Les “faits français” are not always recognized. This Symposium acknowledges one of these and gives a due consideration to the Voyageurs-bâtisseurs who covered the territories of the North West and are so often forgotten

”Il était une fois…” “Once upon a time…” un bateau, the SS Beaver from the HBC which arrived at the Peninsula on March14th 1843: un capitaine (Mr Brotchie), un chef d’expédition (James Douglas), un représentant de l’Église Catholique Romaine (le jeune abbé Jean-Baptiste Bolduc sent out by Bishop Signay of Québec Diocese in 1842) et un équipage d’environ 15 canadiens-français, “engagés”. The banner here is presenting a few names of “engagés”. (see annexe 1) *If you were a worker with a fur trade company, who served a limited-term contract, you would be an “engagé”. You would likely also sign later for another period of service, as there was an implied obligation between the employee and the Patron to continue; the involvement was less firm than the contract of a clerk or a partner (réf. Lexicon in Betty Donaldson’s book on correspondences between McLoughlin and his sister Marie-Louise at the Ursulines’ convent in Low Canada). *Allard,Joseph,(1802) de Lachine/Qué. (de fort Simpson) charpentier 1843-47 Descendante : Alana Collins Ex. : trajet* Vancouver 1838-40/ Taku ‘40-42/ Simpson ’42-43/ Victoria ’43-47/ Nisqually ‘47-48 et freeman.

*If you were a man roaming the forests outside the environs of la colonie de la Nouvelle France, trapping, hunting, canoeing, sometimes living with Indian families, and were often away for a year or more, you were “coureur des bois”, thought Betty Donaldson. The British fur trading began with the explorers Desgroseillers and Pierre Radisson. Two centuries before Confederation, this pair of resourceful Frenchmen just named discovered a wealth of fur in the interior of the continent -north and west of the Great Lakes- accessible via the great inland sea that is the Hudson Bay. When they came back with their large stock of furs, the Low Canada authorities punished them because they had no permit or licence for trapping/hunting and sent them to jail; all the furs were sent to France. Despite their success, French and American interests would not back them. It took the vision and connections of Prince Rupert, cousin of King Charles II, to acquire the Royal Charter which, in May 1670, granted the lands of the Hudson Bay watershed to “the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England into Hudson Bay”. Desgroseillers and the Nonsuch ship had a success with the expedition and built Fort Charles. These fur traders were not among the “Lords and proprietors”.

*If you were a determined person you could get the honorific title of “Homme du Nord”. You would have lived away from civilization for at least one Winter season. It meant that you were tough, had survived cold weather, scarce food supplies, and dark lonely days and nights. You would take a vow upon receiving your title: to serve your God, your king, and to respect other men’s wives. You would enter in a country marriage. It is a definition given by Betty Donaldson and she mentioned that the tradition died out after the HBC gained control of the Trade, but most of the older traders and trappers remained loyal to the obligations they had vowed to respect.

1841 – Wallamette had 100 families, and 83 farmers were F.-C. A catholic group sent a petition to Bishop Provencher based at Red River. The Bishop answered to the petitioners. The only way of communication between Canada and Oregon was through HBC. The Bishop asked two places to travel to the colony in the Wallamette Valley. The HBC Governor and the London Committee authorized two priests for a different place, Cowlitz River (Toledo, Wash.). There was a fear of religious controversy. Bishop Provencher accepted the recommendation. Sir George Simpson wrote to the Archbishop of Québec Joseph Signay, offering space in the canoes from Lachine to North West Columbia. The Vicar General, François-Norbert Blanchet, in charge of the Oregon Mission and Rév. Modeste Demers were the two chosen missionaries. In Nov. 1838, James Douglas, HBC Chief Factor, welcomed them at Fort Vancouver. Three settlers petitioners : Joseph Gervais, Étienne Lucier et Pierre Bélèque, thank the priests in the name of the people of Wallamette Valley.

