''Marie-Soleil'' was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

children's television show in the 1980s and early 1990s, which aired on many stations associated with the

CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned List of Canadian ...

.Janice Kennedy, "Suzanne Pinel wants Quebecers to catch the spirit of Marie- Soleil". ''

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

'', November 24, 1990. The show, starring children's entertainer Suzanne Pinel, used stories and songs to teach French to

anglophone The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

kids. The series was initially produced by

Mid-Canada Communications Mid-Canada Communications (Canada) Corp. was a Canadian media company, which operated from 1980 to 1990. The company, a subsidiary of Northern Cable, had television and radio holdings in Northeastern Ontario. MCTV Mid-Canada Television, or MCTV, ...

for the MCTV stations in

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

in 1984,Audrey M. Ashley
"Music Pinel's medium for teaching kids French"
''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'', November 8, 1984. and shot in

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...

;Tony Atherton, "CJOH ends morning show era; After 15 years- unscripted format replaces magazine". ''

'', July 6, 1987. however, as a resident of

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Pinel found travelling to Sudbury on a regular basis to film the show difficult to reconcile with raising her children, so after a single season it went on hiatus before production was relaunched on Ottawa's

CJOH-TV CJOH-DT (channel 13) is a television station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, serving the National Capital Region (Canada), National Capital Region as part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside ...

in 1987. The puppet character, an English-speaking dog named Fergus, was played by Jon Park-Wheeler. There was also a clown named Samuel, played by Suzanne Lalonde, who spoke with sign language for the hearing impaired. The series was also later broadcast in reruns on YTV and later

TFO TFO is a Canadian French language educational television channel and media organization serving the province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority (OTELFO), a Crown corporation owned by t ...

References

1984 Canadian television series debuts 1980s Canadian children's television series 1990s Canadian children's television series 1980s preschool education television series 1990s preschool education television series CTV Television Network original programming French-language media in Ontario Sign language television shows Television series by Bell Media Television shows filmed in Greater Sudbury Television shows filmed in Ottawa French-language education in Canada {{ottawa-stub