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VIDEO: Fort Langley was celebrating cultural diversity before it was ‘populaire’

Sunshine and mild temperatures helped draw hundreds to the historic site’s French Canadian festival.

It was a weekend all about celebrating the cultural diversity of the fur trading fort in Fort Langley more than a century and a half ago.

It was Vive Les Voyageurs, a winter festival spanning two days, and filled with a number of different events, entertainers, and even food paying homage to the French Canadian and Metis cultures, explained Lauren Markewicz, the acting visitor service manager for the Fort Langley National Historic Site.

Given the mild weather – especially compared to the storms currently hitting the eastern section of the U.S. – of the Lower Mainland, large crowds of people turned out to participate in the 10th annual festival, Markewicz explained. More than 800 to be more specific.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT

Stepping in to cover a leave, this was Markewicz’s first time attending such a festival, and she described her captivation with all the various performances including a fiddler and someone else teaching the jig. She found it interesting to learn about some of beading and the costumes of the day, but admittedly one of her favourite features of the winter event was the maple taffy served up fresh from the ice.

“We’re here to celebrate French Canadian and French speaking history and culture,” she said. “We have a lot of different events celebrating French Canadian culture because, of course, here in the fort – the Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading post – we didn’t just speak English. We had a lot of differnet people from all over the world working here in the 1850s.”

Long before the term multiculturalism was part of society’s common vocabulary, the fort was a melding pot for many different nationalities and cultures, including the Hawaiians, Scottish, Metis, and French Canadian, Markewicz said. This weekend’s celebration was for a small segment of the trading post’s population in its day.

RECENT COVERAGE: Métis dancing, maple taffy eating, and more at the Fort

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A bit of fort history

Fort Langley was build by the Hudson’s Bay Company 2.5 miles from its current site in 1827, and moved to the current location in 1839. It burned and was rebuilt in 1840.

As fur resources were exhausted, supply replaced trade as the fort’s major role.

Here, the company operated a large farm, began the West Coast salmon packing industry, and exported produce to ports in Alaska, Hawaii, and other Pacific areas.

Fort Langley was also a terminus of the first practical all-British route from the coast to the Interior. On 19 November 1858, the colony of British Columbia was proclaimed at the current fort site.

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Hudson’s Bay Company’s fur trading post in Fort Langley pays homage this weekend to the French Canadian people who helped operate the fort in its early years. (Roxanne Hooper/Black Press)
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Hudson’s Bay Company’s fur trading post in Fort Langley pays homage this weekend to the French Canadian people who helped operate the fort in its early years. (Roxanne Hooper/Black Press)


Roxanne Hooper

About the Author: Roxanne Hooper

I began in the news industry at age 15, but honestly, I knew I wanted to be a community journalist even before that.
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