Author(s)	Roger Turene
Publisher	Sutherland House
Publication Year	2025

ISBN: 9781069039668

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Bit Player on Big Stages

A Journey Through Diplomacy, Advocacy, and Cultural Survival

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From the heart of small-town Saint-Pierre-Jolys to the global corridors of diplomacy, Bit Player on Big Stages chronicles Roger Turenne’s extraordinary journey of public service, cultural advocacy, and environmental activism. Born into a Francophone family deeply rooted in Manitoba’s history, Turenne brings a sharp, candid voice to the untold stories of his life as a diplomat, advisor, and conservationist. Dive into an enthralling narrative of courage and conviction, as Turenne navigates unknown or little known moments in Canadian history—from an assassination plot orchestrated by a dictator, to facing Manitoba’s “French language crisis” head-on. Explore the gripping realities of life in Africa during the turbulent 1970s, stand on the front line of Canada’s great linguistic divide, and trek the wilderness of Canada’s endangered spaces. Woven with humor, honesty, and reverence for those who supported him along the way, Bit Player on Big Stages is a testament to the enduring importance of standing up for what matters, and offers inspiration for anyone striving to make a meaningful impact in their community and beyond.

Contributors

Roger Turene

Roger Turene has had a multifaceted career that spans decades, including diplomatic service, government advisory roles, and environmental advocacy. He has written this book simultaneously in French and English, with the French version being published by Les Éditions du Blé. Roger has previously published Mon pays noir sur blanc—regards sur le Manitoba francais on the French community in Manitoba. A dedicated advocate for cultural preservation and environmental protection, Roger continues to inspire through his storytelling and unwavering commitment to public service. He lives with his partner in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Chapter	Contributors	Pages	Year	Price
Foreword In this foreword, Paul G. Thomas introduces Roger Turene’s memoir. View	Paul G. Thomas	4	2025	$0.40
Preface In this preface, Roger Turene introduces his memoir. View	Roger Turene	3	2025	$0.30
Those Who Came Before In this chapter, Turene traces four French-Canadian family lineages from their arrival in New France during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries to their later settlement in Manitoba. View	Roger Turene	11	2025	$1.10
The Sacred and the Profane: Early Life in Saint-Pierre-Jolys In this chapter, Roger Turene traces his family’s decades in Saint-Pierre-Jolys, Manitoba, from the 1940s through the 1970s. View	Roger Turene	11	2025	$1.10
St. Boniface College In this chapter, Turene recounts his time at Jesuit St. Boniface College in Manitoba, from 1956 to 1964, where the institution served as a cornerstone of Francophone cultural survival. View	Roger Turene	6	2025	$0.60
The Hidden Books In this chapter, Turene recounts his experiences hiding French books from a school inspector, discussing the underground resistance to language suppression in Manitoba. View	Roger Turene	3	2025	$0.30
Rockets In this chapter, Turene discusses his amateur rocketry programme in Winnipeg in the late 1950s, which he started because of the launch of Sputnik. View	Roger Turene	9	2025	$0.90
Politics: A Family Affair In this chapter, Turene traces the Préfontaine family’s multi-generational involvement in Manitoba politics from the early 1900s through the 1960s. View	Roger Turene	6	2025	$0.60
Consequential Summers In this chapter,Turene discusses two transformative summer jobs he held in Winnipeg during 1963 and 1965: guiding tourists through the Manitoba Legislative Building under Premier Roblin, and … View	Roger Turene	7	2025	$0.70
First Steps on the Big Stage In this chapter, Turene examines his early political and academic involvement in Manitoba’s Francophone rights movement during the mid-1960s. View	Roger Turene	10	2025	$1.00
Hitting the Ground Running In this chapter, Turene recountshis first weeks at External Affairs in Ottawa in 1967 and 1968. View	Roger Turene	8	2025	$0.80
Discovering Canada In this chapter, Turene examines his reassigment to the Personnel Operations Division in Ottawa in 1969, where he secures a UNESCO posting in Paris. View	Roger Turene	7	2025	$0.70
Sink or Swim in Paris In this chapter, Turene recounts his first posting in Paris in 1969, at Canada’s UNESCO delegation. View	Roger Turene	13	2025	$1.30
