Professor was a prominent francophone voice
Professor was a prominent voice in the francophone community
When Marc Motut thinks of his dad, a picture comes to mind.
After dinner was cleared, Roger Motut would assemble the children around the kitchen table. While smoking a big cigar, he would help with their French homework, encouraging them with a combination of storytelling and practical support. Though Motut, a prominent member of the French-Canadian community in Edmonton, was frequently out — at meetings, or travelling to Ottawa to promote the French language and culture — his children remember that whenever he was home, he was available.
“He was warm, sensitive and compassionate, brilliant in his way and committed to his values, especially around the French-Canadian culture,” says his son, Pierre Motut, one of six children born to Roger and his wife, Jeanne.
Motut died Feb. 6 at the age of 95, within six months of the passing of Jeanne.
The two were married for 67 years and spent their last few years together living in the same room at the Salem Manor extended-care centre in Leduc.
Motut began his career as a professor of romance languages at the University of Alberta in 1958, retiring in 1982. During his time at the U of A, he held positions as chairman of romance languages as well as assistant dean of arts. His resumé was peppered with numerous French cultural awards, including the Order of Francophonie of America and Les Palmes Academiques-Republic of France. Serving two terms as the president of the French-Canadian Association of Alberta, Motut was instrumental in bringing French-language television to the province.
He was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1979, and was recognized with a Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013.
Motut was born in Hoey, Sask., on July 21, 1917. His parents had moved to the Prairies from Bordeaux, France, five years earlier, and Motut always treasured his French roots. He was as interested in his European background as he was in the French-Canadian community, although he was particularly passionate about Louis Riel, recalls son Bob Motut.
“I learned a lot from dad about Louis Riel, and he was interested in the Métis,” says Bob. “Eventually, I became a history major at university because of dad. He liked to refer to historical figures from France, those stories fascinated him … and so we heard stories around the table about Napoleon and (Charles) de Gaulle.”
A consummate storyteller, Motut’s talent for tales showed up in the university lecture hall, where he was popular with students.
“Former students of dad were always influenced by them, they loved his classes, his stories … whatever narrative he was sharing was aligned with the course work,” says Bob. “He had a way of delivering the message that was special. I could be in a store and someone would see my last name and ask, ‘Was your father Roger Motut? Oh, he was my professor and I just loved him.’ ”
Though his academic career featured significant achievements, it began humbly enough in Bonnyville, where Motut began teaching at the Catholic high school in 1947.
It was a hardship posting in some ways; Bob remembers that his mother chafed at running a home that lacked indoor plumbing, but offered a surfeit of mice. The house was so cold in the winter there was frost on the children’s’ blankets at naptime. Eventually, the local school authorities loaned the family the money to build a better home, and the Motuts remained in Bonnyville until 1953, when Motut landed a job teaching high school in St. Albert. There, the growing family — including Bob, Yolande, Mariette and Pierre — lived in a tiny basement suite. Though he worked full time and was an active father, Motut pursued a master’s degree on a parttime basis. Bob remembers his father sitting in a corner of the basement suite, typing away, surrounded by a clutch of burbling, busy children.
“He had a strong capacity to block out interfering noise,” says Bob.
In later years, while working on his PhD, Motut was known to disappear for study periods into a tiny trailer in the backyard of the family home. When he and Jeanne retired to an acreage near Lake Eden, Motut used a restored chicken coop for his office.
The family moved for several years to Langley, B.C., where Motut taught school to be closer to the University of Washington in Seattle, where he studied toward his PhD during the summers.
In 1957, the family packed a U-Haul and moved to Seattle for a year to facilitate his studies. Jeanne often told the story of their move to Seattle, which was hectic and full of heavy lifting. She was newly pregnant with the couple’s fifth child at the time, and showed signs of a miscarriage, so sat still as a stone on the car ride to the United States. Luckily, Marc was later delivered safe and sound, to be followed by the couple’s last child, Renee.
The family notes that Jeanne’s commitment to her husband’s career made it possible to keep things going during difficult times. In 1968, Motut went to France to study during a university sabbatical year.
“We missed him so much,” recalls Marc. “But mom was able to keep it together for him. Dad was able to do what he did because mom was so solid, she supported him.”
Adds Bob: “Imagine, a man of 38 decides to go for a PhD and his wife fully supports him to meet his destiny, and it brings him to the point where he was a significant member of the francophone community and makes a significant contribution to bilingualism in this country.”
After retirement, Motut made a hobby of translating the reallife stories of francophones and was honoured to be asked by the French government in the 1990s to deliver a series of lectures in France at five universities, including one in Bordeaux, where his father was born. He talked about western Canadian francophone history, relating the tales of aristocratic French immigrants who came to Alberta before the First World War.
“His own dad came to Canada in 1912, and came to Saskatchewan,” says Pierre, noting how life seems to circle around. “Then, almost 100 years later, dad gave a lecture at the University of Bordeaux. All his cousins came to the lecture. He was very well received.”