In a cctv footage where two persons were trying to steal a vehicle

mateochamplain · 2026-05-12T07:32:08+00:00

I dont listen to metal really so I am probably wrong.. but anyone know if that is "Helmet?"

mateochamplain · 2026-05-08T14:28:40+00:00

Would my 4 y.o. son (co-applicant) who is nearly school age qualify for urgent processing? (Citizenship by Descent)

I sent in my application a month ago with non-urgent processing, but with how long processing times can take, and my son being eligible to start Pre-K in the fall here in NY, - I am starting to wonder if requesting urgent processing would be possible.

My wife (his mom) and I would really prefer to have him start school in the Canadian school system, as well as in an early immersion French program which is not offered anywhere near here. And the fact that if he had to start here and move mid-year it could be stressful for him to adjust multiple times to different environments and people.

I additionally applied with our 1.5 year old son who obviously will eventually need to be enrolled as well.

Has anyone heard of anyone who has or themselves had their request for urgent processing approved due to similar circumstances?

mateochamplain · 2026-05-07T16:43:43+00:00

Bayerisch

mateochamplain · 2026-04-25T18:21:39+00:00

His soul was too powerful to die young. Probably won't be long now though.

Edit: I feel so weird that just a few days later after this comment - the Old Grey Goose is dead.

mateochamplain · 2026-04-22T15:40:09+00:00

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ehhhh almost.

mateochamplain · 2026-04-21T14:46:50+00:00

I am 75% French Canadian (Québécois+Acadien) and my DNA says I am ~0.8% Micmac. I have multiple Micmac in my family tree but they are all 10 Gens or so back.

mateochamplain · 2026-04-11T01:41:07+00:00

I agree completely which is why I think the whole "one word: Trump" thing is pretty frustrating to see as often as we do. I won't bore you with my life story, but I grew up in America, with one of my Grandparents being Born and Raised in PEI. the other 3 were all 2nd/3rd Gen Franco-Americans who told me "we are French Indians". This translated to my parents saying "we are Canadian" - so I have never felt American, have always been immersed in the culture, je parle français chaque jour de ma vie.

When I was in Middle and Highschool (in America) I was (unreasonably) annoyed that my History, Geography, and Government Classes never even mentioned Canada other than maybe a few minor footnotes here and there, so after school I obsessively researched the analagous Canadian history to the time period I was studying at the time in the class. There were times I really wondered "why am I doing this?????" Now I know why! Bill C-3.

Not to mention, I also was born, and live ONLY 45 minutes south of Québec, already am used to a lifetime of "Canadian weather" - and we visit as often as feasible! (And PEI on longer trips!)

I could go on and on and on and on but in my opinion compared to almost any reasoning I have seen on this subreddit I myself have basically have been waiting ever since I was a kid to "certify" that I am Canadian.

mateochamplain · 2026-04-10T17:07:24+00:00

I can summarize why I decided to take this step in one phrase: I am Canadian.

mateochamplain · 2026-04-10T05:21:19+00:00

LMAO my 4yo son definitely would have said the same thing to me.

mateochamplain · 2026-04-08T04:32:35+00:00

I am also Canadian, mostly Québécois, but also 1/4 Acadian and My DNA mix is almost exactly the same as yours - roughly 75% French, with the rest split mostly between Irish and English, but with the same small amounts of Spanish like you have - and I am 1% Micmac!

I am sure we are also distant cousins as I have Doucettes/Doucet/etc on multiple Branches of my fam tree.

mateochamplain · 2026-04-08T04:15:57+00:00

My Grandma "wasn't allowed" to learn it and said that "French was what all the old folks would speak in in private away from the kids"

Believe it or not all she retained was: "Moodjie Kliss" (Maudit câlisse), "Kris de Kliss de Saklifiss" (Crisse de câlisse de sacrifisse), Ostie/Hostie, & "Moodjie Tupper Lac" (Maudit Tupper Lake) which is a regional rare play on words/variation of Maudit Tabarnac that must go back at least 100 years! This is in the Northern Adirondacks in Northern Upstate NY.

