About Patenaude Fang Shen Do Kung Fu

Biography - Sijo Jacques Patenaude

I come from a small town in Eastern Ontario called Embrun. A farmer’s town back then, corn fields galore, there are 5 kids in my family, and I am the second eldest. Times were pretty rough in the 50’s. We were very poor with not much to do but work in the field, play hockey and fight.

They say that to know where a man comes from, you have to understand where he has been.  For this reason, I have decided to include a little personal history about myself.  I do this, not to seek accolades, but to help you, the reader, understand where I, and accordingly, Fang Shen Do, comes from. 

I come from a very poor family with a strict upbringing.  My childhood was spent on a farm with lots of manual labor.  As a result of this, I was introduced to the concepts of hard work and discipline at an early age. On the farm, everyone was expected to pull their weight and then some. 

Before anybody taught me how to punch or kick in the martial arts, I have to admit that I was already a natural fighter, coming from a long line of fighters. I remember being a little kid, listening to my uncles and grand-fathers talk about fighting like it was gospel. They would talk about the people they had beat, the alcohol they drank, the women they had. To me, it seemed like they were giants, I decided then that I wanted to be just like them.

As a young boy, they would give me money if I fought in school, so I did.  Hitting someone became very natural to me, a way of saying hello.  One of my early memories would be when I’d sneak in the barn and see my uncle slapping himself in the face just before going out to the bar, so he’d be ready for a fight.  This was my early introduction to intensity training.

Maybe they were not the best role models, but they did teach me a lot of lessons that I would carry forward in life. They taught me to have pride in family and to stick together. They taught me how to demand respect (and to get it).  Furthermore they taught me not to be intimidated and how to intimidate.  From them, I also learned about unleashing the inner monster and to be very natural. 

The people in those days were from a different breed.  It was not uncommon for a family to plant 100 fence posts, dug by hand, in one day.  This was before the days of heavy machinery.  This type of hard work and commitment was so prevalent that it usually escaped comment.  People were just expected to get the job done properly and to work hard.  You would never hear anyone asking for a union or smoke break.  From sun up to sun down, there was work to be done.

To some that might sound depressing, but it was a time of fun and family.  Due to the amount of work that needed to be completed, parents raised big families.  There is an adage that the family that works together, stays together.  Whatever the reason there was a real sense of family, with much singing and laughter as long as nobody got out of line.

In the 1930’s

From the family history, we were told that we inherited this particular trait of intensity and aggressiveness from a great-uncle named Omer Trudeau.  This gentleman was an accomplished boxer and street fighter.  He did not work, but rather made his living knocking people out for money.  He would travel from bar to bar and the question was always the same “who is the best man here”.  He would tell that person that if you could knock him out, he would give them anywhere between ten to thirty dollars.  This was a considerable amount of money back in 1930.  The richest “purse” he ever fought for was $100.  The history is that he never lost a fight.

Mr. Trudeau passed on his love for fighting and the experiences that he had gained to his nephews, my Uncles.  They then passed it on to my cousins and myself.  As a kid, I remember a typical Saturday night:  We would gather in the barn, with our uncles watching, and one by one we would fight the neighbor’s kids. We respected our Uncles so much; we made sure that we would never lose in front of them.  Back then everything was barehanded – although at the end, I did manage to get a pair of boxing gloves from Montreal.

My goal for starting in the martial arts was very different from the norm. Having a very short fuse and being brought up in a very aggressive environment, I was a fighter from early childhood.  My main focus included working on my personal development once I had become a grown man.  At that time, I went to the martial arts looking to learn finesse.  The one thing that I never forgot was that fighting was natural and to always trust my gut instinct.  The techniques are not important – the feeling and the individual is.

Even at an early age, I knew I had to work on myself, and the martial arts were the way to do it.  My family did not understand my reasons at the time.  They would always ask me why I needed the martial arts, I already knew how to fight.  I tried to make them understand that the martial arts were a vehicle for development, both internally and externally. It allowed me to develop into the Instructor, Man, Father, Husband and Grand-father that I am today.  It allowed me to create Fang Shen Do, an art based on real life and real people.  It has allowed me to touch thousands of lives and help people grow on so many different levels.  Much has changed since those early days, but the lessons I learned have survived.

