Avoyelles PJ to consider 'twinning' with Bellechasse County, Quebec

 

“Twinning” or “Sister City” agreements between municipalities are common in this state, but the Avoyelles Police Jury is looking to take that type of program to the next level. The Police Jury adopted a resolution at its May 12 meeting to promote the development of a twinning agreement with Bellechasse County, Quebec.

 

Sheldon Roy, president of the Avoyelles Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL), presented the proposal to the jury.

 

Roy said Bellechasse is similar in population, interests and economy to Avoyelles. The name is French for “good hunt,” and Roy said outdoors activities like hunting and fishing are very important to the residents of that county just as they are to residents of Avoyelles.

Roy said both areas are rural and heavily agricultural.

 

He noted that his family line in Avoyelles originated with Joseph Marie Francois Le Roy, who was born in the Bellechasse County town of Saint-Michel in 1739 and died in Avoyelles in 1827.

 

Other Avoyelles surnames that originated in Canada include  Bernard, Voiselle, Couvillon, Dauzat, Desselles, Gaspard, Joffrion, Juneau, LaChenay, Moreau, Normand, Saucier and St. Romain, Roy said.

 

Avoyelles’ goals for the twinning arrangement would include attracting tourists from Bellechasse, promoting the French language in tourism efforts,  strengthening pride in speaking French and the public use of French and to reinforce learning French by exchanges of students and/or members of various organizations in the two “twins.”

 

Roy said the two areas would also work together on projects of shared interest, such as conservation of migratory birds -- many of which start in Canada and winter here -- developing tourism, sharing culinary and brewing techniques and celebrating the roots of their shared culture and history.

 

Roy said that as the twinning arrangement progresses, Avoyelles could export its local products to Bellechasse and import items that are produced there to strengthen the economic -- as well as cultural -- links between the two.

 

A committee from Avoyelles will go to Bellechasse in the near future to meet with local officials of that county to work out a more detailed twinning agreement. Once an agreement is developed, it will be presented to the Police Jury for adoption.

 

Roy said later the agreement could be expanded to include a county in France, providing a triangular agreement that would link the two North American communities with France.