When we welcomed artist Marie-Hélène Massy Emond (Massy Emond) for a residency at the Musée de la Gare last year, one question stayed with us: how could we preserve a trace of what she would experience and gather here?

The podcast This train_Temiscaming is that trace. It was born out of a need for collective memory. It brings together sounds from our streets, the forest, and the mill, but above all, the words of those who carry Témiscaming in their daily lives.

Marie-Hélène sets out from Rouyn-Noranda one evening in March 2023: black dust covers the snow, a freight train rumbles, and people are advised not to let children or pets outside. She recounts how these images drove her to come here, microphone in hand, to listen to the voices and sounds of Témiscaming after the layoffs at the mill.

She speaks of the gospel song This Train, of a "train where everyone has a place," and questions that dream in light of the history of railroads, labor, and exploited resources. She wants to know: what keeps us standing, dancing, hoping?

Her journey begins here, at the foot of the station.

Thanks to Émilie Parent-Bouchard, Mathilde Benigus, Dominic Lafontaine, and Emily Marie Séguin for their shared reflections and artistic contributions.

This project was initiated in collaboration with the Musée de la gare and made possible with support from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the City of Rouyn-Noranda, and the Commission culturelle MRC Témiscamingue.
 

Hi Médérik,

I just came back from a conversation with Cassandra Dandy, a young student and former worker at the Témiscaming sawmill. She shared her thoughts with me about her culture, her future, and her love for work. And then, at the national archives, I experienced a kind of back-and-forth between the words of a union leader from Témiscaming, the issue of land assignment in this colonial, post-colonial, neo-colonial world (...!) and all the passion and resistance that living beings, human or not, put into that same world.
It made me think of you so many times.

Your friend from Lac La Motte,

Marie-Hélène

Click here to listen to “Episode 2 : Lettre à Médérik Sioui”

Hi guys,

I'm walking toward the cemetery in Témiscaming. My heart feels heavy and my mind is full of the thoughts, ideas, and emotions I’ve gathered from the people living in your town today, in 2025. It’s ironic to have to walk through a golf course to reach your cemetery, which is just past the dump. Six feet underground, you still have a view of the mill.

I hope the voice of your descendants reaches you.

Your friend who understands,

Marie-Hélène Massy Emond

Click here to listen to “Episode 3 : Lettre à la mémoire ouvrière de Témiscaming”