The family left Besançon in 1951 and they traveled by boat. The reason they left was largely due to financial difficulties caused by World War II, but Germaine had also been struggling with her marriage. Her husband liked to play rugby and go out with "the boys" for drinks. Part of the decision was Germaine wanting to separate her husband from that and start over. Her father said that if it didn't work out he would pay for them to come back, so she felt as though this was the right decision to make.

They landed in Boston after a long journey on the SS Europa and then made the trip up to Canada. Unfortunately, Monique is unsure of the specificities of that trip.

They did not spend a lot of time in either Nova Scotia or Montreal, they were just stops along the way to get to Quebec, which was the families final destination.

The family knew someone in Quebec already who owned a dairy farm. They went to live with them and work on the farm until they got on their feet. They worked on that farm for a few months until they moved about 13 miles away to have their own farm.