You can step into a time machine and experience Maillardville more than a century ago with a walking tour Saturday of Coquitlam’s Francophone enclave followed by a tea.
It was back in 1909 and 1910 that Fraser Mills was looking to add to its workforce for an expanded mill. The company found what it needed but not in Coquitlam. More than 400 French-Canadians from eastern Ontario and Quebec came west to work, some of them bringing entire families across the country.
Maillardville, named after their priest Father Edmond Maillard, was the largest Francophone settlement west of St. Boniface in Winnipeg. It grew even larger when another wave arrived from the prairies in the 1960s and ’70s.
Local historian Maurice Guibord, who is also president of the Historical Francophone Society of BC, will lead Saturday's walk, which starts at 10 a.m., through the neighbourhood that retains a Québécois streetscape in some areas despite assimilation for most of the descendants.
At noon, walkers will be able to partake in a tea in the parlour of Mackin House Museum, built in 1909.
The walk and tea are being put on by Coquitlam Heritage, 1116 Brunette Ave., as part of Historic Places Day in Canada. The cost is $5. Registration and more information are available at coquitlamheritage.ca/eventslist.
