What do we know today about New France? What do we keep in memory, if not a few images of Épinal? For some, nostalgic for a fantasy, it is a paradise lost. For others, righters of anachronistic wrongs, it boils down to Western colonial aggression against the First Peoples. For the majority of Quebecers, I note with regret, New France is a memory lapse. That says a lot about the health of our national feeling.
We do have short memories. It is limited, too often, to our lifetime. Thus, the oldest among us are able to evoke Duplessis and the youngest barely manage to have an idea of René Lévesque. It gives the impression that Quebecers believe they were born by spontaneous generation.
This indifference to history, which is precisely the discipline allowing us to visit and know the past which precedes our lifetime but which retains an influence on it, partly explains the superficiality of our political universe. Without a sense of history, indeed, it is difficult to distinguish the essential from the incidental in the life of a people.
We must therefore welcome any initiative aimed at putting history in the spotlight, in a form accessible to the general public. This is the case of the Journal of the history of New France, which publishes its first issue this season, published by Septentrion. Directed by the historian Laurent Veyssière and by the journalist specialized in history Sylvain Lumbroso, the review, richly illustrated, invites us to a dynamic and rigorous return to the sources.
The file of this launch issue concerns the pioneers of the colony, that is to say the first groups of French settlers in the 17e century. The historian Gervais Carpin, who devoted his doctoral thesis to this subject, establishes that the majority of the first recruits come from the center-west of France, which is explained by the fact that the port of La Rochelle was chosen , with Dieppe, as the place of departure to New France by the institutions responsible for the colony.
In the first ten years, around 1620, people were mainly recruited from the building trades to build the colony. The pioneers will follow. The rule requires that they are all Catholic, but Huguenots (5 to 7%) will sneak into the group. The French historian Didier Poton, who mentions this last figure, explains moreover, in this issue, that the Huguenot merchants will be essential actors in colonization by ensuring “with their ships all the logistics of the company”.
One may wonder what motivated the French recruits to embark on this perilous adventure. Carpin explains that at the time, “living conditions in France were bad” for the people. In New France, they can hope to become owners of their land, have the leisure to hunt and fish, activities prohibited in France, and live more freely, especially on the religious level.
Volunteers, moreover, are not lacking. If too few arrived here, it is for lack of financial means on behalf of the persons in charge. The companies managing the project are struggling to cover their costs since the colony’s star product, fur, does not bring in enough.
In the mid-1660s, Louis XIV regained full control over colonization and sent the King’s Daughters to New France as well as the soldiers of the Carignan-Salières regiment, who joined the 1,200 families already there. The basis of the settlement of Quebec is there, according to Carpin.
Religious also participate in the adventure. The French historian Éric Thierry presents the journey of the Jesuit Jacques Marquette, who became famous thanks to his participation in Louis Jolliet’s expedition on the Mississippi from 1673 to 1675. An intrepid explorer, a polyglot in matters of native languages, Father Marquette was a inspirational figure in our history.
In addition to the file, the Journal of the history of New France contains high quality topics. Laurent Veyssière examines the Montcalm and Levisthe unfortunately forgotten great book of Abbé Henri-Raymond Casgrain published in 1891, “a magnificently written text, often close to the romantic style, which is a landmark in Canadian literature”.
The journalist from To have to Dave Noël for his part retraces the astonishing history of the Carillon flag, ancestor of our fleur-de-lis. Finally, Patrice Groulx returns, with all the necessary nuances, to the story of Dollard des Ormeaux, clumsy ally of the Wendats against the Haudénosaunés, or Iroquois, at Long-Sault, in May 1660.
This beautiful review is neither in rose water commemoration nor in moralizing anachronistic denunciation. It makes history, our history. It feels good.