As I Remember Them: Childhood in Quebec and Why We Came West

Originally written in the early 1970s. The book is based on Jeanne-Elise Olsen’s extraordinary recall of her childhood and youth spent in an isolated part of the Laurentians in the Lievre River Valley in the early twentieth century. Jeanne was the daughter of a Roman Catholic priest who was excommunicated from the Church because he married a woman in his parish. She recounts how the Church lifted the ban, but only on specific conditions, one of which was for the family to leave Quebec. The Olsen family moved to Ditton Park in east-central Saskatchewan where they became engaged in agricultural pursuits. This memoir eloquently tells a personal story – and social history – that reveals strength of character, family bonds, religious devotion, and childhood memories that are truly reflective of life in Quebec and the Canadian West. Sensuous and rich in detail, this book will leave you with lasting images of the unforgettable personalities, the strength of clerical control in one family’s destiny, and the vast and varied Canadian landscape.