Actress Viola Léger, celebrated as an ambassador for Acadian people, has died | CBC News

Acadian actress Viola Léger died on Saturday, according to a release from Carol Doucet at Le Grenier musique.

Léger was 92.

Her ​most notable role was the character of La Sagouine, a humble Acadian cleaning woman. She played the role more than 3,000 times in the play by Acadian author Antonine Maillet.

“She has always been one of my greatest friends, and certainly, the greatest actress that l’Acadie has ever known,” Maillet said in the release. 

The release goes on to say that Léger’s start in acting began accidentally, when Maillet, before launching her book, asked Léger to perform a few excerpts.

Léger’s first performance of the play was in 1971, followed by performances in the U.S., France and Belgium in both French and English.

She spent her summers from 1993 to 2016 at the Pays de la Sagouine in Bouctouche, where she played the character.

But her acting didn’t stop at La Sagouine. She performed over 30 roles during her career, including plays, films and television shows.

In 1985, she started her own theatre company, the Compagnie Viola Léger. In 1999, she created the Viola Léger Foundation, which awarded scholarships to actors at the beginning of their careers.

Léger also served in Canada’s Senate from 2001 to 2006. She also taught high school literature and drama for 15 years.

She earned a range of awards and honours over the years, including theatre awards, the Officer of the Order of Canada in 1989, the Order of New Brunswick in 2007 and four honorary doctorates. 

École élémentaire Viola-Léger, an Ontario elementary school, is named after her.

In 2017, Léger suffered a stroke, which led to her withdrawal from public life. Up until the summer before the stroke, she continued to play the role of La Sagouine in Bouctouche.

National, local impact

After the news of Léger’s death, Minister of Official Languages Ginette Petitpas Taylor took to Twitter to praise the late Acadian actress.

“Never has Acadie had a more faithful ambassador than she for whom La Sagouine was not only the role of a career [and] a lifetime, but also represented a great symbol of pride for all Acadians,” she wrote.

The Société Nationale de l’Acadie also took to Facebook late Saturday night to pay tribute.

Martin Théberge, the president of the society, said in the post that he sent his condolences to the family on behalf of Acadie as a whole.

The post said Léger reminded Acadian people that they could “move forward by enriching themselves from the past and the great common sense of their ancestors,” translated from French.

Caraquet MLA Isabelle Thériault tweeted in French on Sunday that Léger gave Acadian people “a voice, a breath, a reach.”

“Exceptional actress, extraordinary ambassador, she was for all of us an inspiration and a symbol of tenacity,” wrote Thériault.

René Cormier, independent senator for New Brunswick, tweeted that Léger offered an “invaluable legacy,” adding that she will “remain one of our greatest cultural ambassadors.”