A brief history of Québec and Montréal

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

I've culled this material from diverse sources on the Web. This thread has been created to promote a better understanding of the territory and city that gave birth to our beloved hockey team. Enjoy!

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Between France and the Orient: an obstacle, a continent

French exploration of North America intensified in 1534 on the orders of François I, who demanded and obtained his share of the riches of the New World- riches to which, up to that time, Portugal and Spain had had exclusive rights.

Like most European explorers seeking a passage to China, Jacques Cartier hit an obstacle: North America. The territory on which he lands is peopled by Natives who call this land Canada. This word, he learns, means "encampment" or "collection of huts." Cartier plants a cross in Gaspesia and takes possession of Canada in the name of the king of France.

At the beginning of the next century, New France begins to take shape when colonists recruited in France settle in the Saint Lawrence valley and Acadia.

Amongst other factors, success depends on the contribution of the first occupants, who introduced the French to the land, the climate and the Amerindians nations who peopled North America.

Exploration increased, giving rise to the development of new trade routes, the creation of towns and settlements of colonists from France and their descendants.

Towards the middle of the 18th century, French America was at its apogee. Its frontiers were far beyond its original limits made up of Acadie and the Saint Lawrence valley. In its short history, it covered more than half of the North American continent: from Hudson's Bay to Louisiana, including a large part of what are today the Atlantic provinces, the entire Saint Lawrence valley, the Great Lakes Basin and the immense Mississippi valley.

Apart from Louisiana, which France ceded to the United States in 1803, New France ceased to exist after the conquest of 1760 and the final surrender to England in 1763.

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The Wikipedia history of Québec:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

HISTORY OF THE VOYAGEURS

I've always found it strange how non-native Canadians consider the history of Canada, and more specifically the history of the Voyageurs, as beginning with the arrival of the Europeans. The Native people had skills and knowledge that had been developed over 15,000 years! Their different cultures, traditions and religions throughout the various tribes and nations were built on the lives and deaths of the animals of the Americas. Whole networks of trade had been developed over thousands of years. Though these intricate highways of trade had already been established, one can still find in best selling historical texts on the fur trade a chapter on the native aspect of the trade called "A Savage Commerce". That title is an indicator of how the Natives are seen in the history of the fur trade. Arguments still rage as to whether or not the Natives were taken advantage of.

The Cree held the title to North American trade. They traded furs, other materials and information, from as far as the Rocky Mountains all the way to the Great Lakes and the Hudson Bay. Their trading network almost spanned the entire continent. These highways existed long before the arrival of the Voyageurs. The weapons and traps used to kill animals were, and are, called primitive. Yet these methods and tools were developed with great thought and were based on effectiveness as well as consideration of the animal and its life. To take a life was a very serious thing and demanded not only the respect for that life but the animal's permission also. Then along come the Europeans with metal traps, guns, hatchets, knives etc. The more furs trapped, the greater the number of European goods acquired. Suddenly the natives had the technology, and the influence of a different value system that enabled them to change their hunting practices. One definition of primitive is: undeveloped, crude, simple. I often wonder which is the more primitive? The belief that we did in fact destroy the Native way of life and the animal populations of the Americas is true; and the fact that we could not have done it without the help of Native peoples is also true; but was this help given because they wanted to or because they had no choice. Anyway, thus began the wholesale slaughter of the animals and native cultures.

Some of the more useful goods traded, were pots, knives, and yes, even the gun, but most were trinkets. Glass beads, needles, thread and countless other baubles worth nothing. These were the goods carried by the Voyageurs. Can you imagine risking your life for months on end, enduring hardship and pain, all just to bring a load of junk to a group of people? I can understand the desire to make a good trade- but using mostly junk? Its hard to believe that all the Voyageurs were unaffected by this one sided trading. Perhaps the ones whose conscience prevented them from sleeping at night were not Voyageurs for long. This is not to say that they were bad men. I believe that most were simple in that they paddled their canoes, sang their songs, and lived a hard, exciting life. No questions asked. The moralities of the fur trade aside, we can look at the lives of the men who paddled these great canoes that carried the goods of trade.

