Jean-Marie-Raphaël Le Jeune

Jean-Marie-Raphaël Le Jeune (born Jean-Marie; 12 April 1855 – 21 November 1930) was a French Canadian Roman Catholic priest, Oblate of Mary Immaculate, missionary, linguist, author, and newspaper publisher.

Early life and ordination

Born in Pleyber-Christ in Brittany in northwestern France, Le Jeune was educated in his village and in the neighbouring town of Saint-Pol-de-Léon. At the age of eighteen he began his theological studies at Autun in Burgundy, where he was ordained on 7 June 1879. Soon after, he volunteered for missionary service, and was assigned to the Indian missions of British Columbia.

Training in Chinook Jargon and missionary work at Fraser Canyon

Le Jeune and another young missionary, Father Eugène-Casimir Chirouse, travelled to North America in the company of Bishop Paul Durieu, who on the voyage across the Atlantic instructed them in the basic vocabulary of Chinook Jargon, a pidgin trade language in use in the Pacific Northwest composed of Chinookan, Nootkan, French, and English. After crossing the continent by train and travelling by steamer from San Francisco, the party arrived in New Westminster in October 1879, where Le Jeune spent the winter. The following June he was sent to the Fraser Canyon area to begin his missionary work among the Indians and minister to the Catholics who were among the thousands of workmen then employed in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. While there, Le Jeune began his study of the Thompson language.

Assignments at an Indian Residential School and in Indian Reserves

In the fall of 1880, Le Jeune was sent to St. Mary's Mission, which had been established by the Oblates in 1861 as the centre for missionary activity among the Indians of the Lower Fraser Valley, where he spent the next two years. The system was widely adopted among the native community and in 1891 Le Jeune launched a newspaper written in English and Chinook Jargon called the Kamloops Wawa. Both the Wawa and Le Jeune's Indian pupils received international recognition at shorthand competitions and exhibitions in France. At the exhibition at Montlhéry in May, 1896, Le Jeune was awarded a gold medal as editor of the WaWa, and entries from two of his Indian pupils were awarded bronze. Further awards were received at the exposition at Nancy in October of that year, while at the Shorthand Exposition and Concours held at Roubaix from January to May 1897, the Wawa won another gold medal and fifty diplomas were awarded to the highest-ranking of the entries submitted by 150 Indians from the Kamloops, Shuswap, and surrounding areas.