A Stillborn Editorial Career In this chapter, Turene examines his experiences as co-editor of International Perspectives, a new foreign policy magazine. View	Roger Turene	5	2025	$0.50
A Thwarted Assassination In this chapter, Turene discusses how, n 1973, during a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Ottawa, a plot by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin to assassinate acting Foreign Minister Paul Etiang … View	Roger Turene	6	2025	$0.60
Life in the Heart of Darkness: Kinshasa In this chapter, Turene paints a portrait of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, tracing its suffering from Belgian colonialism through Patrice Lumumba’s assassination in 1960 to … View	Roger Turene	11	2025	$1.10
Authenticité and Zairianisation In this chapter, Turene examines Mobutu’s nationalist policies in Zaire, beginning with Authenticité in 1973, which renamed cities and citizens, and the more destructive … View	Roger Turene	9	2025	$0.90
In the Jungle with Radio-Canada In this chapter, Turene recounts his experiences in Zaire, where a Radio-Canada crew filmed a forestry project in the Congo River basin. View	Roger Turene	10	2025	$1.00
That’s an Order, Young Man! In this chapter, Turene discusses his experiences with political and diplomatic friction in Zaire. View	Roger Turene	5	2025	$0.50
Rwanda and Burundi In this chapter, Turene discusses Canadian diplomat Richard Howard’s 1974 journey through Rwanda and Burundi, a region still reeling from the 1972 Burundi genocide. View	Roger Turene	13	2025	$1.30
Clandestine Gatherings and Charging Gorillas In this chapter, Turene recounts a series of extraordinary encounters in eastern Zaire during the 1970s, when Mobutu’s state policies upended daily life. View	Roger Turene	10	2025	$1.00
My Rumble in the Jungle In this chapter, Turene recounts the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle, when Muhammad Ali defeated George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire, drawing the largest television audience in history. View	Roger Turene	5	2025	$0.50
Negotiating a Treaty In this chapter, Turene recounts a diplomatic mission in which two Canadian officers, including development officer Jacques Ouellette, negotiated a cooperation treaty with the People’s … View	Roger Turene	6	2025	$0.60
Confronting Apartheid In this chapter, Turene describes a personal encounter with apartheid in South Africa, where racial segregation permeated daily life. View	Roger Turene	5	2025	$0.50
Angola: Stillbirth of a Nation In this chapter, Turene recounts Angola’s dramatic independence in 1975, following Portugal’s Carnation Revolution of 1974. View	Roger Turene	13	2025	$1.30
Would You REALLY Want to Stay Here Another Year? In this chapter, Turene recounts his two years in Kinshasa, Zaire, during the Mobutu era. View	Roger Turene	4	2025	$0.40
Life in the Heart of Enlightenment: Stockholm In this chapter, Turene explores Swedish egalitarianism and participatory democracy based on his experiences as a Canadian diplomat stationed in Stockholm. View	Roger Turene	7	2025	$0.70
Félix In this chapter, Turene discusses the journey of Félix Mayemba Nzinga, a domestic worker from Kinshasa, Zaire, who served a Canadian diplomatic family in Stockholm in the late 1980s. View	Roger Turene	6	2025	$0.60
My Colleague the Murderer In this chapter, Turene examines how Jeff Blackstock’s father, Canadian diplomat George Blackstock, poisoned his wife Carol in 1958, exploiting diplomatic immunity to evade prosecution. View	Roger Turene	5	2025	$0.50
Pierre Trudeau, Olof Palme, the King, the Queen, and Dining at the Operakällaren In this chapter, Turene traces relationships between Canada and Sweden from the mid-1970s through 2023. View	Roger Turene	7	2025	$0.70
At the Top of One’s Game … and Fed Up In this chapter, Turene discusses his final year in Stockholm. View	Roger Turene	7	2025	$0.70
Naked in the Streets of Athens In this chapter, Turene discusses an inspection tour of embassies in Ankara, Athens, and Madrid in January 1981. View	Roger Turene	10	2025	$1.00
The Joy of Spying … on Friends In this chapter, Turene traces Canada’s seventy-year involvement in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, established in 1941. View	Roger Turene	10	2025	$1.00
Rumble in Gotliebland In this chapter, Turene discusses his turbulent years within Canada’s Department of External Affairs under Under Secretary Allan Gotlieb. View	Roger Turene	9	2025	$0.90
Mon pays noir sur blanc In this chapter, Turene discusses his experiences returning home to Manitoba after twelve years abroad. View	Roger Turene	6	2025	$0.60
