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Honouring Gaspésians

Black and white studio portrait of the singer La Bolduc. She is wearing a long black dress. She is standing in the middle of the picture, leaning on a chair in the Victorian style, in front of a painted background of classical style.

Photograph

Mary Travers (“La Bolduc”) in “Swing la baquaise”, about 1935

National Film Board

Library and Archives Canada

E002282979

Mary Travers, known was Quebec’s first star chansonnière. Born in the fishing village of Newport, she brought her ear for sound and music to create a rich repertoire of songs that made her the most recognizable voice and performer in Quebec in the 1930s. The life and work of La Bolduc is celebrated in the interpretation centre that was built to honour the memory and songs of this unique performer.

The region’s most famous son only got an interpretation centre dedicated to his life in 2018. René Lévesque grew up in New Carlisle and left the region in 1939 after the death of his father. He was already famous as a war correspondent and journalist when he began his career in politics in 1960 as a minister in the government of Jean Lesage. As a reformer and Premier of Québec, his political and legislative legacy over nearly three decades is remarkable. Volunteers worked for decades to create a new stop on the Gaspé tour, a centre to present Levesque’s life as a journalist, politician and nation-builder.