Admiral’s legacy lives on at Esquimalt school

Nigel Brodeur presents to Bertrand Dupain

Vice-Admiral (Ret’d) Nigel Brodeur (left), son of Rear-Admiral Victor Brodeur, presents replicas of his father’s medals to Bertrand Dupain, principal at L’école Victor Brodeur.

In a small Remembrance Day ceremony at l’école Victor Brodeur in Esquimalt a piece of history was passed down.

A set of miniature medals, replicas of those worn by the school’s founder and namesake, Rear-Admiral Victor Brodeur, were presented to the school by Rear-Admiral Brodeur’s son, VAdm (Ret’d) Nigel Brodeur.

“This school meant a lot to my father,” says VAdm Brodeur, who retired as Vice-Admiral and Deputy Chief of Defence Staff in 1987. “I thought it was only right to pass on a tangible connection between him and his legacy.”

The medals are one quarter scale replicas of the medals Rear-Admiral Brodeur acquired during his 37 year career as an officer in the Royal Canadian Navy, including service medals for the coronation of King George V, Croix de Guerre avec Palme en Bronze from France, and the Second World War Victory Medal.

The presentation was conceived as a way for VAdm Brodeur to acknowledge, strengthen, and solidify the bond between his family and the Francophone community in Esquimalt.

“My father started this school as a way to help a community which was, at the time, small and unsupported,” say VAdm Brodeur. “To see his dream reach this point, to have a thriving and exuberant Francophone community in Victoria, is everything my father could have hoped for and more.”

Principal Bertrand Dupain says the presentation came as a welcomed and flattering event.

“It’s an honour to have something so rich in history and personally important to our school’s founder,” he says. “While the school may not be in the form Rear-Admiral Brodeur originally envisioned, it holds the same values and goals, and we hope he would be proud.”

The medals also serve to remind his students and faculty of the rich history behind their school, and looks toward honouring the values therein, says Dupain.

“It’s a part of our history, and to know where we’re going in the future, we have to have a firm grasp on the past,” he says. “With these medals on our walls we will know where our school came from, and it will help us get to where we want to be.”

-Shawn O’Hara, Staff Writer

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