Latest news with #FrenchCanadian
Global News
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Global News
When Pop Meets Country: Marie Mai and Tebey Find Harmony in Collaboration
Back in 2019, when French Canadian pop singer Marie Mai heard country artist and producer Tebey's song The Good Ones, she immediately knew she had to be on it. Her response to him didn't come as quickly, though. 'I was sitting on pins and needles for a week and a half for her to respond!' Tebey jokes. Once they made the connection, he jet-set off to the north of Montreal to record together. They quickly became friends and, in turn, built a partnership of sorts. Singing together opened up opportunities for each of them to be heard by a new fanbase and to be heard differently by their own. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Mai says, 'My goal in life was to always travel with my music. To me, music is not a language. It is not a French thing or an English thing, it's about sharing your emotion, and that in itself is a language.' Story continues below advertisement Through the process, Mai felt challenged by the genre and by singing in English. She says, 'Country music is so precise…every single artist on a country song sounds immaculate.' She focused on her accent, her intention, and putting herself into the piece wherever she could. Regardless, the two loved working together, felt they sounded fantastic together, and Mai calls Tebey a 'great coach!' 'We've been really lucky,' Tebey gushed. 'Obviously our relationship has been developing as friends over the last year or so, but it really was effortless… you never know what you're going to get collaborating with someone because we didn't really know each other, but it worked out for us.'
Cision Canada
05-05-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
ONEPACK PLAN™ PET INSURANCE LAUNCHES IN CANADA ENABLING EMPLOYERS TO BRING PEACE OF MIND TO CANADIAN PET PARENTS Français
The newly introduced insurance offers a unique solution with affordable, payroll-deducted coverage that eases the financial burden of eligible veterinary costs TORONTO, May 5, 2025 /CNW/ -- Despite Canadian pet ownership being on the rise with 58 per cent of households owning a dog or cat, just 2 per cent of workplaces offer pet insurance as an employee benefit 1. OnePack Plan ™ is proud to announce its launch into the Canadian market providing companies, group benefits providers, and benefits consultants the option to include pet insurance as a benefit for pet-parent employees. Available across all of Canada in both English and French Canadian, OnePack Plan provides employers the option to offer payroll-deductible pet insurance for cats and dogs with a flat group rate, helping to make veterinary costs more manageable during a time when many Canadians are worried about unexpected vet bills. "The average veterinary visit for an accident or illness costs up to $1,000, 2" said Michelle Yates, EVP of Business Development at OnePack Plan in Canada. "For many pet parents and employees in Canada, unexpected bills of this size can cause significant financial strain and stress. By offering OnePack Plan, employers can help alleviate this worry by making veterinary care more financially accessible so their employees can focus on what truly matters – enjoying life with their pets." An Increasing Desire for Employer-Offered Pet Insurance OnePack Plan's research found with Canadian pet ownership increasing, 50 per cent of Canadian pet parents express interest in employer-offered pet insurance 1, demonstrating a large demand for this offering across the country. OnePack Plan bridges this gap, providing a highly requested employee benefit that attracts and retains talent while also supporting pet parents in providing the best care for their furry family members. Financial strain over unexpected veterinary costs is common among Canadians. The same study conducted by OnePack Plan found 42 per cent of Canadian pet parents make financial sacrifices for pet care, with 40 per cent saying they have missed work due to their pet's health 1. OnePack Plan can help provide relief and peace of mind with comprehensive coverage and affordable premiums, including optional add-ons for wellness and preventative care. The plan features no breed restrictions and can offer coverage for pre-existing conditions after 365 days of continuous coverage 3. Meeting Employee Needs and Simplifying Benefits for HR Leaders OnePack Plan's unique approach to pet insurance integrates benefits administration software into already existing infrastructure, allowing a simple onboarding process for HR professionals to and easy enrolment for employees