The Birth of the Centre

With this in mind, a first Museum of Emigration, founded in 1987, contributed to keeping alive the memory of these emigrants and welcoming their descendents who come to refresh their ties with the land of their ancestors.

In 1998, instigated by the Communauté de Communes du Haut-Perche and the Perche-Canada Association and with the support of the French and Canadian governments, the idea was born for a place of commemoration that would celebrate the epic journey made by these people who left from all parts of France.

Perche, homeland of the first emigrants, was the obvious location for the Museum of French Emigration to Canada, and it was Tourouvre, a parish that had contributed the most to this extraordinary adventure, that was chosen to house this international site.