Honourable senators, today, I want to pay tribute to a cultural and historic treasure that we just lost in Nova Scotia. The Bangor sawmill on the Meteghan River at St. Mary’s Bay was destroyed in a fire last weekend.

Built in 1870 by Joe Maillet, this water-powered sawmill was the last functioning mill of its kind when I visited it a few years ago. There used to be 10 such mills on the Meteghan River back in the day.

In 1993, it was purchased by the Bangor Development Commission. The mill and its museum served as an interpretive centre where locals, tourists and school groups came to immerse themselves in its history. The president of the commission, Denise Comeau Deshautels, says that she is saddened by the disaster. Recently, the community had raised $50,000 to repair the dam.

The Bangor sawmill has a close connection with the Senate, since the late Senator Comeau worked there as student, and he also volunteered with the Bangor Development Commission after he retired.

St. Mary’s Bay is part of the municipality of Clare, which was incorporated in 1879. After the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763 and after the expulsion, many Acadians returned to Nova Scotia, but not to their former lands, which were now occupied.

Joseph Dugas and his family landed at Pointe-à-Major and founded the village of Grosse Coques in 1768. The French language, a cornerstone of Acadian identity, still resonates in the region’s many villages, including Corberrie, Anse‑des‑Belliveau, Mavillette, Rivière-aux-Saumons, Petit‑Ruisseau and Comeauville.

Expressions from fishing vernacular enliven the local language. You might hear “amarre tes souliers” for “tie your shoelaces,” “havre icitte que je débarque” for “stop here so I can get out,” “jette-moi” for “wait for me” or “rambri” for “wall.”

Fishing is a lucrative business nowadays, and the region boasts several fish plants and a shipyard. Clare is the only Nova Scotia municipality that operates in French, and it’s home to both the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial, the province’s Acadian school board, and Nova Scotia’s only French-language university.

Dear colleagues, I invite you to visit St. Mary’s Bay, and I’d like to leave you with lyrics from Jean-Louis Belliveau’s song about another Clare mill that burned down, the Clements Mill: “One summer’s eve in Concession, there was a deadly conflagration, down at the Clements Mill.”

Thank you.