Told Ya! In this chapter, Turene discusses his return to Manitoba in 1981 to develop French-language government services, a position created after the Supreme Court struck down the province’s 1890 … View	Roger Turene	6	2025	$0.60
How Far to Go Too Far In this chapter, Turene examines how in August 1981, Manitoba’s French Language Services Secretariat began operating with virtually no infrastructure, under Premier Sterling Lyon. View	Roger Turene	6	2025	$0.60
Threat and Opportunity: The Bilodeau Case In this chapter, Turene discusses the Bilodeau case, spanning 1980 to 1983, tracing how a speeding ticket in Ste. Agathe, Manitoba, exposed the province’s failure to honour its bilingual … View	Roger Turene	14	2025	$1.40
Crisis, Part I In this chapter, Turene traces the political crisis that erupted in Manitoba in May 1985 when Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau inadvertently disclosed a government agreement on official … View	Roger Turene	15	2025	$1.50
Crisis, Part II In this chapter, Turene recounts the 1983 Manitoba constitutional crisis over French language rights, pitting Premier Pawley’s NDP government against the Conservatives and drawing federal … View	Roger Turene	11	2025	$1.10
The Aftermath In this chapter, Turene traces the quiet aftermath of the 1984 Manitoba French language confrontation, as the legislative building fell silent and the national debate simply vanished. View	Roger Turene	7	2025	$0.70
The Final Act In this chapter, Turene traces the political turbulence surrounding Manitoba’s bilingual legislation from 1985 to 1988. View	Roger Turene	11	2025	$1.10
Yukon Calling In this chapter, Turene recounts a 1987 assessment of French language services in the Yukon, commissioned by Premier Tony Pennikett’s NDP government. View	Roger Turene	5	2025	$0.50
Dealing with a New Reality: The Tories Return to Power In this chapter, Turene examines the 1988 Manitoba election aftermath, when the Progressive Conservatives, led by Gary Filmon, returned to power as a minority government following a Liberal surge. View	Roger Turene	8	2025	$0.80
Redemption: Gary Filmon and the Francophone Community In this chapter, Turene examines Premier Gary Filmon’s 1989 address to the Société franco-manitobaine, a speech that redefined Manitoba’s French language policy and … View	Roger Turene	10	2025	$1.00
Québec and Me: It’s Complicated In this chapter, Turene traces the fraught relationship between Québec and Francophone minorities in Manitoba, spanning from the 1981 ACCT meeting in Libreville to the 1986 Versailles Summit … View	Roger Turene	7	2025	$0.70
On Becoming an Environmental Activist In this chapter, Turene discusses his experiences with environmental activism in Manitoba, beginning in 1991. View	Roger Turene	14	2025	$1.40
Endangered Spaces and the Art of Greenwash In this chapter, Turene examines the Endangered Spaces Campaign, a ten-year World Wildlife Fund effort to establish protected areas across Canada, focusing on Manitoba during the Filmon administration. View	Roger Turene	7	2025	$0.70
Killing a National Park In this chapter, Turene traces the 1992 political battle over siting a national park in Manitoba’s Lowlands, where Premier Sterling Lyon’s refusal and later Minister Harry … View	Roger Turene	6	2025	$0.60
Blue Wilderness In this chapter, Turene traces the 1992 to 1994 campaign to establish a national park at Little Limestone Lake and Long Point in Manitoba’s northern Interlake. View	Roger Turene	11	2025	$1.10
A National Park Struggles to Be Born In this chapter, Turene traces the decades-long effort to establish a national park in Manitoba’s Lowlands, spanning the early 1990s through the early 2020s. View	Roger Turene	13	2025	$1.30
Little Limestone Lake In this chapter, Turene traces the two-decade campaign, culminating in 2011, to secure protection for Little Limestone Lake, a remarkable marl lake in northwestern Manitoba. View	Roger Turene	12	2025	$1.20
Sometimes Goliath Wins In this chapter, Turene follows a transformative friendship with Alice Chambers, a dedicated conservation volunteer in Manitoba, and examines the persistent struggles of environmental advocates … View	Roger Turene	7	2025	$0.70
The View from the Ninth Decade In this chapter, Turene discusses his four-decade partnership with Pat, her passing in 2013, and his later companionship with Vivianne. View	Roger Turene	9	2025	$0.90
Lives Lived, The Globe and Mail, December 31, 1999 This tribute, published in the Globe and Mail on December 31, 1999, memorializes Alice Katrina Chambers, a Manitoba microbiologist and environmental advocate. View	Roger Turene	3	2025	$0.30

Bit Player on Big Stages

A Journey Through Diplomacy, Advocacy, and Cultural Survival

Contributors

Roger Turene

Welcome