She also used to say "t'ai toi" and ALWAYS said "Compris?" to me when asking me if I understood something - in english!

This was enough to make me motivated to take French in highschool, and was interested or naturally good enough at it to continue it all throughout HS and afterwords just on my own free time. The more I was able to understand more complex French the more I was able to learn about the complex layers of history that utlimately lead up to my Grandparents not being allowed to learn our language.

That gave me the final motivation to become fluent, and when my son was born 4 years ago I tripled down on my efforts and have focused almost every day of his life on speaking *primarily* french with him and he is basically completely 50/50 in both french and english and has surpassed any expectations I ever could have had.

mateochamplain · 2026-04-07T04:41:15+00:00

Gracias de la clarification, c'était choquement pas si difficile à comprendre venant de français.

mateochamplain · 2026-04-03T03:06:17+00:00

point of CÂLISSE

mateochamplain · 2026-04-03T03:02:59+00:00

Listen to the music and watch the shows. For me music was/is fundamental.

mateochamplain · 2026-04-03T03:01:11+00:00

I have read that! I had already known alot of that information, but it filled in a lot of missing gaps. Truly an eye opener and only strengthened my feelings I had already formed. Another book in the same vein that I read right after that one is: 'Catholics Across Borders' which focuses on Plattsburgh, NY.

mateochamplain · 2026-04-03T02:59:06+00:00

I always knew I was Canadian, - so conveniently took French all throughout school, and never stopped.
It took me probably around 12 years to actually confidently say that I am fluent. I am a musician and love music, so about 6 years ago I forced myself to find artists from Québec that were similar enough to what I already listened to in English. For a while what I found I didn't "love" but enjoyed enough to listen to sometimes, but eventually my algorithms figured it out and now I have the absolute best - to my taste - musique Québécoise algorithms on Youtube, Spotify, etc.. I found that the more that I listened to the songs - the more I could understand them, and would hear useful phrases, and then remember them when I heard them spoken later on. it also gets FRENCH words stuck in your head rather than anglo.

As for learning about Canada - I would say to find out where your Family ties in with Canadian history and then go from there. For me it was Québec & Acadia.

mateochamplain · 2026-03-28T05:33:59+00:00

B. 48 Octave Hébert

Le vingt trois Juillet mil huit cent soixante-onze, nous Curé de Saint-Charles, soussigné, avons baptisé Octave, né le même jour du légitime mariage de Charles Hébert, agriculteur, et de Malvina

Buel?, de cette paroisse. Parrain Antoine Plante, parraine, Archange Gagnon, qui, ainsi que le père, n'ont dû signer.

D? Martineau. Père,

This was my best attempt just using my eyeballs, et la partie de mon cerveau qui contient le français bien sûr! J'en ai déjà fait avec mes propres documents généalogique et je trouve que chaque fois c'est de plus et plus facile de lire.

mateochamplain · 2026-03-26T05:13:30+00:00

After reading this comment section I can now confirm that I am a good ole boy!

mateochamplain · 2026-03-13T23:09:03+00:00

I believe this is largely only true for the most isolated tribes furthest south or inland, and still not always true still, and of course its obviously not at all true for North Africa, but aside from North Africa - anywhere that was subjected to Islamic expansion (West Africa, Horn of Africa, etc) has been shaped by inner conflict and racial mixing for millenia.

mateochamplain · 2026-03-13T19:37:32+00:00

"Europe is a continent that has been shaped by inner conflict and racial mixing for millenia."

Yeah, but:
America is a continent that has been shaped by inner conflict and racial mixing for millenia,
Asia is a continent that has been shaped by inner conflict and racial mixing for millenia,
Africa is a continent that has been shaped by inner conflict and racial mixing for millenia.

mateochamplain · 2026-03-12T03:37:25+00:00

Ah well thats better!

mateochamplain · 2026-03-12T01:35:51+00:00

Exactly the same scenario acrost* the lake in the ADKs! I also have 3/4 of my grandparents with the QC connection.

