Roméo laid to rest in Memramcook
Published Saturday July 4th, 2009
Mourners from all walks of life attend state funeral
MEMRAMOOK - It was a spotlight he never sought, but one Roméo LeBlanc shared proudly with his home at various stages of a life that was remembered for a final time in his presence yesterday.
LeBlanc didn't seek prestige and accolades throughout a compassionate life and brilliant career of public service. But he was celebrated by more than 1,200 mourners at Saint Thomas Church in Memramcook yesterday with a state funeral that was filled with as much admiration and affection as pomp and protocol.
Acadie's iconic poet Antonine Maillet said LeBlanc's extraordinary path from humble beginnings ran parallel and in communion with Acadie's resurgence.
"When I knew Roméo, when he was a young boy, he didn't expect this. He never thought that today there would be canons fired for his funeral, but he knew he had something to do," said Maillet, alluding to the 21-gun salute.
"We were of a generation where we said it is now or never that we can save Acadie, and he was a willing participant."
LeBlanc was eulogized by his biographer and friend Naomi Griffiths; former prime minister Jean Chrétien, the man who chose him to be Canada's governor general; and his son Dominic, the current MP for Beauséjour.
Dominic thanked those who kept his father's legacy alive in their hearts and minds, and for those who helped him during his battles with illness.
And he paid tribute to his father's commitment to helping the common man.
He said Roméo LeBlanc believed Canada's greatest resource was not found in the soil or in the sea, but in its people.
"He saw in ordinary men and women like him and his friends the essential decency and goodness on which our society is formed," he said.
Dominic said even his nomination as the first Acadian and Atlantic Canadian governor general of Canada didn't impress LeBlanc as much as his role as a caring father to him and his sister Geneviève.
In the end, he said he would be missed for his many accomplishments, and none larger than the value he placed on each moment he spent with his children.
"The country has lost a devoted Canadian who did his best to serve with devotion and compassion. Many of you have lost a friend, and my sister and I have lost a father," he said before stepping down from the alter, bowing his head, and laying his hands on the flag-covered casket.
"We love you Papa."
Chrétien simply called LeBlanc a great man.
"The announcement of the death of our friend Roméo LeBlanc was received everywhere in the country as a major event because this nice man represented all that is good in our land."
He remembered his first contact with LeBlanc was through his dispatches during his time as a foreign correspondent before former prime minister Lester B. Pearson lured him into politics.
Chrétien said his admiration for LeBlanc grew as he worked within the party and stepped onto the political stage by becoming a Member of Parliament and eventually a celebrated minister of fisheries.
He said LeBlanc always came across as "calm, informed, deliberate, and smiling."
"I never met anyone who did not like him," he said.
He credited LeBlanc's influence on a whole generation of politicians and lauded him as a key organizer of the Liberal government's election victory in 1993.
Despite his accomplishments, Chrétien portrayed LeBlanc as a man who saw beyond people's differences and who was universally loved and respected in return.
"Roméo was as honoured and loved by the anglophones of Sackville as by the Acadians of Richibucto," said Chrétien.
"He was as comfortable with heads of state as with the most humble among us."
In closing, Chrétien summed up LeBlanc as a proud Acadian and Canadian who was known as "the quintessential Canadian."
"Vive Acadie, and Vive Canada," he said.
Griffiths remembered meeting LeBlanc as a student in Paris in 1954.
"As he travelled a long and winding road to the highest civic position this country has to offer, he took with him the love of his family, the friends he made at Université Saint Joseph, and a particularly strong grounding in French and English," she said.
She said the values that animated LeBlanc's life remained vibrant.
"If an empathy for people of all kind was part of Roméo's character from an early age, so was his enjoyment for life," said Griffiths.
"He never lost his belief that politics mattered, that people should be engaged in the political process."
The funeral procession moved slowly and solemnly from the Memramcook Institute as the military band played and pallbearers and a 100-man man guard walked alongside the hearse.
The Archbishop of Moncton, Mgr. André Richard, led the Catholic mass. The homely was given by Father Arthur Bourgeois.
"Today we are in front of the reality that the Roméo LeBlanc we knew and loved is no more, and we gather to celebrate his life," said Bourgeois, who noted that LeBlanc was being celebrated in the church where he was baptized.
"His life is also that of a generation of Acadian men and women who worked hard to improve the lives of their loved ones."
Following the mass, military pallbearers carried the casket outside on their shoulders and removed the flag before presenting it to Governor General Michaëlle Jean. Jean presented the flag to LeBlanc's daughter Geneviève, and presented the ensignia to Dominic.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Jean stood alongside family members as the casket was placed back into the hearse, and the 21-gun salute was sounded. Just as the hearse pulled away, rain poured down on the mourners.
"Roméo was a dear man and a friend of my father, a man who was both simple and profound," said Justin Trudeau.
Phil Fontaine, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, gave one of the readings during the mass, and outside the church he addressed LeBlanc's commitment to First Nations.
"He had a very good understanding of aboriginal peoples and he understands the challenges we face and he wanted to improve the lives of our people," said Fontaine.
Brian Tobin, another former fisheries minister, served as LeBlanc's parliamentary secretary during his days as fisheries minister.
LeBlanc was one of the first people he met in Ottawa after being elected at age 25.
"He set me straight and said not to worry about being an expert in Ottawa, but to be a voice in Ottawa for the people who elected me," Tobin said, "and to never forget where I came from, and that Ottawa worked best when the voices of the country were being heard in the nation's chamber, and not the other way around."
Tobin said LeBlanc's legacy is inspiring.
"At a time when we are very cynical about our people in public life, Roméo's example will hopefully inspire a whole new generation of young people to get involved in politics. The man was absolutely selfless."
Disabled
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
