My name is Julie Bertrand and I’m the newspaper’s newest journalist.
I come from Sainte-Hélène de Breakeyville, a town situated on the south shore of the province of Québec. It’s a former sawmill town that has now become a bedroom suburb of Québec City and Lévis. It’s about Stettler’s size and it celebrated its centennial last year. The town has the distinction of having one of the longest and most complicated names in the province.
I’m a former high school teacher of Spanish and French. After I spent two years teaching, I realized that I did not have the vocation for it. Thus I decided to go back to university to study journalism at the University of King’s College in Halifax. I had been involved in the high school newspaper as a teenager and I had really liked it, so I decided to make the switch. I haven’t regretted it yet.
When I accepted the job at The Stettler Independent, I was very excited because it meant I would get to know Alberta. Apart from four days spent in Banff as a teenager and befriending classmates from Calgary and Edmonton at the university, I did not know much about Alberta. In Québec, when we think about Alberta, the first thing that comes to our mind is the oil sands. Then, it’s the Rockies, and for everybody that pays attention to politics, Preston Manning, Stockwell Day and Stephen Harper. Yes, I know, Harper is originally from Ontario, but in our minds, he is associated with Alberta. Basically, we’re envious of the oil sands and the Rockies, and we’re wary of Alberta politicians.
I drove all the way from Québec City, ostensibly to be able to bring more luggage, but really because I wanted the chance to know parts of Canada that were only familiar from history and geography classes. Mother Nature must have approved my decision because I was always one step ahead of blizzards and snowstorms on the Trans-Canadian Highway.
It was a 4000 km-road trip that lasted four days and it made me travel across five provinces and three time zones. The highlight of my trip was driving along Lake Superior. Even though I’ve seen it on maps more times than I can remember, I was shocked by how big it is. In the Lake Superior Provincial Park, I decided to stop at a lakeside halt to take a better look at it. When I got out of my car, I heard this growling sound and I thought that it announced an incoming truck. I was wrong; it was the sound of the waves crashing on the rocky beach. I also learned that the ice that forms on it is so thick that local residents can go ice fishing when it’s really cold.
I arrived in Stettler on Friday, Jan. 7, just in time for the year’s first blizzard.
So far, people have been nothing but very nice, kind and polite, especially the many people who have helped me when my car got stuck in snow banks.
I’m looking forward to getting more acquainted with Stettler, its inhabitants and the rest of Alberta.