The word Voyageur is a French word meaning 'traveler', either an explorer, trader, or given to anyone who ventured into the Northwest. In time it began to be applied solely to the French-Canadian paddlers of the great trading canoes. The canoes used ranged from the famous canoe de nord's or North canoe which run upwards of 26 feet long and weigh 250 pounds. They would be capable of transporting 8 men with a 2 1/2 ton payload. The largest of the great Voyageur canoes was the canot de Maitre or Master canoe. It reached 40 feet in length, weighed upwards of 400 pounds and carried 10-12 men with a payload of 4 tons. Our Voyageur canoe is 32 feet in length, can accommodate 14 adults comfortably and is of wood construction. The original Voyageur canoes were made of a wood frame covered by sewn birch bark. The stitching was waterproofed by pitch rendered from pine. The canoe was very fragile but paddled with great skill and respect, and due to its natural fibre construction, was repairable during any part of a trip.

To be a Voyageur was a highly sought after position. Yet the pay was low (about 80 dollars per season!), the food rations meager (the staple was Bannock and a pea soup mixture with chunks of pork thrown in - occasionally this fare was replaced by pemmican), and the life harsh and extremely dangerous. Why would someone willingly seek such a job? Well, first off there was little room for the further development of the St. Lawrence farming communities. Also settlement of the west was unheard of- it was believed to be ruled by the Natives and uninhabitable for Europeans. Life in Quebec was not a life of luxury for most people, and finally, to be a Voyageur was to live a life of excitement and adventure. Today such a life looks horrific to your average Canadian. To the young men of the Voyageur age it was great work.

Let's start by looking at the physical make-up of the Voyageur. He would have stood no more that 5'5" and be of slight build. The paddler had to take up as little room as possible in the canoe- the cargo had priority. Stamina was critical as well- a Voyageur had to be able to paddle 15-18 hours per day for months at a time. This stamina of course includes all the portages crossed throughout the trip over any given portage and each portage required 3 trips per man. Most Voyageurs carried no less than three 90 pound packages per trip so as not to appear weak. Stories are told of some men being able to carry eight 90 pound packages over a portage per trip. Stories such as these were the few times a Voyageur admitted inferiority to another man. The largest of the canoes was carried by only four men over the portage. These men felt a great deal of pride in their strength and stamina.

This pride showed itself in their dress while in towns. They tended to be flashy dressers cutting a wide swath around town with tales of their feat of strength and endurance. The dress of the Voyageur while on the rivers was unique to the day (and ours as well). They wore either toques, headbands or hats. Regardless of the type of headgear, it had placed in it either one or two feathers. One feather signified a middle paddler, two, a bow paddler (captain)or stern paddler. A loose fitting shirt, vest, trousers and moccasins. Around the waist was wrapped a sash. This sash or ceinture fleche as it was called, varied from 2-10 inches wide and up to 15 feet in length. If was finger woven (it takes an incredible amount of time to make-they were usually made over the winter) and each district had its own design. These sashes gave a bit of life to an otherwise drab outfit. Hanging from the sash was a beaded bag that was used to carry the Voyageurs personal items and was also used as a seat cushion.

A trip began at the wharves in Montreal where the merchant would see to the loading of the Canot du Maitre. The items selected for trade (we've already discussed these little gems) were arranged into 90 pound packages. Up to 60 of these packages were loaded into a canoe along with the 10 or so men. After a month of paddling up current; of fighting storms, rapids and portages the canoes would arrive at Lake Winnipeg. The loads would be divided and loaded onto the canoe du nord's and again paddled up river to the far destinations of trading posts like Edmonton House. Here the Voyagers would spend their winters. Some would travel by dog sleds during winters still moving the goods of the fur trade.

The famous river highways that the Voyageurs used were shown to them by their Native guides. It is seldom related to people that all the great explorers who were credited with this discovery or that discovery were shown these places by Natives who knew of them already-that's why they were chosen as guides. Many of the great routes found by these explorers had already been shown to the traders and thus the Voyageurs. The famous explorer Anthony Henday (there's a road in Edmonton named after him), has been recorded as the first European to enter the Edmonton area. He arrived here in 1754. For some reason most historians refuse to admit that Henday's diary speaks of his disappointment at meeting - you guessed it - French Voyageurs loading canoes on the North Saskatchewan at the time of his arrival. Records show that the French were in this region trading for furs as far back as the 1730's. It's strange that history can be so contradictory. As you can see there's not much you can physically show people about the Voyageur; you can only really talk about him. Luckily enough there is no where to go on a canoe, so if the participants are willing you can tell them the stories of the famous fur traders and the people who traveled the river highways.

