Canada Day provides yet another opportunity for Jonathan Edouard to appreciate his presence in our home and native land.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that I\u2019ve been here for 10 years, I\u2019m applying for citizenship after this (season),\u201d the 30-year-old Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive back says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to college here. I stay here in the off-season. I love this place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edouard has close ties to three countries. His parents, Belo and Enide, emigrated to the United States from Haiti. They have nine children \u2014 Jonathan being the second youngest.<\/p>\n
Born in Orlando, Fla., Edouard spent three years (2014 to 2016) at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Ark. He then enrolled at Carleton University in Ottawa and played three seasons of Canadian college football with the Ravens.<\/p>\n
Edouard emerged with university degrees in sports management (from Henderson State) and film studies (Carleton).<\/p>\n
Due to his extensive U Sports experience, he is classified as a National for CFL purposes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI met a guy named Dondre Wright while I was at Henderson State,\u201d Edouard recalls, referencing the Montreal Alouettes\u2019 Ontario-born third-round selection in the 2017 CFL Canadian Draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018You just got drafted to the CFL. How do I get drafted to the CFL?\u2019 Dondre said, \u2018You can\u2019t. You\u2019re not Canadian. However, they might make a rule one day where if you go to college in Canada, you\u2019ll be a National.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s crazy. It actually happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
The connections to Canada are more than a technicality for Edouard, who lives in Toronto during the off-season.<\/p>\n
Edouard spent his first four CFL seasons (2022 to 2025) with the Argonauts, helping them win Grey Cup championships in 2022 and 2024.<\/p>\n
Toronto won its 2022 title with Corey Mace \u2014 now the Roughriders\u2019 third-year Head Coach \u2014 as the Defensive Co-ordinator.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe may not be a household name in this league for many people, but he\u2019s a vet in this league,\u201d Mace says. \u201cHe knows the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe communicates like crazy out there, which we\u2019ve been preaching since training camp, so he does all the small things that we really like.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to limit explosive passing plays. It\u2019s not always going to be a man-on-man situation but, if it is, he\u2019s a tough joker to run by. He gives you a chance for any deep ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edouard, whose fastest clocking in the 40-yard dash is a blistering 4.27 seconds, made a suitably speedy transition to new surroundings after signing with Saskatchewan on June 17.<\/p>\n
He was in the lineup only three days later when the Roughriders faced the visiting Calgary Stampeders.<\/p>\n
He was elevated to starting duty last Friday when Saskatchewan opposed the Toronto Argonauts at Mosaic Stadium, becoming the Roughriders\u2019 third first-team defensive halfback in as many games.<\/p>\n
Rolan Milligan Jr. (shoulder) was injured in the season opener. JuJu Hughes injured an ankle in Saskatchewan\u2019s second game. Edouard then became a rarity in the NFL \u2014 a starting National defensive halfback.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my dream,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in Ontario or anywhere, you\u2019ll hear, \u2018You\u2019re out in Sask, in the middle of nowhere. No, this is the dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the best brotherhood I\u2019ve ever seen in my career of playing football. I know everyone\u2019s name and I\u2019ve been here for two weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI consider them all my boys, my friends, my teammates for life. I don\u2019t know how to say it any better way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The adjustment wasn\u2019t quite as seamless when Edouard made the move to Ottawa at age 22, leaving his family, the country in which he was raised, and so much of what he knew.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done in my life, but it\u2019s also one of the most freeing things,\u201d he reflects.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was like, \u2018Wow \u2026 you\u2019re so not connected to anything. You\u2019re just trying to be successful.\u2019 I didn\u2019t see it like that. I really missed my mom. I was homesick for about four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom was like, \u2018No, son, you are free.\u2019 It really gave me the perspective of, \u2018Wow, I taught myself how to not need anyone.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just super grateful to call these guys family, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gratitude extends much further when he takes stock on life in Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t really put it into words,\u201d Edouard says. \u201cI could have been born (in Haiti), or I could have not been born, because my parents wouldn\u2019t have had nine kids if we were in Haiti. I have family over there that tells me how hard life is.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be over here in Canada, I\u2019m super grateful for the opportunity and for the safety. I just like living life \u2014 safety, freedom and people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada Day provides yet another opportunity for Jonathan Edouard to appreciate his presence in our home and native…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-775364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}