with the option to set up payroll deductions through their regular benefits administration system. HR leaders and benefits providers will also be able customize their plan to fit individual business needs in small, mid-size, and large companies with diverse needs. "We've seen a growing focus on wellness in the workplace and know pets play a significant role in improving mental health," said Yates. "Implementing policies that show empathy and consideration for pet parents can be a game changer for employee satisfaction and retention." With its Canadian launch, OnePack Plan will be addressing a need in the benefits market by offering an accessible and simplified process for employees to get pet insurance and creating the opportunity for Canadian employers to respond to changing attitudes around both pet ownership and employee expectations. For more information about OnePack Plan in Canada, visit or About OnePack Plan OnePack Plan™ is an employer-offered pet insurance program for Canadian businesses and pet parents, providing affordable, payroll-deductible coverage for cats and dogs. Offering accident or accident and illness coverage, the plan ensures peace of mind for pet parents. Policies are underwritten by Northbridge General Insurance Corporation and distributed by PTZ Insurance Services Ltd. ("PTZ"), & Société d'Assurances Collectives (Sodaco) Inc. in Quebec. Plan features, rates, and eligibility may vary by province or territory. For full terms and conditions, visit 1 Angus Reid (2024) Pet Insurance and Pet Ownership in Canada Study (1,005 respondents). Commissioned by Independence Pet Group, Inc., an affiliate of PTZ. 2 Source: 2022 PTZ Insurance claims data. Value of claims in $ CAD. 3 After 365 days of continuous coverage. Waiting period may be waived for groups over 200 employees or with prior coverage for Accident & Illness plans.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Yahoo
Remnants of St. Anne Shrine near Lake Wales, Florida, still attract the curious
This story is part of our weekly Hidden Gems feature series as the USA TODAY Network – Florida takes readers around the state to highlight some of our most interesting attractions. Starting in the 1920s, Catholics journeyed annually from Canada to a pastoral site a few miles east of Lake Wales, drawn in part by a relic — what church leaders considered a physical vestige of St. Anne. A century later, the once-thriving community encircling a small lake is itself a relic. While only fragments of the original settlement remain, the St. Anne Shrine still attracts the curious, though in much thinner numbers. There is no marker along State Road 60 to indicate a historic site, though some drivers might notice the green sign denoting St. Anne Shrine Road. Turning south off the highway, you will pass between watermelon fields before coming to a narrow, two-lane road that encircles a 15-acre lake. About halfway around, you find a hint of a bridge, a pair of coquina-covered railings covering some 30 feet along both sides of the road, adorned on the lake side by a pair of low, curving walls. A short distance away, a stone structure stands at the edge of the lake — a conical enclosure set atop four pillars standing upon two flat slabs, the entire edifice perhaps 20 feet tall. Rick Smith, who lives nearby with his wife, Toni, said that two visitors have stopped at the site on a recent day. 'They come around and they see this, and they stop,' Smith said. 'I'm the unofficial director of where the shrine is, so to speak. Any time anybody stops here, I'll go out and introduce myself and then tell them where the shrine is, that the gentleman that built the shrine also built the bridge and the monument out in the lake, and anything with this type of stonework around the lake.' In the house they've occupied for about 30 years, the Smiths keep an unofficial archive, including vintage postcards and photocopies of news articles dating to the 1920s, which recall the once vaunted status of the St. Anne Shrine. Here is the history, as captured in contemporaneous news reporting, documents from the Lake Wales History Center and previous Ledger articles: Around 1920, Napoleon Pelletier, a French Canadian, visited Florida with his son, who was considered terminally ill. The boy recovered in the balmier climate of Hesperides, leading other Canadians to begin making winter pilgrimages as a small colony arose around what was then called Lake Helena and is now St. Anne Lake. Hesperides is now recognized only by a road marker along SR 60. A Catholic bishop soon gave permission for construction of the Church of Ste. Anne des Lacs. A photo from a 1930 edition of the defunct Lake Wales