1970-1979

Just as the forties and fifties were Maillardville's heyday, the seventies, in some ways, were its low point. The decay that began to set in during the latter part of the sixties, had taken firm root by 1970. The image of Maillardville as a "slum" was etched in most people’s minds. The Maillardville that existed, a visible and real French village and community, had all but disappeared. That is not to say that there were no French people there, but they were now very much in the minority. Language and culture seemed to vanish! It is an amazing phenomenon of this decade that good wishes and help came from many quarters, some of them surprising and unexpected.

The world at large continued to advance as new technologies, brought about largely by the American space program, set our lives upon an inexorable journey into the digital future. It was also the time of René Levesque, the Parti Quebecois and separatism, the FLQ and the October Crisis. Pierre Trudeau led Canada upon the path of multi culturalism and established a policy to create a truly bilingual Canada. The loss of the PQ in the 1970 election was met with relief here, perhaps not more so than in most other parts of the Country. This headline appeared in the Columbian April, 1970:

"In Maillardville--Relief French speaking residents of Maillardville breathed a strong sigh of relief Wednesday night after Quebec overwhelmingly voted for a united Canada. Said Jean Lambert, western regional commissioner for 1000 French speaking boy scouts, "If they'd gone for separatism, pity us poor French Canadians here. Reaction from English speaking people would probably have been-if you want to speak French go back to Quebec." he said. Napoléon Gareau, Vancouver commissioner for the boy scouts, said people had already "slammed" him before the election. Some said maybe when the election is over you'll be sent back to Quebec. How could I do that?" Gareau protested. "I'm a westerner by birth."

The bilingual policy of the federal government, however, did open the door to new opportunities for linguistic revitalization and resulted in a heightened interest in preserving and building of the French culture. Much of that interest came from the English speaking majority. The French "immersion" program was launched at Alderson School in 1968, largely with the francophone families at Maillardville in mind. It got off to a rocky start, and was reduced to partial French instruction when it was discovered that few children, even from Maillardville, had any functional ability to speak the language. In 1971 and '72, the program sputtered and was even threatened with closure. But the persistence of the Anglophones and with financial help from the Federal Government, new life was breathed into it. By 1978, the Provincial government announced the French "core" program that would be made available to any community who could produce a minimum of ten applicants. This early program had certain eligibility requirements including: "a student must be classified a francophone. He must have a reasonable understanding of French, no matter what his grade level and have one parent with French as his native tongue." Coquitlam had more than enough applicants and the rest, as we say, is history.

Douglas College also had Maillardville in mind when it announced a new course being offered in September of 1970:

"New Course Tailored To Maillardville Douglas College, the Lower Mainland's own regional college, will be offering a course on the Social-Intellectual history of Quebec. Tailored to the needs of the community of Maillardville, the course will be taught by Charles Curmi, a French Canadian instructor whose 20 years residence in Quebec has sensitized him to the needs and aspirations of the French Canadians. The prime object of the course will be to modify some prevalent stereotypes of Quebec, create a better understanding of its history, culture and traditions."

No doubt Douglas College saw this as a timely offering in the light of possible Quebec separation from Canada. In 1973, that institution also considered opening a branch in Maillardville that would be bilingual: "Bilingual Arm High Priority "Establishment of a French/English arm of Douglas College in Maillardville would mean more to the area than redevelopment of any other nature." says Coquitlam Aldermanic candidate Charlie Filliatrault, "This would give young people something to start with, a reason to stay in Maillardville."

Even the local Army Cadets considered establishing a bilingual troupe in Maillardville to be based at Millside School. It was a great loss for the French community that these initiatives were not realized. Even Coquitlam's newest paper, the Enterprise, wanted to help. Located on Brunette Avenue, it reported regularly on events and concerns in Maillardville. For a time it allotted considerable space to French activity and printed a number of French language articles and editorials in a section called "Içi Maillardville". In its inaugural article the name of the column is explained: "The older among us will remember that that during the years 1965 through 1967, there existed a variety show known as "Içi Maillardville ". Les "Maillardvilliens" had three very appreciated concert evenings in the troupe's short existence. Their pianist was Anita Comeau, under the direction of Mme. Pierrette Paquette."