French Catholic heritage on the prairies.

On March 31, the History channel aired a new documentary entitled Pioneer Priest: Msgr. Bourdel, which was part of the series "A Scattering of Seeds: The Creation of Canada." It is the work of Saskatchewan filmmaker Donna Caruso, who investigated Msgr. Bourdel's story following some clues and advice from Archbishop James Weisgerber.

Constant Jean-Baptiste Bourdel was "an ailing 42-year-old priest" who in 1904 decided to emigrate to Canada with his nephew. They settled in Saskatchewan in the area that would later become Prud'homme. After three years of saying Mass in a tent and other makeshift facilities, Father Bourdel built a church in 1907 and later had the Daughters of Providence open a school. He devoted the rest of his life to the development of the parish and ministering to its people, even mastering the Hungarian language in order to minister to immigrants from that country. He died in 1951.

In Alberta the Western Catholic Reporter has drawn attention to the "open history book" project started in the small bilingual township of Legal, north of Edmonton, which decided to commemorate its history by painting large murals.

The town of 1000 people was named after Emile Legal, the first Bishop of Edmonton, who appears on one of the large murals (27 are planned). These are painted walls of various buildings in the community. Other murals with a Catholic connection commemorate the Oblate Fathers, the Grey Nuns (founders of the first school), and various individual religious whose influence was felt on the area.

The Centralta French Association initiated the construction of the murals. Their president, Ernest Chauvet, has this to say about the project, ". . the people of Legal are not scared to express their Christian roots."