Highlander newspaper shows a small, white church built in a plain style, topped by a sturdy steeple. An account describes the church as standing 'in a grove of tall pines.' Across from the church, community members built a white, stone platform that held a statue of Jesus. They also constructed the coquina-ringed structure that bore a statue of St. Anne, described in Christian and Islamic tradition as the mother of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus and also known as Our Lady of Lourdes. Congregants posted statues depicting the Stations of the Cross in the woods surrounding the lake. The faithful also constructed a grotto behind the church, seeking to evoke the site in Lourdes, France, where a girl claimed to have 18 visits from the Virgin Mary in a cave in 1858. The grotto, an assemblage of coquina rocks perhaps 20 feet fall, contained a statue of St. Christopher and a monument to St. Theresa, according to a 1979 article in the Polk County Historical Quarterly. The church gained an official connection with what is now the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec, a national shrine dating to the 1600s. That shrine bequeathed a holy relic, believed to be a piece of a finger bone from St. Anne, stored in a 'beautifully carved golden reliquary,' the Highlander reported. By the late 1920s, the Shrine of Ste. Anne des Lacs was drawing hundreds of annual visitors from Canada, according to contemporary news reports. The church held masses on Sundays during the winter months. Catholic pilgrims also visited the site each February to celebrate the anniversary of the Virgin Mary's apparition at Lourdes and in July for St. Anne's feast day. A report in the Highlander from Feb. 18, 1930, describes a service in which the High Mass was sung in Latin, with processional hymns sung in French. 'The procession of the Blessed Sacrament moved from the church to the altar, the statue of Ste. Anne being carried by members of the Ste. Anne society and the golden casket by young women of the parish,' the report says. Priests and bishops from as far away as St. Augustine and New Smyrna Beach presided over ceremonies at the site. Joyce Pettus, a congregant at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Lake Wales, said she is one of the few living links to the St. Anne Shrine from its era of activity. Pettus, 84, said that her grandparents, Joseph and Stella Gravel (pronounced gra-VELL), were among the French Canadians who once lived along the lake and attended the church. 'It was lovely,' Pettus said. 'The church was a beautiful little church.' At some point, after Pettus had left the area for college, the wooden church burned down and was replaced by another structure, she said. 'I remember it was concrete, had a window in it, and you could look inside and see a slab with a cloth on it, representing where Jesus had been buried,' she said. 'And the cloth indicated that he had arisen. I remember that being there, and a number of people were married there. Parishioners had baptisms there. I remember playing bingo in the little social hall — well, I didn't play it, but my parents did.' St. Anne's Shrine also held a Biblical museum, apparently operated by nuns who lived at the site. On a recent afternoon, Rick Smith indicated Pelletier's former home, a two-story house on the lake's western shore, along with houses previously occupied by priests and nuns. Pettus offered an explanation for the church's demise. 'It eventually got to the point that there were people who were selling all kinds of items, religious items,' she said. 'It became so commercial that the bishop finally had to close it down.' The Diocese of St. Augustine de-sanctified the church in the 1960s, according to previous Ledger reporting. Much of the shrine was removed. Pettus said that she does not know what happened to any remnants that were taken. The stone platform for the statue of Jesus still stands on the inside of the road circling the lake. The base bears a red cross on all four sides, while the slab above bears inscriptions in Latin: Adveniat Regnum Tuum ('Thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven') and Cor Jesu, Pax Nostra, Miserere Nobis ('Heart of Jesus, our peace, have mercy on us'). All that remains of the church is a set of three steps that once led to its entrance. Weathered and darkened, the steps sit disconnectedly in the front yard of a private home. The one element of the St. Anne Shrine that endures, largely intact, is the grotto, easily missed by drivers as it is set back from the road and concealed behind a stand of oak and palm trees. Approaching the grotto, one notices a marble ground slab inscribed, 