an accordion player. I played bass, sang and
wrote songs. As you might imagine, playing
with two “Newfies” was great fun, but my
studies paid the price, I tell you—especial-
ly when we started to play the club scene.
Getting home at 3 a.m. after a few sets and
making it to class the following day took
its toll from time to time. But I made it! I
graduated from Humber in 1979, earning
the Bay of Quinte Funeral Directors As-
sociation award in the process (I’m proud
of that one!) Not long afterwards, I landed
a job as an embalmer at Racine, Robert &
Gauthier Funeral Homes in Ottawa, where
I was employed for about six years. I really
enjoyed my work there and still found time
to write songs. I wrote two of my most pop-
ular recordings, “Men of No Tomorrows”
and “A Song for Lech Walesa,” right there
in the embalming room, and several others.
I was also out there playing my music on
the club and casino circuits every chance
I got.
I had a couple of pretty catchy tunes
picked up by CKBY radio in Ottawa, in-
cluding “King of the Ottawa City Cow-boys,” which I wrote after venturing into a
place called Sidewinders that was having
a mechanical-bull riding contest. A young
lady won the trophy, and I got a song out of
the experience, which I wrote on the spot
after asking the barkeeper if he had a pen I
could borrow. The song ended up winning
a songwriting contest later on, but that’s
another story.
I eventually moved on to run my own
funeral services establishment, which I
did right up until retirement a few years
ago. Although I never landed a record con-
tract with a major label, I recorded three
albums, one entirely in French, and re-
ceived some decent air play over the years.
I’m now back where it all began in Tim-
mins, working on album No. 4 and spend-
ing time looking into my Métis heritage.
One of the most discouraging things I
discovered is that my great-grandmother
Marguerite, the Cherokee from whom my
Métis heritage stems, was buried in 1935
in Timmins, but the exact location where
she was laid to rest in the cemetery was
either never recorded or the records were
lost. The same thing happened with her
husband Michel Levert’s gravesite, too.
It’s confirmed that they were both buried
there, but nobody knows precisely where,
so it’s impossible for me to visit.PROUD OF MÉTIS HERITAGE
I have taken the time to obtain my Certif-
icate of Aboriginal Status card and so I’m
a proud member of the Painted Feather
Woodland Métis, which I vow to have in-
scribed on my tombstone when my time
comes, along with the image of a feath-
er and a few words from one of my songs.
Things have changed from my childhood
days when I was first called “half-breed”; at
least there are some government programs
in place to help upcoming generations of
Métis get ahead in life, my own children
included. I have grown to find my own
place in the world, with friends and a won-
derful family around me, in a hometown
that encourages me in my pursuit of music.
Thankfully, there are still many roads to be
travelled and songs to be sung. QMUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS
Music has been a big part of Paul’s life since child-
hood. Throughout his career in the mines, and in the
funeral industry, Paul continued to write songs and
play country music. Most of his songwriting relates to
Canada or his hometown of Timmins, Ont., and draws
inspiration from personal experiences, local lore and
national history and events. He has released three
albums to date, including one in French, and still loves
to play live. He’s toured many club circuits, has re-
ceived plenty of airplay, and one of his songs, “A Song
for Lech Walesa,” was featured on a movie soundtrack.
He is now working on Album No. 4. For more details,
Paul can be reached at [email protected].26 More of Our Canada SEPTEMBER 2019