On June 8, around 40 Pontiac residents gathered at the entrance of Poupore Elementary School in Fort Coulonge to commemorate the efforts of two pillars in the growth of the Commission scolaire des Haut-Bois de l’Outaouais (CSHBO).

Presented by the school’s Director, Denis Rossignol, and local historian and former CSHBO employee Benoit Paré, the ceremony served as an opportunity to celebrate the careers of CSHBO’s first Director General, Jean-Louis Brizard, and its first President, Roland Vallières.

Due to their immense contributions to the schoolboard and French education in the Pontiac, which included the opening the school’s gym, it felt appropriate to officially change the facility’s name to the Centre Brizard-Vallières.

The ceremony involved the unveiling of a billboard that read the gym’s new title, now displayed at the school’s entrance.

Known as an inseparable duo, Vallières and Brizard were both heavily involved with the opening of the gym; therefore, it was important to rename the gym after them, Rossignol said.

“You couldn’t disassociate Brizard and Vallières,” he said. “They were two personalities who were always together.”

“They were at the origin of the demand to build this gym,” he added. “They did the inauguration of the gym. They were involved from beginning to end in the process of opening it in 1978.”

At the end of the 2018 school year, having already renamed a number of the school’s classrooms after former principals, ideas starting floating around about which part of the building should be renamed after Brizard and Vallières.

According to Paré, commemorating Brizard and Vallières’ contributions was an opportunity for the schoolboard that could not be missed. He believes that it’s crucial for local residents to recognize that everything they have is because of them.

“It’s important for the community,” he said. “It’s something we don’t do enough. It’s very rare that we commemorate people who helped change the face of the community and the Pontiac.”

For Brizard’s son, Stéphane, the commemoration of his father’s efforts over the course of his career was special; something he knows would make his father proud.

“My father was here for almost all of his working years,” he said. “I’m sure he would be very proud to have his name immortalized with the building. It’s very special and I think he deserves it.”

For Vallières’ eldest daughter, Rolande, seeing her father being commemorated was a great honour. As one of her biggest role models, she finds importance in shedding light on his efforts and to lead by example for the better of the community.

“Of his nine children, we all took something from our father that we want to perpetuate in the community,” she said. “Whether it’s his involvement with education, the CLSC and other things. He transmitted that to his kids and now were trying to transmit it to our kids and grandkids.”

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