'In Memory of Napoleon Pelletier.' The slab declares that Pelletier was born in Canada 1857, describing him as the 'zealous propagator' of the St. Anne Shrine, 'which he built and maintained himself.' Pelletier died and was buried at the site in March 7, 1942, the engraving says. In reality, Pelletier's remains were interred at the site of the former church, now an adjacent private home, Rick Smith said. Pelletier's family eventually had his remains transported to Canada, he said, and the marker was moved to the grotto. A moat, now dry, partly encircles the grotto. A footbridge crosses over the moat, constructed from pieces of coquina mortared together, as is the grotto itself. Circular tiles set into the bridge bear Pelletier's initials in blue (though the 'P' is shaped more like a 'D'). Under the grotto's covering, a small statue of the Virgin Mary occupies a curved niche, opposite a statue of a woman praying to her. Even after the church was demolished, Easter services were held at the grotto for years, Smith said. 'On Easter Sunday, we had the sunrise service here, and we'd get about 100 to 150 people,' he said. 'You'd bring your lawn chair, and they would sit around there.' Initially, a priest set up a folding table as an altar, until Smith and other members of the Knights of Columbus poured concrete to make a permanent altar. But the custom of holding masses at the grotto faded amid complaints from residents, Smith said. On a recent day, the tile-lined altar platform held small religious figures and a collection of artificial flowers. Prayer candles stood on a ledge at the back of the grotto. To the side of the grotto, a circular rock formation rises upward to hold a figure of St. Therese of Lisieux, known as 'Little Flower.' White tiles set into the concrete between the grotto and the ringed structure spell out the nickname. While the rest of the land around the lake is now residential, the Diocese of Orlando still owns the grotto tract. Smith said that the ecclesiastical district does not maintain the site, so he and a pair of neighbors mow the grass and keep the altar area tidy. The diocese did not respond to a voicemail from The Ledger. 'We kind of put these two pieces of fence up,' Smith said. 'People used to drive right back here. And if there's anybody back here praying or meditating, we thought that they would not want to be interrupted.' The St. Anne Shrine no longer draws religious pilgrims from Canada, but enough historical mystery remains to lure periodic visitors, Smith said. 'We've had busloads come up from Miami,' he said. 'This one bus had their youth group there; they were going on up to, I believe, Orlando. And they came up (State Road) 60 and stopped here at the shrine and had lunch.' Gary White can be reached at or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13. This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Remnants hint at history of St. Anne Shrine near Lake Wales, Florida
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Yahoo
What's in a name? For these 7 Missouri towns, inclusion on 'bizarre' list
What's in a name? If you live in or around certain Missouri communities, perhaps a laugh, an eye roll or a long story. On a recent refresh of its state-by-state features, World Atlas tallied up "7 Bizarrely Named Towns" in the Show Me State, the "quirky communities (that) also prove that Missouri's first settlers may have had a slightly mischievous sense of humor." For the residents of these towns, and/or long-term Missourians, the article might elicit little surprise. But it's worth digging into these names a little further along with World Atlas. County: Camden Population: Around 120 What's behind the name: The moniker "supposedly derives from the excitement felt by its discoverers after looking so hard for the waters' source," World Atlas notes. County: Pemiscot Population: Around 350 What's behind the name: The "subject of much local debate," the name is sometimes assigned to a local turtle. But "the more likely explanation is that it's a misspelling of the family name" Coutre that belonged to a group of French Canadian settlers, the article explains. World Atlas continues: "Whatever the case, the name itself certainly draws attention for a slang term that we won't get into here (you can always look it up!), with day trippers visiting to grab a selfie standing next to the town sign." County: Polk Population: Around 900 What's behind the name: The community was "named in honor of an early settler named James Human in the mid-19th century," World Atlas tells readers. County: Johnson Population: Around 2,800 What's behind a name: "Knob Noster owes its title to two local