History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 273

THE BELGIANS OF SOUTH-CENTRAL MANITOBA
Based mainly on the text by Marcel Haegeman, Swan Lake - 1994
The first group of Belgians who immigrated to Manitoba arrived at St. Alphonse,
Manitoba in the spring of 1888 to take up homesteads. Individual immigrants had
arrived earlier, but it is believed these were the first to come as a group.
There is speculation as to who was responsible for their coming. The Catholic Church
had sent agents to France, Belgium and Switzerland to encourage French-speaking
Catholics to settle in Manitoba. At the same time, agents from the Canadian
government were touring the agricultural areas of Europe looking for prospective
immigrants, and trying to settle them in areas of Manitoba that were similar to where
they lived in Europe. It would seem that both parties were equally successful, for the
church had their French-speaking Catholics. and the district around St. Alphonse was
almost identical to the Ardennes region of southern Belgium, from whence most of the
newcomers had emigrated. Even the few Flemings ithat came from a district in the
west-central part of Belgium known as the "Flemish Ardennes". felt at home because
the rolling wooded countryside there was similar to that to which they had come in
Manitoba. Both the church and the government wanted agricultural settlers, and had
decided that this area in Manitoba would be suitable for the mixed farming to which
the Belgians were accustomed.
The French-Canadians who were already homesteading in St. Alphonse in 1883
welcomed the newcomers with whom they shared a language and religion, as even
the newcomers with a Flemish background spoke French. [Others such as Emile
Lebrun and his son Eugene came from the French-speaking part of Belgium.
The French-Canadians opened up their homes to the settlers, and gave them
temporary lodging until they got settled in their own homes. [Some Belgian immigrants
were unhappy with the winter weather and other things not to their liking and would
have gone back but they did not have the money for the fare back to Belgium.3 A
related story is that of Isador Van De Spiegle who farmed a few years near Bruxelles
and then moved to St. Boniface where he had an industrial accident in a mill. On
recovery he was offered another job or a lump sum as compensation. He accept the
money and moved with his family back to Belgium in December 1930. His oldest
daughter Leona return to Belgium with the family but was unhappy there and at the
age of 57 years in 1971 returned for a visit. Because she had been schooled in
English she was popular in Belgium but was never happy there. When she died in
January 2000 in Belgium a Canadian flag was flown at her funeral.
Although building materials were available in the villages of Cypress River, Holland
and Swan Lake, the newcomers built their first homes of logs mostly for economic
reasons, but also because of their availability. A French-Canadian family owned a saw
mill, and poplar logs could be brought there to be sawn into lumber for cabin roofs.
The one advantage poplar lumber had was that it could be used immediately after
sawing, as it did not shrink while drying. The settlers were advised to use it as soon as
possible, for the French-Canadians said "so that when it warp it warp straight". Within
a few years a Belgian family also owned a sawmill, so eventually more lumber than
logs was being used for building.
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