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La Rochelle, Thursday, May 8, 2008
Here we are, in this magnificent place steeped in history, in this year marking the 400th anniversary of the founding of the City of Québec, on the shores of the ocean where explorers like Samuel de Champlain mapped out the first maritime routes that link us today.
So many adventurous people bid farewell to La Rochelle as they set sail for New France, where they were welcomed by the First Nations of America. Those Amerindian peoples are our deepest roots on that continent, which came to be known as the New World.
We have come here today from both sides of the Atlantic to stand on the very place where the great French adventure began in the Americas. To this place so alive with history.
It was such a thrill to salute all of those vessels, with the Belem out in front, which we admired earlier as the flotilla sailed by, as they prepared to set sail for Quebec to commemorate this important chapter in our shared history, a history that brings us together and that continues to inspire us.
It is with emotion and gratitude that we can imagine the hustle and bustle of casting off from La Rochelle that, as early as the 13th century, was a hub of maritime activity, such that poet Richard le Poitevin described it as a new and proud Tyre, before it became the major port for setting sail to Canada.
We can imagine the Tour de la Chaîne growing fainter as vessels head out to sea and the spirit of adventure, like the ocean itself, is set free.
What greater epic than those first crossings, those “new beginnings” in America, to quote Père le Jeune at the time of Samuel de Champlain’s death in the City of Québec.
And this idea of transforming one of the fortified bastions at the mouth of the old port of La Rochelle into a place that will henceforth house a permanent exhibit dedicated to the memory of the French migrants who left for Quebec and New France is inspired.
It is an idea that radiates the same light that the beacons of memory shed across the dark expanse of ocean to guide ships safely home.
By happy coincidence, on the other side of the Atlantic in the City of Québec, we are also restoring one of the first fortifications of the French Regime in the Americas—the Cap-aux-Diamants Redoubt—to house the Grand Livre de Champlain, presented just hours ago to the people of Canada by the cities of La Rochelle, Rochefort and the Agglomération Royan Atlantique.
In this very special year, the ties of friendship and, yes, of solidarity between our peoples on both sides of the Atlantic are stronger than ever; we can rejoice that the spirit of adventure of the pioneers lives on today, making us sisters and brothers in language and culture.
May the legacy of those women and men and that spirit of adventure endure, and may this wonderful exhibit at the Tour de la Chaîne help to remind us, revive us, reinvent us, for generations to come.
Thank you so much for such a warm welcome and for coming out in such great numbers to this rendezvous with history—yours and ours—a history that has forged an unbreakable bond between us.