On November 9, alumni of École/Collège Régional Gabrielle-Roy (Gab-Roy), their parents, members of the community are invited to the celebration of a major milestone of this all-French school. The occasion? Gab-Roy is turning 40.
The event will kick off at 6:00 p.m. with tours of the school provided by teachers and administrators. For many of the earlier alumni and their parents, the tour will be of interest due to the many facelifts the school has undergone since it first opened in 1984.
At 7:30, the festivities will continue at the TC Energy Centre with a social that includes a dance, cash bar, and late lunch. Special addresses will be made by the four founding Île-des-Chênes (IDC) residents who are the key reason the school exists today.
“We’re hoping to have some memorabilia and some of the [school] clothing there on display,” says vice principal Roxanne Tétreault. “The school [also] has every yearbook since it opened.”
Over the course of the last 40 years, 1,911 graduating students have donned cap and gown in a fully French setting thanks to Gab-Roy.
The school’s success, Tétreault says, has much to do with the dedicated staff who have taught here through the years.
“They teach not only the French language but the French culture,” says Tétreault. “We’re known for being proud of our francophone history and it’s a big part of our education here at the school.”
The community, too, can be proud of the hard-won battle that brought the school to IDC in the first place. It all began in the 1970s when a group of local parents started advocating for their children’s French education.
“It was deemed the white elephant of southeast Manitoba because the provincial government didn’t think that a French high school was necessary in our area,” Tétreault says. “The parents had to fight for years and years… but the province always kept saying, ‘You’re never going to fill up that school.’ And now we’ve had four major additions and we’re at 565 students and we’re still overflowing. It’s definitely a success story.”
The original school, built in 1984, began with students from Grades Seven to Eleven. That first year, Grade Twelve students were transported to Collège Lorette.
But by 1986, Gab-Roy was already undergoing its first addition, making space this time to accommodate students from Kindergarten through Grade Twelve.
As an elementary student attending the nearby Île-des-Chênes School at the time, Tétreault recalls being among those kids whose parents wanted them to have an all-French education.
“I remember, because the schools were close together, that we actually walked to the new school with our [supplies] in our hands,” Tétreault muses.
Exactly ten years later, in 1994, another monumental event took place in Manitoba, and this one once again changed the face of French education forever.
“It was the year that the DSFM was formed,” Tétreault says. “We transferred from Seine River to the DSFM. I remember that very distinctly because we had a parade down IDC Main Street to celebrate the new school division. That year we were also celebrating the tenth anniversary of Gab-Roy, so we had a celebration in the gym with all of the students there and we had done little skits to compare 1984 with 1994. The parents were invited and it was a huge deal.”
In 2003, another addition was built. This one added a full second floor to the building.
“They added a new library, a few classrooms, and a music room,” Tétreault says. “Upstairs we had home economics and woodworking.”
According to Tétreault, this is the first such celebration the school has seen in 30 years. The DSFM has also jumped on board, adding their own contributions as they celebrate their own 30-year milestone.
“We’re hoping that this will be like one big class reunion for all of the Gab alumni as well as former staff members who we’re inviting,” Tétreault says.
Tickets for the social event are $20 per adult and available on the school website. To purchase tickets: https://dsfm.schoolcashonline....
