A long life and family ties
Elzee Saulnier has never lost touch of his Acadian roots
As a boy, Elzee Saulnier herded cattle down to the brook every day for water. In winter, when it iced over, he used a hammer so his beloved animals could drink.
It was all in a day’s work for a child of the 1930s in Saulnierville, Digby County, a small French-speaking settlement founded by Saulnier’s ancestors. As refugees, they fled British persecution in the Annapolis Valley, choosing the shores of Digby County in the 1700s.
“You’d keep a couple of cows for milk and a pair of oxen – tractors were unknown in those days,” said Saulnier, now 91 and living in Upper Onslow in Colchester County. “School was a one-room building.”
School breaks were the only time of day Saulnier could play with his friends. Classes were in French, four days a week. On the fifth day, students learned some English, essential for anyone wanting to work in Halifax or Yarmouth after they left.
Saulnier attended school in Saulnierville from primary to Grade 9, sharing his classroom with up to 30 children of different grades, overseen by a single teacher.
To reach school he had to use a bike. There were no cars or paved roads in that part of Digby County and people’s way of life had changed little since Saulnierville’s founding.
St. Benoni, where Saulnier was born, was only a few kilometres away from his home. But 80 or 90 years ago it may as well have been in the next province.
“For us, it was a long way to go,” said Saulnier.
Back on the farm, Saulnier always spoke French with his family and even today retains his thick Acadian accent. He speaks with a poetic lilt as he recalls entering the workplace after leaving the village school in Grade 9.
“I was 16 or 17, came to work in Halifax and I didn’t know very much English and I was helping this fellow in the garage,” recalled Saulnier. “He told me to go to the stockroom to get a pair of pliers. I didn’t dare to ask him what they were. That’s how we learned English – one word here and one word there.”
Previously, Saulnier took a job making shoes and workers’ boots, earning a dollar a day for his labours.
Despite the historical conflicts between English and French speaking sectors, both in Nova Scotia and across Canada, Saulnier was never discriminated against or bullied in the workplace, though he found English hard to follow at times.
Saulnier was fortunate enough to avoid being sent to fight as the Second World War raged in Europe. He was six months too young to serve when the war ended. His older brother Gilfred joined the forces and fought in Italy, France and Germany, surviving the war and finally passing away at 95.
After the war Saulnier returned to the farm, where he remained with his wife, Elaine. His daughter Yvette Saulnier and later, his granddaughter Celine, grew up on the farm, close to her grandfather’s birthplace.
By the time Celine arrived, tractors instead of oxen ploughed the fields, roads were paved and every home had electricity and running water.
However, some traces of the old ways remained, even after the family finally sold the farm about 10 years ago.
Elaine still makes traditional Acadian rappie pie of chicken and potatoes, handing it out to her non-Acadian Upper Onslow neighbours who have grown to love it.
Both Saulnier and Elaine speak in French with Yvette and Celine, who live in the Truro
area. They frequently visit their elders in Upper Onslow.
Saulnier, for his part, is happy, despite missing his cattle and horses from his farming days.
For animal companionship, he has a cat named Hobo, who sits in his lap and often roams the neighbourhood.
“Everyone takes good care of me,” he said. “I’m not hungry. My clothes are washed. I’m washed. What more can I ask for?”