The de Rouville Family

Here, read the transcript of the interview with Charles and Yvon de Rouville and Mathieu Hertel de Rouville, chief and firefighters in the Saint-Eustache Fire Safety Department.

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Charles de Rouville: When Mathieu applied as a firefighter in Saint-Eustache, obviously I wasn’t involved in the selection process. By choice. Because I wanted to maintain the integrity of… that side of things. And I wanted to be sure no one would say later: “Of course you were hired, we know your uncle’s there,” that sort of thing. I wanted him to prove himself. On the other hand, at each step, the first thing I’d ask was “How’s Mathieu doing?” To find out how far he’d got. And when he got through the whole process, obviously, I was super happy. You know, I thought, “Wow! It’s fun to have two generations at the Fire Department.” For me, Mathieu… there are two Mathieus. There’s Mathieu outside of work and there’s Mathieu at the fire hall. At the fire hall, for me, he’s one of the firefighters. Naturally, in the family, a lot of our conversation revolves around the firefighters, I’d say.

Yvon de Rouville: But not about the department.

Charles de Rouville: But not about the department! We talk about the others, we talk in general, but never about the department, that’s true. So, it’s pretty easy. And since Mathieu and Yvon are easy guys to live with, and I hope I’m the same as far as that goes, there aren’t any problems.