topographical features," World Atlas explains: "prominent 'knobs' (or hills) in the otherwise flat surroundings" and the "Noster" part of the name is translated from the Latin for "our," meaning "our hills." More: 2 mid-Missouri communities make list of Missouri's 'friendliest little towns' County: Texas Population: Around 2,900 What's behind the name: "Despite what you might be thinking, Licking owes its unusual name to a natural salt lick in the area where wildlife once gathered," World Atlas notes. County: Cass Population: About 4,600 What's behind the name: According to World Atlas, in the late 1860s, a list of potential town names was rejected, one-by-one, for their use elsewhere; "in exasperation, the local postmaster reportedly said he didn't care what they called it, so long as it was something 'peculiar.' " County: Henry Population: Around 80 What's behind the name: The postmaster strikes again: "Legend has it that it a local postmaster, frustrated after being charged an extra 50 cents for a watermelon, called the shopkeeper a 'tightwad,' " the article notes. Read more on these town names at Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@ He's on Twitter/X @aarikdanielsen. This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: World Atlas chooses 7 most 'bizarrely named' Missouri towns
CBC
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
We collected North of North's funniest moments from Season 1 (you're welcome)
Forget your typical sitcoms – CBC's North of North delivers laughs and heart from the captivating landscape of Ice Cove, Nunavut. This quirky and delightful series follows Anna Lambe as Siaja, a young woman who blows up her marriage to the town's golden boy Ting (Kelly William) and sets out on a new life with her eight-year-old daughter Bun (Keira Belle Cooper). She moves in with her prickly mom, Neevee (Maika Harper), and finally meets her estranged dad, Alistair (Jay Ryan), an environmental consultant who had no idea Siaja existed. In dire need of a job, she convinces the community centre manager, Helen (Mary Lynn Rajskub), to hire her as an assistant, where she spends time in the warmhearted company of best pals Mille (Zorga Qaunaq) and Colin (Bailey Poching). This Inuk community vibrates with love and laughter. In some ways, Ice Cove is like any small town with its lore and gossip, except the people who live here drive to work on snowmobiles and wear the most beautiful sealskin parkas. "While these stories all are fictional, a lot of them have come from grains of truth in lives", says executive producer and co-creator Stacey Aglok-MacDonald. "We're putting all of our insecurities and heartbreak on the table, the things that have ripped our hearts out and made us laugh the hardest, too." "I think what the show does really well is that it reflects Indigenous reality, in the sense that history and our pain never goes away, but our day-to-day lives are filled with joy and happiness and connection and love," says actor Bailey Poching. "I have a friend who once told me that if we didn't laugh so much, we'd be crying." Here are just a few top LOL moments from the first season of North of North. Enjoy! In a land short on wood, the residents of Ice Cove resort to bone. (There is no polite way to say this. We tried.) Walrus dick baseball | North of North 7 hours ago Duration 0:58 In a land without wood, the locals resort to bone. Alistair tries to settle into his new role as Siaja's dad. But first, he must endure the shade. Dad bods are hot | North of North 22 hours ago Duration 0:22 Alistair tries to settle into his new role as Siaja's dad. But first, he must endure the shade. Siaja and her mom, Neevee, hilariously battle over parenting styles. 'Your generation is so sensitive' | North of North 22 hours ago Duration 0:54 Siaja and her mom, Neevee, hilariously battle over parenting styles. The gang accompany Siaja in a quest for rebound romance — at the local airport. Behold the Inuk goddess | North of North 7 hours ago Duration 1:16 The gang accompany Siaja in a quest for rebound romance — at the local airport. Siaja has a date with a visiting French Canadian photographer, who has some interesting kinks. Siaja goes out on a date | North of North 7 hours ago Duration 1:13 Siaja has a date with a visiting French Canadian photographer, who has some interesting kinks. And let's all swoon over that Bridgerton dress. Behold. The 'Bridgerton' dress | North of North 7 hours ago Duration 0:43 Saija has a vivid dream in a beautiful dress. Of course, now you want more. We've got you, because North of North (drum roll, please) will be back for Season 2! Watch North of North Season 1 on CBC Gem now.
