Calixte Savoie
Categories: Male Authors - Francophone Authors - Authors of Non-Fiction - Acadian Coast
Biography
Calixte Savoie (born 23 August 1895 at Sainte-Marie-de-Kent, NB) was a Canadian businessman, school principal, teacher, and politician. Considered one of the great Acadian leaders of the 20th century, he was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 1955, where he represented the senatorial division of l’Acadie, New Brunswick as an Independent Liberal.
Savoie attended Saint-Maurice elementary school, Bouctouche high school, and finally attended the Normal School in Fredericton, NB. After receiving his diploma in 1913, he taught in Saint-Anselme, Edmundston, and Sussex before becoming principal of the Vocational School in Edmundston, a position he held for thirteen years. During this time he founded and became editor in chief of the school paper, Le Madawaskaien; completed a Bachelor of Arts from Université Saint-Joseph in 1926; and earned a Masters degree in 1937.
Involved in many causes, Savoie gave 25 years of service to the Société l’Assomption, which he joined as secretary-treasurer in 1926, and became director in 1947. He spent 35 years – including 5 as editor – as a member of the board of directors of L’Évangéline. He chaired a provocative campaign for francisation in Moncton in 1934, was a founding member of l‘Association acadienne d’Éducation (Association of Acadian Education) in 1936, and was president of the organizing committee for the 1955 Acadian Deportation Bicentennial commemorations. From 1955 to 1970 he served as Senator.
After his retirement, Savoie began to write his memoirs, which were published by Éditions Acadie in 1979 as Mémoires d’un nationaliste acadien (Memoirs of an Acadian nationalist). In this work, he critiques Acadia and the elite Acadians who were his contemporaries.
Married to Albertine Soucy and father to 13 children, Calixte Savoie died at Moncton, NB in 1985.
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Literary Prizes |
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| Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Medal | |
| Ordre du mérite cooperatif | |
| Ordre du mérite scolaire de l'Association acadienne d'éducation |
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Featured Publication |
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Mémoires d'un nationaliste acadien (1979) |
Excerpt: Voici comment j’exprime ma crainte. Mettre la langue française sur un pied d’égalité avec la langue anglaise est relativement facile en théorie ou en termes légaux. Mais en pratique? Il faut envisager la question de façon réaliste. L’on proclame sur tous les tons et dans tous les coins du pays que les francophones doivent se sentir parfaitement chez eux partout au Canada et qu’ils doivent jouir des mêmes privilèges et des mêmes droits que leurs concitoyens de langue anglaise. Or ceci est acceptable en théorie; mais, en pratique; ce n’est pas vrai. Si vous parlez en français, essayez donc de vous sentir chez vous à Fredericton, à Saint-Jean, à Saint-Stephen, à Woodstock, à Sussex, à Newcastle…Je ne voudrais pas être radicalement pessimiste. Mais je veux insister sur l’importance d’une lutte continuelle pour cerner et bloquer le processus d’assimilation. Je mets en garde ceux qui se sentent trop confiants et qui seraient portés à un optimisme béat. |
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