The repression of homelessness in New France: corporal punishment and humiliation in the public square

Historically, at the time of New France, indigent people who did not have a home were called vagabonds.

From the first years of French colonization in America, we noticed the presence of these vagabonds in cities like Quebec or Montreal.

The colonial authorities of the time considered these vagabonds as vermin to be fought. We are afraid that they will contaminate the healthy population with their lifestyle. This is the reason why, for more than 200 years, begging was severely repressed and why there was no hesitation in imposing violent corporal punishment on these people. For example, to punish these vagabonds guilty of begging, they are exposed in the public square, their necks surrounded by an iron collar firmly fixed to a post for several hours. If they do it again, they are whipped.

We also give fines to those who offered them money.

Poverty Office

In 1688, the colonial authorities established a Bureau of the Poor. The institution helps the poor by giving them work. However, the ultimate goal of the Bureau is to identify the good poor and the bad poor and offer assistance based on merit.

“ […] Several scoundrels and lazy people, under the pretext of poverty, inconvenience the bourgeois and inhabitants of this city, continually going begging from door to door instead of working as many could easily do. […] said office will be composed of the priest who will take care to warn the shameful and miserable poor of whom he becomes aware […]. »

scandalous life

At 18^e century, it seems that repression is the best way to eradicate homelessness. On December 17, 1740, a sentence for vagrancy was handed down against François Morisset, Nicolas Coutant and Élisabeth Coutant. They are condemned to the punishment of imprisonment in the public square with a sign indicating: “Vagabonds, people without confession and leading a scandalous life”.

Furthermore, at the end of this punishment, both men will be sent to prison for two months. Behind bars, they will only be fed bread and water.

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Scarcity and famine

Today, access to housing is increasingly difficult for some people, but this situation is not new. In the past, food shortages and famines have repeatedly affected residents and accentuated the phenomenon of homelessness. For example, in 1742, the bishop of Quebec was devastated to see beggars from everywhere arriving in Quebec. He does not attribute this migration of poverty to the trying agricultural reality that his region is going through, but rather to the laxity of the people who beg. Because many people reported thefts, attacks on the roads and even rapes, the intendant Hocquart decided to crack down at the end of that summer:

“Order to captains and officers of coastal militia from Quebec to Montreal to arrest vagabonds and people without confession […]. »

Poverty certificate

For hundreds of years, to ensure that charity is directed to the people we consider to be the right people, we provide a certificate of poverty which authenticates that we deserve public charity in order to beg. This certificate is given either by a member of the clergy or by justices of the peace. However, you must live in the town or village where you ask for alms. To obtain this certificate and, above all, keep it, one must constantly prove one’s poverty and, above all, never loiter in the streets.

At 19^e century, despite repressions, the phenomenon of homelessness is growing, mainly because of industrialization. Poverty certificates will be abolished in 1954.

Criminal Code

The Vagrants Act and the Canadian Criminal Code passed at the end of the 19^e century quickly became a tool of repression against idle people. The legislator draws up a list of punishable behaviors and identifies the people who must bear the label of vagrant. Society equips itself with tools to accuse these people for all kinds of reasons, such as being drunk in public, asking for money without having a certificate, breaking objects (vandalism), obstructing traffic or using foul language. Any pretext is good to repress the disorder caused by these itinerants. In this list of behaviors punishable by law, we also find prostitution. For a long time, in Quebec, we made this conflation between wandering, begging and prostitution.

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Homeless people are not born on the streets

The multiple causes that lead to this state of vulnerability are nevertheless disturbing and overwhelming. The path strewn with pitfalls leads some people to the streets, often against their will. In the entire history of contemporary begging in Quebec, the life of Grand Antonio is probably the one that most struck the collective imagination.

Anton Barichievich was born in Zagreb, Kingdom of the Serbs in 1925. Almost nothing is known about his childhood, but it is known that he had supernatural strength. It is said that at the age of 12, he was able to uproot trees with the strength of his arms alone.

He arrived in Montreal thanks to refugee status at the end of the Second World War. Barichievich is in his early twenties and, like most of the other refugees, he possesses nothing apart from his impressive physique. He is 1.93 meters tall, weighs more than 225 kilos and wears size 28 shoes. He attracted the attention of the international community in 1952 by entering the Guinness Book of Records because he managed to pull a 433-ton train on a railway track over a distance of almost 20 m. Four years later, the now Great Antonio accomplished another feat by pulling a car with his hair. The strong man surpassed himself again in 1960 and broke another record by pulling four buses full of passengers on Sainte-Catherine Street. The Great Antonio, who proclaims himself the strongest man in the world, will also be a professional wrestler and will star in films and television shows. At the height of his career, this gentle giant with a scraggly beard and long hair attracted attention and became an internationally known superstar.

However, during the 90s, he marginalized himself and quietly fell into oblivion. Then we see him wandering around Montreal. He is frequently encountered in orange line metro stations. He wanders the streets of the Rosemont district at all hours of the day. With his imposing stature, he never goes unnoticed, people recognize him. The Great Antonio is a legend in the metropolis, but he also personifies decline, that of a former star transformed into a tramp. He sells postcards (photomontage) of his old exploits to raise a few dollars. In the last years of his life, his photos even began to attract the attention of the artistic community. The Great Antonio died in 2003 of a heart attack, at the age of 77, alone, in the greatest indifference, lying on a park bench in Montreal. This very lonely man, with no known family and no money, was buried decently thanks to the intervention of Sun Youth.

The journey of this former international star, relegated to the stage of a marginalized character, clearly demonstrates the importance of aid organizations which support the underprivileged.

Today, homelessness still affects a large number of Quebecers. Despite the wealth of the society we live in, it was estimated that by the fall of 2022, approximately 10,000 people were unhoused and experiencing homelessness.

Reference: Homelessness and the law – Research report on homelessness in Quebec from New France to today. Research and writing: Frédérick Carrier, revision: Sébastien Harvey

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