Québec’s new regional fiction: Louise Penny and Johanne Seymour

Louise Penny’s Still Life (2005) and Johanne Seymour’s Le Cri du cerf (2005) are both murder mysteries set in the Eastern Townships, in south-eastern and south-central Québec. Much of the region borders the United States. To varying degrees, the border makes its presence felt in the novels by Penny and Seymour, along with other landmarks familiar to domestic audiences. This article argues that the apparent situatedness of the texts is, however, challenged by their adherence to the formal conventions of the murder mystery and associated subgenres. In so doing, it claims that Still Life and Le Cri du cerf foster multi-layered readings which, in bringing together the hyper-local and the international, prompt a reconsideration of understandings of regional fiction.

Monitoring Adverse Psychosocial Outcomes One and Two Years After the Lac-Mégantic Train Derailment Tragedy (Eastern Townships, Quebec, Canada)

Introduction:In July 2013, a train carrying 72 cars of crude oil derailed in the town of Lac-Mégantic (Eastern Townships, Quebec, Canada). This disaster provoked a major conflagration, explosions, 47 deaths, the destruction of 44 buildings, the evacuation of one-third of the local population, and an unparalleled oil spill. Notwithstanding the environmental impact, many citizens of this town and in surrounding areas have suffered and continue to suffer substantial losses as a direct consequence of this catastrophe.Problem:To tailor public health interventions and to meet the psychosocial needs of the community, the Public Health Department of Eastern Townships has undertaken repeated surveys to monitor health and well-being over time. This study focuses on negative psychosocial outcomes one and two years after the tragedy.Methods:Two cross-sectional surveys (2014 and 2015) were conducted among large random samples of adults in Lac-Mégantic and surrounding areas (2014: n = 811; 2015: n = 800), and elsewhere in the region (2014: n = 7,926; 2015: n = 800). A wide range of psychosocial outcomes was assessed (ie, daily stress, main source of stress, sense of insecurity, psychological distress, excessive drinking, anxiety or mood disorders, psychosocial services use, anxiolytic drug use, gambling habits, and posttraumatic stress symptoms [PSS]). Exposure to the tragedy was assessed using residential location (ie, six-digit postal code) and intensity of exposure (ie, intense, moderate, or low exposure; from nine items capturing human, material, or subjective losses). Relationships between such exposures and adverse psychosocial outcomes were examined using chi-squares and t-tests. Distribution of outcomes was also examined over time.Results:One year after the disaster, an important proportion of participants reported human, material, and subjective losses (64%, 23%, and 54%, respectively), whereas 17% of people experienced intense exposure. Participants from Lac-Mégantic, particularly those intensely exposed, were much more likely to report psychological distress, depressive episode, anxiety disorders, and anxiolytic drug use, relative to less-exposed ones. In 2015, 67% of the Lac-Mégantic participants (76% of intensely exposed) reported moderate to severe PSS. Surprisingly, the use of psychosocial services in Lac-Mégantic declined by 41% from 2014 to 2015.Conclusion:The psychosocial burden in the aftermath of the Lac-Mégantic tragedy is substantial and persistent. Public health organizations responding to large-scaling disasters should monitor long-term psychosocial consequences and advocate for community-based psychosocial support in order to help citizens in their recovery process.

Walking Studies, the Eastern Townships, and William S. Messier's Dixie

This article is part of a project entitled, ‘Heartlands/Pays du cœur’. This aims to offer new critical approaches to Québec's ‘regional’ novel; focusing on representations of rural, semi-rural, exurban and urban spaces and places outside of the province's largest city, Montreal. The article considers material and imaginary geographies of the Eastern Townships in relation to William S. Messier's Dixie (2013). Drawing on theories on walking, it is structured around a walking interview with the author, in which he and I discuss the importance of place in his writing whilst moving through key sites featured within it.

The Emergence of Academies in the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada and the Invisibility of the Canada-U.S. Border

By examining the emergence of academies along the borderland of the United States and the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada in the nineteenth century, this study highlights American influences and innovations that contributed to the development of schooling in the region. When American settlers arrived in the wake of the American Revolution, they began to re-establish the familiar social and cultural institutions that they had left behind in the Thirteen Colonies. Among those institutions were academies based on the New England model. Academies in the Eastern Townships emulated the culture of New England academies in four major ways: organizational structure; curriculum; the use of American books; and, reliance on American teachers. This study argues that by examining American influences on education, we may better situate the history of Quebec education in its continental context, and may better understand the trends that have shaped the common experience of schooling on both sides of the border.RésuméL’étude de l’émergence des « académies » au début du XIXe siècle dans la région frontalière entre les États-Unis et les Cantons de l’Est du Bas-Canada met en lumière les influences et les innovations américaines qui contribuèrent au développement de l’éducation dans cette région. Lorsque les colons américains arrivèrent dans la foulée de la révolution américaine, ils commencèrent par établir des institutions culturelles et sociales comme celles laissées derrière dans les Treize colonies. Parmi celles-ci, on retrouve les académies calquées sur le modèle de la Nouvelle-Angleterre. Dans les Cantons de l’Est, ces institutions ont adopté quatre caractéristiques principales des académies américaines : la structure organisationnelle, le programme scolaire, l’emploi des mêmes livres et le recrutement d’enseignants américains. L’auteur soutient qu’en examinant les influences américaines en éducation, nous pourrions découvrir le contexte continental de l’histoire de l’éducation bas-canadienne et comprendre davantage les tendances qui ont façonné l’expérience commune de l’éducation des deux côtés de la frontière.