MOOSE JAW — A sea of green and yellow will fill downtown Moose Jaw in late March, as the Francophone community holds an annual parade celebrating its culture and language.
The Association communautaire fransaskoise de Moose Jaw (ACFMJ) is hosting the eighth annual on Wednesday, March 26, at 10 a.m. The event starts in Crescent Park at the Athabasca Street East entrance and heads west along several streets to École Ducharme School, with the Moose Jaw Police Service providing an escort.
More than 500 participants from the Francophone community — including students, teachers and residents — will dress in bright colours and use various objects to make noise.
The five city schools that offer French-language instruction or French immersion are École Ducharme (Francophone), École Palliser Heights (immersion), École St. Margaret (immersion), Central Collegiate (immersion) and Vanier Collegiate (immersion). Students from the University of Regina’s La Cité universitaire francophone program will also attend.
Joining this throng will be members of the police service, directors of Moose Jaw’s French-language schools, the director of the Association communautaire fransaskoise and other dignitaries.
Also expected to attend are native French speakers in the community and new immigrants whose first language is French.
“We are excited to let the community of Moose Jaw know that we have a big population of Francophone (people) here,” said Christian Poumeni, the ACFMJ’s community officer. “And we expect to have fun that day and promote the French culture and celebrate our (ability) to learn French and speak French.”
Tintamarre — pronounced tint-a-mare —means racket, uproar or noise. It is a traditional Acadian French parade that brings people together with flags, costumes and various noisemakers. Despite its Acadian origins, Tintamarre now unites all French speakers in Canada.
Canada’s Acadian Tintamarre began in 1955 during ceremonies to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the British expulsion of the Acadians. The expulsion killed thousands of people during Britain’s war against New France in 1755.
During the ceremony in 1955, the archbishop of Moncton, N.B., invited attendees to make noise with whatever they could find; a journalist then described the sound as the heartbeat of French-speaking Canada two centuries after the attempt to extinguish it.
Moose Jaw was the first community in Saskatchewan to hold a Tintamarre, although the event went by a different name for several years, said Poumeni. He could not recall what that name was or when the event first began, only that the name Tintamarre has now been used for almost a decade.
The ACFMJ’s community officer added that Tintamarre is not only for people who speak French, but also for residents interested in learning the language or who attend Francophone activities to celebrate that culture.
Sugar shack dinner
The Association communautaire fransaskoise de Moose Jaw is hosting its traditional French-Canadian Cabane à sucre (Sugar Shack) dinner and dance on Saturday, March 15, at École Ducharme School from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The dinner will feature chicken, potatoes, soup and the always popular — and event focus — maple taffy on snow, with a snow cone machine making the ice.
Meanwhile, Quebec musician Isabelle Mercier will perform afterward.
Tickets were on sale until March 5, but residents still interested in attending the supper — or just the performance — can call École Ducharme School at to inquire about whether tickets are still available.
For more information, visit the ACFMJ’s , , or email .