I was never supposed to succeed. I was told I would never amount to anything. I could not speak proper English until I was 20 years old. I never finished High School. As a teenager I was in constant trouble with the law. I left home for good when I was 17 with no money and no car. Yet I managed to build the largest chain of kung-fu schools in Canada.

How did I do it? Read on.

You had to learn fast on the farm. My father got me driving the tractor when I was 5. He couldn’t operate the tractor and load the hay at the same time so I was brought in for the job.

I also drove my first truck to town when I was 11. A 5 speed Red “International”, I had a hard time reaching for the clutch.

I had big dreams and lots of ambition. There was always something going on and I would never take no for an answer.

I drove to Miami with a buddy of mine when I was 16 years old, without a license in a 1950 Chev. We were looking for adventure and filled with teenage angst. We were at a local dance one night and just decided to take off. No packing, no planning. I had $2 in my pocket and my friend had $70. We left for one month.

There wasn’t any analyzing and testing and waiting until you were ready in those days and I think that’s something that’s missing today. The general rule is: Wait until you have your diploma, wait until your totally confident, wait until you have all the credentials, wait until you have enough experience. My experience tells me, that’s the wrong school of thought.

How I got started

My dad got me my first pair of boxing gloves when I was 9 years old. We would invite all the neighbor’s kids to our barn for some friendly matches. It wasn’t long before the groups got smaller and smaller to eventually, no one showing up.

We would always play with the neighbor’s kids. From wrestling to hockey and one of them, Rémi, introduced me to Ju-Jitsu in 1968.

I also had a subscription to Weider Magazines. I wanted to develop myself and I thought bodybuilding was the answer. We managed to order a 165 pound barbell set from the Weider Institute. The only problem was we didn’t have a ride to go pick it up. So my brother (10 years old) and I (14 at the time) had to walk 5 miles into town to get it, and carry it another 5 miles back home. My brother cried and moaned all the way. I was stubborn and giving up just wasn’t an option.

I had pizza for the first time in 1971. And the owner (George) always talked about karate and Bruce Lee. I was intrigued and this started a chain of events that would change my life forever.

My first martial arts demo was the “International World of Self-Defense” in 1972. Then again in 73, 74, and 75. There was Al Dacascos, Harry Villeneuve, John Thérien, André Langelier, and Frank De Felice. It was amazing, some would break blocks of ice, some would chop off bottle caps, one would take direct hits to the groin and throat, all in all a great demonstration of martial art skills. They would come back every year and I never missed one.

My first Bruce Lee movie was Big Boss (Released as: Fists of Fury in North America), Christmas 1973. I also enjoyed “5 Fingers of Death.”

Back in those days it really was magical. Everyone wanted to learn martial arts especially kung-fu. Then it was Karate with the Karate Kid, then it was Aikido with Stephen Seagal, Tae-Bo with Billy Blanks and now the big MMA craze in the UFC. Trends come and go, believe me I’ve seen them all. Some things that never go out of style are the qualities of discipline, respect, loyalty, commitment and dedication.

My Certification

Before meeting my instructor I was training like a madman. Performing 2 finger push-ups on one arm, thumb push-ups, side kick holds over my head, lifting 140 lbs with one arm while weighing only 120 lbs, running 5 miles a day and a dedicated Karatéka.

I first came in contact with James W. DeMile in 1976 after seeing an article in Black belt magazine announcing a Wing Chun Do seminar in Sarnia, Ontario. We met in 1977 and immediately connected. I attended most of his seminars in Detroit, Sedro Wooley, Seattle, and New York from 1977 to 1979. I completed his 3 week teacher’s certification course on June 30th 1979.

Always a man of action I opened my first school that summer to eventually settle at our Catherine Street location where we still hold our headquarter school after nearly 30 years in business.

We maintained a close relationship for several years, inviting my Sifu to come down for seminars, audio & video tutoring, & camps. I appeared in WCD’s Power Punch Book as you can see from the pictures below.

I was predominantly praised as one of the top guys in the organization and one of only 5 schools accredited to teach WCD. If you read carefully you’ll notice my name in the list of accredited schools on the second page of this old 1981 WCD newsletter.

It was very special for a long time, I felt privileged to be studying under an original student of Bruce Lee. DeMile was a student but most importantly, a training partner of Bruce Lee. There is a difference. How many instructors today would love to say they trained and helped Bruce Lee in the early stages of JKD development. 

Here I am in a traditional Tu-Di (disciple) photograph with my Sifu as a Black Sash.