The Lafleur Residence

This was one of the first houses in the new settlement of Maillardville. The home was built in 1910 by Charles and Lenora Lafleur (nee Paré) who arrived on their honeymoon from Bromptonville, Quebec. Charles worked for Fraser Mills as an oiler in the maintenance department from his arrival in the community until he retired. Lenora was a part of the large Paré family which made up a substantial portion of the new francophone community. Her father was a community patriarch named Hilaire Paré, who arrived in the community earlier in 1910. His children held important roles in the community; his eldest son Emeri Paré became the Police Chief. His daughter Alva married Richard LeHoux, and they moved into a house at the corner of Begin Street and Brunette Avenue. Coquitlam Heritage has a substantial collection of items from Emeri Paré's descendant Antonio, along with items donated by Arcade Paré. The Paré Family of Maillardville are descended from Robert Paré, the first Paré to emigrate to Canada. He arrived in what is now Quebec city in 1650 and worked as a master carpenter.

The Lafleur house started as a one-story cabin, with a low-pitched roof and a small front portico, and over the years was expanded to fit their growing family. Charles and Lenora Lafleur had a daughter named Fabiola, who lived on the property for 82 years. She married Herbert Van Nerum in 1928 and built a house on the same lot next to her parents. Fabiola’s brother, Jean-Paul, went on to raise his family in the home where he grew up, with his wife Marie Ramsay, who he married in Maillardville in 1941. Marie was born in St. Amelie, Manitoba; she came from a proud Scottish and Métis heritage. Ron Lafleur, Jean-Paul’s son, recalls many happy memories of life in Maillardville in an oral history that was documented in 2021.

LAFLEUR RESIDENCE, 1910, COQUITLAM ARCHIVES C6.1058

The Sullivan Family and the Founding of Place Maillardville

Shirley Sullivan was born Shirley Ann Bergman at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster on November 12, 1936. She lived with her parents (Evert Axel and Mary Blanche Bergman), her brother (Ralph), and her sister (Evelyn) on an acreage on Johnston Road north of the Fraser Highway that her father bought for $1.00 per acre in the early 1930s. Her parents had extensive gardens when she was growing up. Shirley married Douglas Haig Sullivan in 1956, and they had three daughters together (Arlene, Carolyn, and Diane). The Sullivan family bought a home in Maillardville in 1972, which was previously owned by the Lafleur family. The address was 1134 Cartier Avenue and was just up the street from Laval Square. Laval Square was the heart of the francophone settlement, surrounded by houses built on large lots with lumber from Fraser Mills.

In the early 1970s, the Sullivan family moved into the Lafleur house and made a major contribution to the neighbourhood’s Francophone community. In the mid-1970s, Shirley Sullivan applied for a grant from the Federal Government, which aimed to assist French Canadian community development west of Manitoba. She received a $500,000 grant, which was used to build a community centre and gathering place called Place Maillardville Community Centre, which stood on the land beside the Lafleur home from 1977 to 2022, when it was replaced with the new, expanded Maillardville Community Centre.