WELLINGTON (PEI), March 29, 2024 – On March 28, 2024, at the Centre acadien de Prince-Ouest, in Tignish, the PEI French Health Network presented the honorary Étoile Santé 2024 award to the Club des Coeurs Joyeuxfor their exceptional contribution to the well-being of the West Prince community.
What is the Club des Coeurs Joyeux?
Created in 2007 by the Rév. S.-É.-Perrey Council (Francophone school-community center) , the Club des Coeurs Joyeux brings together Francophone and Acadian seniors aged fifty and over from the West Prince community, and works to break the isolation of the region’s seniors.
According to Monique Arsenault, director of the center: “We felt there was a need in our community for a group of francophone seniors. We wanted to reach out to seniors who have kept their French language. To have a program. We didn’t expect what we have today, but it’s fantastic. “
For Fréda Bénard, President of the Club, and a member since its inception, the aim of Les Coeurs Joyeux is “to keep older people busy. It does them good, they get out, they come to meetings, they come to activities.”
Bolstered by its popularity, with more than a hundred members, the Club offers a multitude of activities: cornhole bean bag toss games, painting, bowling, music, cribbage, theater, candle and hooked rug making. The Club also regularly organizes outings to different parts of the island, as well as group visits to various long-term care facilities in the region, to engage in activities with the residents.
For Suzanne Chaisson and her mother, Olive Gagné, the Club des Coeurs Joyeux is not only about activities, but also a place where you can be yourself. According to Suzanne: “The Coeurs Joyeux is a place where older people can all get together. We’re such a small part of the island that almost everyone knows everyone else. It’s like one big family. And they have fun. We laugh. It’s really a place to be comfortable, at ease and share ideas. Also do things that maybe we wouldn’t normally do if we were at home. It keeps us engaged.”
“It keeps us young at heart,” adds Olive.
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Suzanne Chaisson & Olive Gagné, members of the Club des Coeurs Joyeux.
For Marie Arsenault, this sense of extended family, so prevalent in the West Prince region, is also what sets the Club apart: ” We’re all sisters when we’re together there . We’re all a big happy family. If you don’t know us, you will know us as soon as you walk in there.” The same sentiment is echoed by her sister, Anita Tremblay, for whom, what makes the Club so strong is its people, its members, their different histories and the pleasure they have in being together.
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Janet Arsenault, Marie Arsenault & Anita Tremblay, members of the Club des Coeurs Joyeux
How important is it to have a Francophone club in the West Prince community?
According to Conseil Rév. S.-É.-Perrey director Monique Arsenault, it’s important to have a French-speaking club in the West Prince community because “before the 1960s, everyone spoke French. Then, the government came, closed the small schools and amalgamated them into English-speaking schools. Many families lost their language. For our elders to have continued to keep their French, it’s really showing to the whole community, to our school and pre-school families, that French is still strong, is still alive.” Therefore, for Monique: “It’s really because of them that we were able to have education in French as well as the community school center.”
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Fréda Bénard, President of the Club des Coeurs Joyeux
Fréda, too, feels it’s very important to have a Francophone club: “Because for me, French, there’s nothing to beat that. You know, most of the families around here were all raised in French. But they don’t speak French anymore. And when they come here (to the Club), they like to speak French. But they’re a little shy.”
For Anita, who hadn’t spoken French for over thirty years, the Club des Coeurs Joyeux helped her rediscover the language she thought she’d lost.
“We’re part of a community where people need to know that there are Francophones in the region and that we have our place too,” says Suzanne. For her, if “you don’t use your language, if you’re not comfortable using it, you’re not going to use it. The Club is a place where you can feel comfortable speaking French. Without feeling judged. It’s very important, it’s like the school. It goes hand in hand.”
To ensure that the community keeps its French, in the years to come, Monique Arsenault, reminds us of the importance of having a club like the Coeurs Joyeux, whose members do activities for families, for the young and not so young, and share their love of the French language. “It’s fun to speak French. It’s okay to speak French, you have to be proud. They’re really proud of their language and their Acadian community,” she concludes.
What impact does a club like Les Coeurs Joyeux have on the community?
As well as doing activities for their club members, the Coeurs Joyeux like to help others in the community, according to Monique Arsenault. Indeed, when planning projects or organizing activities, they often think of other groups in the community with whom they could collaborate.