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Area History

From a democratic Iroquois society to a cultural blend of Europe and North America, the history of Montréal is a long and varied one ranging from pre-history to today. Discover its diversity in its people, architecture and culture. With over 360 years of history, Montréal will amaze and wow you.

Six Nations Confederacy of Iroquois

The Algonquin, Huron and Iroquois called the present Québec area home for thousands of years before the arrival of the Europeans. But they didn't always get along peacefully. So in the 15th Century five Iroquois tribes established a democratic confederacy comprised of the Mohawks, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. The sixth nation, the Tuscaroras, didn't join until the 18th Century when they moved to Iroquois country. Together these people comprise the oldest living participatory democracy on earth and a formidable force against neighbouring tribes and the Europeans.

European Settlement

When French explorer Jacques Cartier arrived in present day Québec City, then called Donacona, Iroquois Chief Stadcona befriended him and told him of a shiny stone upriver. So Cartier set out in search of what he thought was gold, which led him to the village of Hochelaga on the Island of Montréal. The local Iroquois led him to the top of the local mountain and Cartier plant the first of the famous cross atop Mont Royal in honour of his sponsor King Francis I. It turned out that the shiny stone was just quartz.

Seventy years later in 1614, Samuel de Champlain went to Hochelaga but the village no longer existed. He started to set up a fur trading post at Port Royale on the Island of Montréal, but the Iroquois Confederacy successfully defended their land along with the Huron and Algonquin. It wasn't until 1639 when Jerome Le Royer, a French tax collector, established a settlement on the Island of Montréal. Later, Catholic missionary Paul de Chomedey set up a mission named Ville Marie on Place Royal, and he placed another cross on the top of Mont Royal.

Naming Montréal

Ville Marie became a fur-trading centre and the Iroquois began their attacks again. Despite the attacks, the colony prospered as a religious centre, exploration base, and fur centre. In 1701, a peace treaty was signed between the Iroquois and French and you can still see building from this time in Vieux Montréal.

There are a few stories behind how Montréal got its name. One story says that it stems from Mont Royal. Another says that King François named it for Archbishop Monreale of Sicily who persuaded the Pope to annul Spanish and Portuguese claims in the New World, thus allowing the French to claim land. The third story claims that one of Cartier's men was from an area of France that was known for its fortresses name Montréal that were elevated on cliffs and the area reminded him of it. The true story may never be known.

From French to English

The Treaty of Paris 1763 ended the French and Indian War and made Canada a British colony. This brought an influx of English-speaking settlers, and because of this immigration many French Quebecois refer to this time as "the Conquest ". In 1775, American Revolutionist briefly held the city, but they soon left when it was apparent they couldn't take Canada. As more and more English-speaking merchants came to Montréal, more French merchants returned to France. Soon the dominant business language was English. And then with the advent of the North West Company Montréal's golden-era of fur-trading began as they rivalled the Hudson Bay Company.

Boom Time

As Montréal population grew to 9000 in the early 1800s so did its business. After the Hudson Bay Company bought the North West Company and Montréal declined as a fur-trading centre in 1821, Montréal became Canada's transportation centre. Canal de Lachine opened and shipping replaced fur. The city boomed. Rail was built to New England, Toronto and the West, and factories sprung-up along Canal Lachine.

It was the capital of the United Provinces of Canada from 1844-49 and brought even more English-speaking immigrants: American Loyalists, Irish, Scottish and English. With a large wealthy Anglophone population, they built the first university, McGill, and built lavish homes at the foot of Mont Royal. But with this economic boom came thousands of immigrants from Italy, Russia, Eastern Europe and other parts of French Canada.

By the beginning of the 20th Century Montréal was the commercial and cultural centre of Canada.

