SEE VIDEO http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2011/03/16/17643661.html
A large-scale study of francophone history and culture in North America will be led from the University of Ottawa.
Professor France Martineau is getting a $2.5-million grant from the federal government to fund the project.
“This will document history of families, history of individuals, history of humble people, really,” said Ottawa Orleans MP Royal Galipeau, who made the announcement at the downtown campus Wednesday.
Martineau will study the evolution of the language within Canada in order to better understand the tension caused by the discrepancy between language and identity boundaries.
As part of the major collaborative research initiatives program, more than 50 people from 39 different institutions will contribute.
“The project’s focus is going to be on basically four centuries of history of French on the North American continent in three main colonial settings: Louisiana, New France which is now Quebec, and Acadia,” said Raymond Mougeon of York University.
The funding is from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
“It’s not about the money, it’s about the research,” Galipeau said.
The project will run for seven years.
kelly.roche@sunmedia.ca
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