A week of honouring the French Canadians who helped create Fort Langley - and B.C. - kicks off this month at the National Historic Site.

The fifth annual Vive les Voyageurs Winter Festival runs on Jan. 26 and 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.

"We're trying to show our visitors that Fort Langley was a place where many French Canadians came," said Mike Starr, the fort's visitor services manager.

The first fort was built in 1827 by the Hudson's Bay Company, to trade for furs and other local goods with the nearby First Nations peoples.

About half of the crew building the first palisade were French-speaking.

"The language that you would hear most often was French," said Starr.

The early settlement was almost as multilingual as the modern-day Lower Mainland.

"You would hear French, English, Hawaiian, Chinook jargon. and then the language that you'd hear the women speaking most often was Halkomelem."

Halkomelem is the language of the Kwantlen First Nation and a number of their neighbours along the Fraser and on parts of Vancouver Island. Many of the married couples at the Fort included French-speaking husbands and Halkomelem-speaking wives.

Chinook is a West Coast trading language that gave English words like skookum, still in use from B.C. to Oregon.

The history that will be on display at the Vive les Voyageurs event will include a lot about those early settlers, but also some discussion about the other French Canadian populations that have called B.C. home over the years.

Park interpreter and booking coordinator Rita Bruneau is a born-and-bred British Columbian, who spoke French as her first language at home.

She's from Maillardville, a neighbourhood in Coquitlam that was established by French Canadian sawmill workers lured to the West Coast by plenty of work a century ago.

"I just love sharing the culture," said Bruneau.

There are a number of other employees at the park who speak French as a first or second language. Some of them learned it growing up in Quebec, while others are from places such as Benin or Morocco.

The tours and information offered over the Vive les Voyageurs weekend will be thoroughly bilingual, for speakers of either language.

The events for the weekend include a bilingual tour of the fort, bannock baking, a fur trade wedding, Metis folk songs and dancing, and a fur trade wedding, along with a French 101 session.

While the main program is on the weekend, many of its features, plus a few extra items for kids, will be taking place during the week prior.

Students from around the Lower Mainland got a taste of West Coast Francophone life during the week, during school visits.

Many students from French immersion schools were among the visitors.

ACTIVITIES AT VIVE LES VOYAGEURS

All day:

. Full Barrel Café: poutine, sugar pie, tourtière, beans, and bannock

. Maple taffy by Paul Demers

. Finger weaving

. Beading and moccasins demonstrations with Lisa Shepherd

. Blacksmith demonstrations, guides in period costume & hands-on activities

. Exhibit by Chilliwack Métis Association

Scheduled activities:

Saturday, Jan. 26 10 a.m.: Bilingual introductory tour of Fort Langley

11 a.m.: Musical performance: Voyageurs and Co.

11: 30 am: Bannock baking demonstration

12 p.m.: Historic weapons presentation

1 p.m.: French 101 program

2 p.m.: Fur trade wedding

2: 15 pm: Métis dancing with Lisa Shepherd

3 p.m.: Musical performance: Voyageurs and Co.

4 p.m.: French 101 program

5 p.m.: Site closes

Sunday, Jan. 27

10 a.m.: Bilingual tour of Fort Langley

11 a.m.: Musical performance: Alouest

11: 30 am: Bannock baking demonstration

12 p.m.: Historic weapons presentation

12: 30 pm: Musical performance: Alouest

1 p.m.: Playing with spoons with Maurice Guibord

2 p.m.: Fur trade wedding 2: 15 pm: Métis dancing with Lisa Shepherd

3 p.m.: Stories by the fire 4 p.m.: French 101 program 5 p.m.: Site closes

mclaxton@langleyadvance.com