Life on Île au Canot

Excerpt from a radio interview with François-Xavier, where he details his life on Île au Canot.

[François-Xavier Lachance] Ah, my dear sir,  she worked, that mother, many nights, many days and full nights without going to bed, I know that. As many as we were there, it cannot be done otherwise. She was making all the clothes at home to clothe us. All the shirts, the camisoles, the trousers, all that was all done at home. The stockings, knitting the stockings, because we kept fifteen-twenty… twenty sheep, huh?

At six years old, I worked. To plow, to harrow, to dig ditches, there, in the field, to drain the water, all that. At eight, nine, ten years old, I was doing that.

In the winter, when the bridge froze between Isle-aux-Grues and the Île au Canot, so in the winter, there was always some visitors, right? They came to spend the evening, the youths came to spend the evening, and the others went to Isle-aux-Grues, huh? Ah, we spent our time in winter, there was  always, there was always some back and forth, and it was to play cards, it was to dance, and … (laugh).