Léon Rivard

Among the personalities who have marked the history of French Manitoba, we find one who stands out for his curiosity and ingenuity. Father Léon Gédéon Rivard, priest, inventor and amateur filmmaker, was born in Saint-Robert, Quebec on July 19, 1884. He undertook his classical and theological studies at the Séminaire de Saint-Hyacinthe. Like many students of the Seminary, Léon Rivard heard about Manitoba and decided that it was there that he wanted to exercise his ministry. In 1909, he expressed his desire to come and work in the West to Msgr Adélard Langevin. As soon as he left school in 1911, he set off for Manitoba.

 Léon Rivard was ordained on February 14, 1911 in St. Boniface by Archbishop Adélard Langevin. Father Rivard first worked as a supervisor at the St. Boniface Minor Seminary until July 1911. Msgr Langevin then named him vicar at St. Anne des Chênes where he remained until December 1911 before becoming vicar in St. Rose du Lac. He then became priest of Woodridge from 1912 to 1917. But it was in Île des Chênes that he spent most of his life at the Notre-Dame-de-la-Miséricorde parish until 1948.

 Father Rivard arrived in Île des Chênes in 1917 with his parents who would stay with him until their death. He regularly engaged in the activities of his parish. He not only participated in card games and picnics, but he also organized several concerts and celebrations. In 1923, we even read that he organized a viewing of projected images with a magic lantern for his parishioners. It is also said that he used to distribute his food supplies to the parishioners in need. He also arranged boating and swimming trips for young people in the area.

 But it is all of Father Rivard’s pastimes that set him apart from his colleagues. He was, for example, the first to practice beekeeping in Île des Chênes. He managed to produce enough honey to sell and used the wax to make candles. He was also a gardener in his spare time and took care of the church and presbytery grounds and garden. His gardens were not limited to flowers and trees. He also built a mill, a fountain, and a pole around which revolved planes and miniature kites.

 He also spent many hours inventing and manufacturing devices of all kinds. For example, he installed a 32-volt Delco electrical system for the church and rectory’s lighting. He used it as well to illuminate his flower beds. He had electricity before the rest of the village since it was only in 1945 that Manitoba Hydro established its power line to Île des Chênes. Father Rivard used methane lamps, a fuel he prepared himself.

 The priest was the first in the parish to have access to radio since he built a small crystal radio with acoustics. In 1946, the entire village could hear the first broadcasts of the new CKSB radio station since he plugged his radio on the roof of the presbytery. He did not stop there. He set up a heating system powered by hot water which heated the presbytery for many years. He also built a steam engine. He took interest in watchmaking and proceeded to make many musical clocks. His Tempestas snowmobile, the first in the area, allowed him to get around in the winter and did not fail to attract the attention of his parishioners.

 But Father Rivard is best known for his cinematography work. Inspired by newsreels and the Westerns of the day, he invented his own 16mm lenses which he used to film parish activities and inventions. He then organized parties during which he presented his films, which were about twenty minutes long, to his parishioners. Father Rivard thus became one of the first filmmakers in Manitoba.

 After spending thirty years at Île des Chênes, Father Rivard retired to St. Adolphe where he served as chaplain for the Sisters of the Cross. However, he did not remain inactive. In 1954, Father Rivard and a team of extras presented to the parishioners of St. Adolphe, on a magnetic sound tape, a fictionalized scientific vision of a trip to the moon.

 He also devoted much of his time to astronomy. He built the “St. Andrew’s Observatory” on the exact scale of the Vancouver Observatory. He set up a telescope powerful enough to be able to observe the stars located 40,000,000 light years away. He also cared for the flower beds of the Sisters of the Cross convent, where he installed a new illuminated fountain. Father Rivard stayed in St. Adolphe for ten years. In 1959, he became a resident of Hospice Taché where he died on December 17, 1959.

Bibliography

ANONYME. À l’ombre des chênes : Souvenirs historiques d’Îles-des-Chênes et Grande-Pointe, Comité de recherche historique d’Île-des-Chênes et Grande-Pointe, 1980.

ANONYME. 100 ans de courage et de foi : Paroisse de Saint-Adolphe 1896-1996, Saint-Adolphe, Comité du livre du centenaire de la paroisse de Saint-Adolphe, 1996.

BEAUDRY, Marthe. Saint-Hyacinthe et le Manitoba à la fin du XIXe siècle, Saint-Hyacinthe, par l’auteur, 1989.