Memramcook remembers Roméo LeBlanc as kind, caring man

Residents in Memramcook, N.B., are remembering former governor general Roméo LeBlanc as a tall, caring man who always had time to talk.

A state funeral for LeBlanc is being organized in Memramcook where he was born and raised. It is expected to held on July 3.

LeBlanc died on Wednesday at 81. He had Alzheimer's disease and suffered a stroke in the months before his death.

LeBlanc was the first Acadian to be appointed Canada's governor general. He served in that position from 1995 to 1999.

A sign posted on the front lawn of Roméo LeBlanc’s childhood home indicates where he grew up.

Rudy LeBlanc, who lives just down the road from the house, recalls his childhood friend as always being eager to help others.

Nicknamed 'the grand Roméo'

"He was quite the organizer when we were young," LeBlanc said. "He organized a baseball team. We didn't have anything — he made bingos and stuff and … we had all our uniforms and we were all set to play baseball," he said, laughing.

"We call him the grand Roméo," Pius LeBlanc, said. "That was his name because he was very tall and he was, you know, he spoke to anybody."

Anita Boudreau, president of the museum run by the historical society in Memramcook, said no one there will forget LeBlanc’s kindness.

"I don't think there's one person that would have wanted to talk to him that he would refuse," Boudreau said.

"He talked to everybody and if you had, you wanted some suggestion or something, he would be there to listen to you and give what he can and help the way he was he would," she said.

Boudreau said people in the village are pleased Roméo LeBlanc will be honoured with a state funeral next week as well as laid to rest in his home community.

Meanwhile, a Mi'kmaq leader described LeBlanc as a gentleman negotiator.

Stephen Augustine, a hereditary chief and member of the Mi'kmaq Grand Council, said he first met LeBlanc while he served as a band councillor in Elsipogtog, N.B. The chief and council there had negotiated a fishing rights agreement with LeBlanc while he served as the federal fisheries minister.

Augustine, now the eastern Maritimes curator of Ethnology at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, said LeBlanc was as refreshing change from First Nation-government relationships of the past.

"His understanding of the diversity, of the nature of the origins of society in Eastern Canada and the rest of Canada, he just espoused a gentleman kind of openess," Augustine said on Friday.

Augustine, who also worked with LeBlanc while he served as governor general, said LeBlanc will be a role model for future relationships with Canada's aboriginal people.