As someone with zero French ancestry and a mere “hobbyist student” of French, I am on the Franco-American Centre (FACNH) email list and regularly gloss over their newsletters for events of interest. One annual tradition of theirs that I’ve attended the past two times is their executive council meeting event recognizing March as “Francophonie Month.”
I’ve sat in the front row wearing a special shirt I had made for the occasion that’s in compliance with Quebec law. That is making bilingual road signs with a 2/3:1/3 font size ratio with French on top of English and my shirt says “destituez ce maudit empereur” above three fleur-de-lis logos that are above the words “impeach the damn emperor.” After an 8-year tyranny, um, I mean “Sununu regime,” this is the first Francophonie Month “sans le maudit empereur.” However, that’s not the only notable thing about it.
In a March 5 tweet, the FACNH announced the upcoming March 12 meeting of the executive council being extra special because Kelly Ayotte is the first Franco-American governor. I will also add that there’s a park in HER CITY that recognizes its French heritage, noting that the 1936 population of Nashua was nearly 50% French. It’s on a plaque with a statue of a typical “mill girl” employed in the nearby factory that later became the condos locally known as Clocktower Place.
On March 11, an email from the FACNH arrived with the following bilingual memo:
“Due to a scheduling issue, the public ceremony on Wednesday, March 12, celebrating Governor Ayotte’s Proclamation of March as Francophonie Month in NH has been cancelled.
Governor Ayotte will be forwarding a copy of the proclamation to the Franco-American Centre.
While we are disappointed to not have a public event this year, we appreciate your continued support of French language, culture and heritage in NH.”
Puzzled about how an already scheduled and advertised 5 minute ceremony could be considered “a scheduling issue,” I started asking questions, starting with the EC secretary Meagan Rose. She said she didn’t know why but confirmed the next day meeting was still on. Because local elections were on March 11, Ms. Virginia was at the polls instead of giving tours at the state house. I asked her about the cancellation. She confirmed that the responsible party was the Corner Office, not the FACNH. I wanted to learn more, but our conversation got hijacked by voters arriving at the school. Not satisfied with the lack of information, I emailed Councilor Wheeler, who replied with instructions to call him that evening.
I will not quote Wheeler verbatim, but he made some comments according to sources. It appears that Kelly Ayotte is uncomfortable with the current events involving Trump and tariffs. Most readers are familiar with the Ayotte-Trump baggage, but tariffs are a federal matter, and I pointed out to Wheeler that this is our state government. He then added that in addition to this being an annual event, NH is a border state. As everyone must already know, she is a NASHUA governor.
While Kelly Ayotte is not the first Nashua governor, she’s the first one with French ancestry, so her last-minute cancellation is more disappointing than if Judd Gregg or his dad did it. She has NOT been a very good example of a Nashua public servant. However, she’s still better than most of the current ones at the city, state, and federal level, assuming Scanlan counts 44 High Street as a legitimate residence, if you know what I mean. (Wink, wink, nod, nod.)
