For the week of March 25, 2024.
On March 28, 2009, the Government of Canada recognized Gabrielle Roy as a national historic person. This teacher, novelist, and journalist distinguished herself through masterful storytelling, clear prose, and a profound sense of humanity.
Born in 1909 in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, she was the youngest in a family of 11 children. She studied at the Académie Saint-Joseph in Saint‑Boniface and at the Winnipeg Normal Institute, before pursuing a career in teaching. In 1937, she left for Europe, where she studied drama and published a few articles, inspired by her time in England and France. Returning to Canada in 1939, she settled in Montréal and published reports, descriptive works, and essays in various newspapers and magazines.
In 1945, she published her first novel, Bonheur d’occasion—a stark exploration of daily life in the working-class neighbourhood of Saint‑Henri in Montréal. The novel brought her immediate recognition as a writer and as a pioneer of social realism. It was translated into English as The Tin Flute, and then many other languages, cementing Roy as a literary celebrity.
In 1947, The Tin Flute became the first Canadian to win the prestigious French prize, the Prix Fémina. She also won the Governor General’s Award and her novel was selected as a “book of the month” by the Literary Guild of America. Also in 1947, Roy married Dr. Marcel Carbotte. The couple settled in Québec City in 1950, after spending a few years in Paris.
Bonheur d’occasion was followed by other important works such as La petite poule d’eau (1950), Alexandre Chenevert (1954) and Ces enfants de ma vie (1977), as well as two autobiographical works published posthumously. Roy remained attached to her birthplace—a modest home built in 1905—where she resided until 1937. This house was often described and idealized in her writing, especially in Rue Deschambault (1955). It offered a sensitive account of her past, touching on both the immigrant experience and her life as a Franco-Manitoban woman.
Gabrielle Roy has received many distinctions and numerous literary awards, including two more Governor General’s Awards (1957 and 1978). She was the first woman inducted into the Royal Society of Canada (1947) and was named a Companion of the Order of Canada (1967). She was also awarded the Duvernay Prize for lifetime achievement (1956), the David Prize (1971), and the Molson Prize (1978).