War, Peace and Recovery

WWI arrived and even though most French and English Montréalers willingly volunteered for the cause French Montréalers opposed a mandatory draft. After the war, came Prohibition in the US and debauchery weekends in Montréal for Americans. They came for booze, gambling and women and the city earned the nickname Sin City. But it didn't help the high unemployment rates at the time. After the 1929 crash, with the rise of the middle -class came the rise of skyscrapers that change Montréal's landscape. No economic recovery could escape WWI and Mayor Camillian Houde's protestations against a draft. He urged his citizens to ignore Ottawa's register of all men and women because he feared it would lead to a draft. Ottawa insisted that it wouldn't lead to one because French Quebecois were set against it. Well, Ottawa wasn't impressed with Houde and they threw him into a prison camp until 1944, when they did indeed institute the draft. And it halted Montréal economic recovery for a little while.

Extensive Public Works Projects

After Montréal's population surpassed 1 million in the 1950's, Mayor Drapeau had great plans for the city. In 1958, he started development projects for a new subway system and underground city, enlarging Montréal's harbour, and opening the St. Lawrence Seaway. New buildings replaced the old, including Montréal's two tallest skyscrapers: the 49-storey Royal Bank of Canada Building and the 46-storey Place Victoria. Two new museums brought a breath of fresh air into Montréal culture scene. 1967 saw new expressways and the Metro in time for the World's Fair and the 50 million people it brung. The Summer Olympics arrived in 1976 and the Expos played their first game in 1977. Except for a few years in the 60's, Dupreau was in power until the mid-80s and brought Montréal into a new era even when Toronto overtook it as the economic centre of Canada.

Today

After Montréal's 350th Anniversary in 1992, more project were put in place. More museums, rehabilitating neighbourhoods, and an infusion of European and North American styles augment Montréal's unique charm, culture and sophistication. Each year Montréal gets better and better and that's why more and more people are coming to visit. From an Iroquois village to a cosmopolitan city, Montréal is truly an interesting Canada destination.

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Culture

Montreal is well represented in all the traditional manifestations of high culture – symphony, opera and ballet – but truly stands out in experimental theatre and contemporary dance. One of its most notable exports is the internationally acclaimed Cirque du Soleil (tel: [phone] or [phone]; website: http://www.cirquedusoleil.com), who still occasionally perform in Montreal. Innovation in the arts is not all that new in the city – in the first half of the 20th century it was one of the hottest places for jazz. Oscar Peterson was born here and Charlie Biddle still runs a jazz club.

Place des Arts (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.pdarts.com) – a complex of performance halls surrounding a large plaza and linked by an underground concourse – makes up the city’s cultural heart and is home to all of Montreal’s major performing arts companies. Its plaza, along with the surrounding streets, is the epicentre of the big summer festivals, when tens of thousands of people throng the area for the free outdoor shows and other events.

There are events listings in the free alternative weeklies, The Mirror (website: http://www.montrealmirror.com) and Hour (website: http://www.hour.ca), as well as Montreal’s daily newspaper, The Gazette (website: http://www.montrealgazette.com). Tickets for most cultural events can be purchased from Admission outlets (tel: [phone] or [phone]; website: http://www.admission.com), as well as from the venue itself.

Music:

The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.osm.ca) is one of the top performance groups in North America. They can be seen at Place des Arts (see above) and offer summer concerts at the Basilique Notre-Dame. L’Opéra de Montréal (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.operademontreal.com) is the city’s leading opera company. They, too, perform at Place des Arts, as do the chamber groups I Musici de Montréal (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.imusici.com) and those organised by the Pro Musica society (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.promusica.qc.ca).

Theatre:

Theatre is dominated by French-language productions but there are occasional runs of large Broadway shows. The city’s mainstay English-language company is the Centaur Theatre, 453 rue St-François-Xavier (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.centaurtheatre.com), with everything from Canadian drama to Broadway hits. Unique to the city are the Yiddish Theatre productions at the Saidye Bronfman Centre, 5170 chemin de la Côte-Ste-Catherine (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.thesaidye.org). This venue also stages a number of English-language plays a year. Light-hearted summer theatre is staged in the Eastern Townships at The Piggery Theatre, in North Hatley (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.piggery.com), and Théâtre Lac Brome, in Knowlton (tel: [phone]; website: www.cclacbrome.qc.ca/tlb). The most established of the French-language theatres are the Théâtre du Rideau Vert, 4664 rue St-Denis (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.rideauvert.qc.ca), Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, 84 rue Ste-Catherine West (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.tnm.qc.ca), and Théâtre Jean-Duceppe, Place des Arts (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.duceppe.com).