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Monique Arsenault, Director of the Rév. S.-É.-Perrey Council
Members of the Club des Coeurs Joyeux regularly visit residents of the region’s long-term care facilities, proposing activities and helping them maintain a link with the French-speaking community. Whether at Maplewood Manor, in Alberton; Margaret Stewart Ellis Home, in O’Leary or at Tignish Seniors Home, they always bring with them their joie de vivre, support and unwavering sense of humour.
In 2022-2023, for example, the Club held 14 activities at Maplewood Manor alone. All this is possible thanks, among other things, to the support of the PEI French Health Network, funds from the New Horizons for Seniors program, and their close collaboration with staff at the various facilities.
For Olive Gagné: “The Coeurs Joyeux, I think they help a lot of people. We help seniors a lot. Even though we’re seniors ourselves, we help a lot. We go to the manors. We do activities with them. A lot of them are a lot younger than us. We like that.”
The Coeurs Joyeux also do fundraising activities and, during the pandemic, organized special deliveries to seniors and singles in their community to hand out activity kits and make short visits.
More recently, members of the Coeurs Joyeux attended musical events and celebrated Valentine’s Day with residents of Maplewood Manor and the Tignish Seniors Home. Fréda tells us: “We went to Alberton and then to Tignish. We made Valentines with them. Then we brought a tree, and they put their valentines in the trees. “
For Shelaine Gallant, Bilingual Project Manager at Maplewood Manor, the visits from the club members to the long-term care facilities have a positive impact on the health of the residents: “Whether it’s physical health, mental health, social health as well. It’s had such an impact to have members of the community join us here at Maplewood. Especially members of the Francophone community, who ensure that there’s continuity in the Francophonie. I think it’s really nice. Just socializing. I think it’s had a big overall impact on the residents.”
The club also organizes activities with students from the Pierre-Chiasson School and children from the Early Years Centre L’Arc-en-ciel. For Monique Arsenault, these types of intergenerational gatherings are very important, both for the seniors and for the young people who take part: “For the seniors, it’s important because they love it, they feel good. They want to share their knowledge and resources with young people. They do a lot of activities, but they also just like to have fun with the young people. They’ve already done bowling activities, they’ve done workshops on how to make butter. They want to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. Young people like that too. I think it’s also a seed planted for our young people. They see our people in the community speaking French. It’s not just within the walls of the school where French is spoken, but also outside. They learn that anywhere they can continue to speak their language.”
What is a coeur joyeux (cheerful heart)?
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Fréda Bénard with a resident of Maplewood Manor
According to Claude Blaquière, outgoing community co-chair of the PEI French Health Network, a coeur joyeux “is someone who is very empathetic and dedicated to serving the members of his
community. I think a coeur joyeux, he’s really satisfied to see what he can bring to his community. And also even with each other, when they do activities together, they work together, they communicate together, so it gives them a certain joy, a certain satisfaction.”
For Shelaine Gallant: “It’s someone of good will, someone who’s committed to its community. Who shows empathy and passion and wants to help bring a little more joy into the lives of those around them.”
According to Marie and Janet, it simply means “your heart is full”. Fréda, Suzanne and Olive, for their part, define a coeur joyeux as someone who is cheerful, jovial, happy to be with others and who laughs a lot.
For Monique Arsenault, all members of the Club des Coeurs Joyeux are fun to meet and always in a good mood. She concludes by saying, “They chose a very good name for their club.”
It is for their commitment and exceptional contribution to the well-being of the West Prince community that the PEI French Health Network wanted to honour the Club des coeurs joyeux, by presenting them with the honorary Étoile Santé award.
In the words of Claude Blaquière, outgoing community co-chair of the Health Network: “This award reflects not only the dynamism of the Club des Coeurs Joyeux and its members, but also of the West Prince community, which is very dynamic as well”.
The PEI French Health Network wishes continued success to the Club des coeurs joyeux, which is, in the words of Monique Arsenault, Director of the Rev. S.-É.-Perrey Council: “An inspiration to everyone in our community. The people who have been there since the beginning have really built a wonderful club, with a strong base, and I think they’ll be able to continue for many years to come. The future is bright.”
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The PEI French Health Network is a non-profit organization that collaborates with various partners in order to improve access to quality French-language health services and programs for Prince Edward Island’s Acadian and Francophone population. The organization brings together representatives from target community groups, educational facilities, health professionals, health service managers and the provincial government. It is also one of 16 networks that make up the Société Santé en français.
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