate the diversity in the community. 

“I think nowadays, through pop culture, a lot of a lot of things that we experience are very much the same. Being from Minnesota, for instance, we have Swedish and we have First Nations, we have indigenous Ojibwe, we have Dakota, and we have German and French and Polish,” Enblom said. “This opportunity to bring all of these cultures and celebrate just makes all of our lives a lot richer.

The Maple Sugar Festival starts tonight February 23rd at the Beban Park Social Centre and runs until this Sunday, February 25th. The trio will be performing tonight at 7:15 p.m. and tomorrow at 2:20 p.m.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.