Dance:

The city’s chief ballet company is Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.grandsballets.qc.ca), who perform at Place des Arts. The prestigious, biennial Festival International de Nouvelle Danse (website: http://www.festivalnouvelledanse.ca) is the best time to see contemporary dance every other autumn. In addition, the Festival des Arts de St-Sauveur (website: http://www.artssaintsauveur.com) showcases international ballet companies in the Laurentians in late July.

Film:

There are plenty of English-language screens in the city, mostly in Downtown. The largest and newest was the central Paramount Montreal, 977 rue Ste-Catherine West (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.famousplayers.com), until the 22-screen Pepsi Forum Entertainment Centre (tel: [phone]) opened at the corner of avenue Athingyer and rue Ste Catherine West. Ex-Centris, 3536 boulevard St-Laurent (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.ex-centris.com), is a new high-tech cinema. Cinéma du Parc, 3575 avenue du Parc (tel: [phone]; website: http://www.cinemaduparc.com), offers independent and second-run films.

Montreal is one of Canada’s largest film production centres and a number of Hollywood films have been shot here, including Snake Eyes (1998), Battlefield Earth (2000) and More Tales of the City (1998). A much better picture of the city can be had from such films as Jésus de Montréal (1989), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) and the charming Léolo (1992). The World Film Festival (website: http://www.ffm-montreal.org) is only one of many such festivals, including celebrations of cultures from Jewish to First Nations, new digital media (website: http://www.fcmm.com) and the gay and lesbian image+nation (website: http://www.image-nation.org).

Cultural events:

The largest of the city’s many festivals is the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal (website: http://www.montrealjazzfest.com), which has an estimated 1.5 million attendees (including up to 200,000 for the big free outdoor show), and takes place over late June and early July. It is followed by the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique (website: http://www.festnuitafric.com) and Les FrancoFolies de Montréal (website: http://www.francofolies.com) from late July to early August, for those who prefer African or French music to jazz, and the Just for Laughs Festival (website: http://www.hahaha.com) in July for comedy. Other big events include the SAQ Mondial (a fireworks competition spread out over ten evenings from mid-June to late July; website: http://www.lemondialsaq.com) and the cultural week that has sprung up around the huge gay circuit party in October, the Black & Blue Festival (website: http://www.bbcm.org).

Literary Notes

Montreal has a rich literary history in both French and English poetry, drama and fiction. A number of authors have captured the day-to-day realities of life in the city, including David Fennario, whose play Balconville (1979) explores the interaction between French and English in the working-class neighbourhood of Pointe St-Charles. Gabrielle Roy’s The Tin Flute (1947) chronicles a family’s lives in nearby St-Henri. The Plateau Mont-Royal is the setting for the novelist and playwright Michel Tremblay’s The Fat Woman Next Door is Pregnant (1978) and also for the earlier works of Mordecai Richler: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959) and St Urbain’s Horseman (1971). The French–English divide was captured by Hugh MacLennan in Two Solitudes (1945), and the former McGill professor’s The Watch That Ends the Night (1959) is a wonderfully poignant novel set in Montreal. Although better known for his music, Leonard Cohen chronicles a young man’s coming of age in Montreal in his first novel, The Favourite Game (1963). Kathy Reichs’ chilling tales of a forensic anthropologist in Montreal began with Déjà Dead in 1997. Yann Martel, who won the 2002 Booker Prize for Life of Pi, lives in Montreal.

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Wikipedia entry for Montréal:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Food in Montréal

forums.egullet.com/index.php?showforum=26

www.chowhound.com/canada/boards/montreal/montreal.html

www.montrealfood.com/index.html

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

A brief but excellent history, with superb hyperlinks to additional material, of le Club de hockey Canadien:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Canadiens

A fine resource on the evolution of Québec:
english.republiquelibre.org/history.html

A Montréal timeline:
www.montrealnow.com/featuresf/history2.htm

Montréal history links:
www.geocities.com/ericsquire/montreal.htm