Saskatchewan Cultural Days 2026

June 2026, NOW is the time to plan for Saskatchewan Cultural Days.

My calendar is wide open. We are booking for the fall. 

I speaking to students, of course. But I also present to countless other venues -

 

*Teacher Conferences

*Parent conferences

*Town Hall gatherings (Naicam's 100th anniversary)

*Powwows

*Universities

*Community colleges 

*Of course in both English and/or en français 

My roots in Saskatchewan are deep.

I was born in Quill Lake (in a hospital that no longer exists). My home town of St. Front had no hospital (and still doesn't). 

My Bouchard/Savard Grandparents moved their seventeen children from Quebec to Beauchamp to St. Front. This picture shows my late Father in my Grandmother's arms. My Grandmother was Innu. Not surprisingly, I don't have a picture of all the children together. 

Their first home in Saskatchewan was  Beauchamp (...my Father was born there), a tiny Métis community that no longer exists. This by historian Laurier Gareau.

"Situé dans la région de Spalding, le village de Beauchamp est devenu, en 1904, le berceau de la famille Beauchamp puis plus tard, celui des familles Lemaire et Amery, originaires de France. Beauchamp a également attiré un grand nombre de familles métisses des États-Unis, souligne l’historien Laurier Gareau. C’est notamment le cas des familles Morin, Frachette, Bouchard, Brandamores

 (Brindamour), Lépine, Pilon, Marion, Fortin et Perron." 

'Located in the Spalding region, the village of Beauchamp became the ancestral home of the Beauchamp family in 1904, and later of the Lemaire and Amery families, originally from France. Beauchamp also attracted a large number of Métis families from the United States, notes historian Laurier Gareau. This is particularly true of the Morin, Frachette, Bouchard, Brandamores (Brindamour), Lépine, Pilon, Marion, Fortin, and Perron families." 

In 1955, my parents, sister and I moved to Gravelbourg where I spent my youth among priests, pianos and blowing snow. Looking back, it was a good place to grow up.

 

Three degrees at the University of Regina turned into 17 years teaching in Regina (three of these were in Lahr, Germany). 

As did so many others, I moved to BC where I have lived since 1990. 

And still...the Prairie lives strong in me...

...from my childhood days on the farm...

...to acting in The Trial of Louis Riel...

to years of teaching...

...a short political stint

...all that leading up to the next stage - the West Coast. 

And here I am today constantly talking about the prairie and looking forward to going home. Go figure!