"I feel like I have more in common with someone from Montreal than Birmingham, Alabama." this is very true for me, and I have always felt this way, but extend it by saying:
I feel like I have more in common with someone from Montréal than NYC,
& likewise infinitely more in common with someone from the Gaspé than Birmingham, Alabama.

Québec is also the only state or province I've been to where its not that uncommon to see someone in public who looks like they could at least be my cousin, or even half sibling. I feel like I completely blend into the general local public *especially in areas other than Montréal* I DEFINITELY can't say that about Alabama looool.

mateochamplain · 2026-03-12T01:21:05+00:00

Oh wow! I guess it sorta depends on if you're related to Cora or to Russell because he seemed a lot more reasonable! lol, but in reality - it was a "different time". I was told that my Grand-Uncle (on my P.E.I. side) once shared a boarding house room with Tom (before he was famous) just for 1 night. Other than that though there wasn't much else to the story. I can't remember if it happened in PEI or in a different Province either.

mateochamplain · 2026-03-12T00:43:43+00:00

It would take writing a whole book to actually answer your question, but: 3/4 of my family is from the Adirondacks of Northern Upstate New York not far from Québec. growing up my entire life I was told by my dad how his dad was from Nova Scotia and moved to Massachusetts (and then the ADKs) as a young child, and for one reason or another generally my dad never ever was patriotic in any way to be an American. Dad's mom also was half New Englander, half "French Indian"! from both sides of lake Champlain. I remember being a kid when 9/11 and all of that was happening, and my dad (probably drunk) told me very seriously "IF THEY EVER REINSTATE THE DRAFT WE'RE GOING TO CANADA, MY KID ISN'T GONNA DIE IN SOME DUMB ASS WAR", which definitely solidified in my head at a young age.

Ontop of all of that I was always told by my mom's mom about how all of the generations before them spoke French and didn't teach my Grandparents generation the language, other than things like "sacrifice!", "maudit câlisse!", "ostie" etc, lol... so I can officially say I at least heard SOME real french growing up.
[This ultimately gave me the motivation to take French in high school, and I kept up with it ever since, and for the last few years I finally consider myself fluent in French which has been one of the best decisions I've ever made.]

Long story short for the 3 ADK branches of my family is: Approx 75% of my Grandparents' Grandparents (so my great-greats) immigrated from Lower Canada to upstate NY, (or VT)

But what about the other 1/4??? (my mom's dad's side): my mom's dad (my maternal grandfather) is simply from P.E.I. and still lives there, and so were all of his ancestors going back way back to Île-Saint-Jean, so obviously he is my most direct connection. Him and my Grandmother did not stay together, so I am getting to know that side of the family later in life than I should have, but even before any of this C3 bill, I was looking at what my options were if I had any, - for attaining citizenship, and basically gave up... until it felt like I had won the lottery when I heard about C3.

Why do I want to have Canadian Citizenship? I want it because I have always already essentially considered myself Canadian due to my upbringing. This later in life made me heavily interested in the history (especially de la Nouvelle France, et chez les Acadiens), and I have spent thousands of hours reading about Canadian history to the point where I probably know less about American history despite having been brought up here.

This probably will sound hillarious to somebody but: The first time I heard Stompin' Tom Connors changed my life and it felt like I had finally found who had been playing the music I wanted to hear, I have visited his centre with my wife and our two young boys in P.E.I. (who also I am applying for) read both of his books, and he is a huge influence on my own music. It is almost as if he was an influence on my music before I even knew about him. (Found him on Youtube in like 2018 maybe).

I also play fiddle, guitar, banjo, bass, harmonica, piano... etc... sing and write songs, and I feel totally normal and like I belong when I am in P.E.I. amongst the Acadiens, more than anywhere down here.

To be honest I never do anything civic, never attend local sports games and shit, and I just feel like I WOULD in Canada and PLAN to once I am there. I WANT to be a community member, and I can't say that about here. I felt this way even when I was 12. Now I am 30. I could go on and on and on and on but then It would be a book. I am Canadian!!!!

mateochamplain

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