Directory of members
Le Pére Garneau
Le Pére Garneau, a proud Franco-Ontarian, is one of the Ottawa area’s most sought-after storytellers. Having an almost-endless repertoire, his stories come from his (imaginary?) ancestor Théophile Garneau, from his family’s history – early settlers in the Abitibi region of Québec, or simply from his own vivid imagination, concocted for the amusement of his grand-children.
Le Pére Garneau has performed in numerous schools, museums and cultural centers in the National Capital Region, at the Shenkman Arts Centre, the National Arts Center, the Ottawa Storytellers’ Children’s Festival as well as in Montréal,. In June of 2017, he participated in a telethon for the flooding victims of Eastern Ontario.
For 3 years, le Pére Garneau hosted a television series on the Rogers Television French community station. The series is broadcast in Ottawa, New Brunswick and in Rockland,
In 2014, he published his first solo book of Christmas stories, “Grand-papa conte-nous Noël”
In 2015, le Pére partnered with the rock-traditional band Les Rats d’Swompe, to form Le Pére Garneau et les Rats d’Swompe.
Together, they not only performed numerous shows in the area, in schools and cultural centers, but in 2016, they won top honours at Contact ontarois, French Canada’s largest artists’ showcase. Following this prestigious win, they embarked on a65-show tour of Ontario.
They were also nominated for Best Show of 2016-2017 at the Trille Or gala.
In September2017, they were showcased at Contact Ouest in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
In 2020, hewas selected for an interprovincial residence in Lévis, Québec, where here searched documents belonging to Louis Fréchette (a very important figure in French Canada during the mid-19th century). He performed the stories developed at the Festival international de contes de Jos Violon in Lévis, as well as the Festival de contes international Les vieux m’ont contٞé in Sudbury in October 2021.