If Hudsons’ Bay Co., with its monopoly over an area 15 times the size of Britain, represented the England’s interest, then the Québec Catholic Diocese in the West was a significant actor for the Catholic Missions development. HBC with a series of forts was a good tool for the British Empire and the catholic missions with crosses and churches would represent well the Roman Catholic Church and Pope Grégoire XVI. The commercial enhancement and the religious enterprise with different goals could count on each other, for a while. A certain amount of religious life was essential for political stability, but political spirit and religious spirit are rarely aligned for a long time! The RCC Missionaries (Secular priests François Norbert Blanchet, Modeste Demers and the Belgium Jesuit DeSmet) succeeded in establishing a Vicariate ecclesiastic in what was a big territory: from west of the Rocky Mountains and between California and the Artic.

Even the priests had 12 commandements to obey in an open spirit of obedience! I choose 3 of them:

#8 Inform to whom they are sent and how that religion ordains peace, meakness and obedience to the laws both of the State and of the Church. #10 Remain perfectly impartial in regard to the respective claims of the North West Co. and of the Hudson’ s Bay Co. , remembering that they are sent exclusively for the spiritual good of the people, the civilization of whom must be the greater advantage of both Companies. #11 Fix their residence near a fort and there build a church, a house, a school and draw their livelihood from the best that the lands given to them will afford.

(Bérubé, Roland. The first Catholic Missionaries in Western Canada, Manuscript, un published: 1986)

L’Abbé Bolduc was the first French Canadian missionary priest who organized the first religious service on the Peninsula on March 19^th, 1843. Douglas had seen to it that the ceremony be imposing. A few of his men were allowed to help the Father to prepare a shelter with pine branches and an awning taken from the ship. More than twelve hundred Natives from the Lekwammen people were gathered for the Mass and hundred children baptised. The same week, the natives were informed of the HBC’s project to build a Posting trade at this place; workers were assigned to dig a well, others to find the wood necessary for the buildings and Natives hired to get pickets for the “palissade”. Father Bolduc bought a canoe from the Amerindians and hired paddlers to go to Whitbey Island. Later, the Beaver went up north to close 3 forts and bring back the people and materiel at this new place to establish a Fort.

What is the reason behind the choice of hiring the French Canadians « engagés » à bâtir le Fort Victoria? It could be that their interaction with various First Natives People would contribute to the peaceful settlement of Fort Victoria because they would interpret traditions and customs to English colonial powers. A French-Canadian life can be found in the field of fur trading through contracts, correspondences of the trading fur Chefs and companies’ officers, reports, summaries of voyages and expeditions, missionaries’ letters, post’s Journals, maps… However, many doubts might appear when consulting the documents, due to a lack of precision in summaries. Sometimes, it is hard to find who is who. Prof. Guy Poirier (UWaterloo) wrote: ”The past of the francophonie of our province of adoption is not easy to reconstruct.” (In the book “La francophonie de la C.-B. : mémoire et fiction - Espaces culturels francophones III)

These 23 « engagés » on the banner were coureurs des bois, Voyageurs and Jacks of all trade! Young and old, the Voyageurs worked off and on for a variety of fur trade companies. They were people in movement ,persons of high value.! These men were from French-Canadian villages and families where they learned how to survive on poor lands or small farms. The first roads appeared where Natives, French-Canadians and Metis worked with Fur Trading Companies.

On the banner, these “Homme du Nord” came from different posts: 4 were coming from Fort McLoughlin: Barthélemy, George, de Lachine/Qué. 1843-45 doute? Parents mixtes? Gardé dans la liste… Champagne, Joseph, de Lachine/Qué. 1843-46 déserteur vers St-Paul Oregon… 5f/2g *Gagnon,Antoine,(1805)de Saint-François/Qué. 1843-50 - meurt à Victoria 22/04/65 *L’Écuyer, François, de Beauharnois/Qué. 1843-51 - s’installe aux États-Unis. + Officer Charles Ross.

According to Charles Ross, in charge of the construction of the Fort Victoria in 1843, the life at the site was monotonous. The priority was put on the preparation of the wood needed to erect buildings. Thus, it meant working hard for a completely full day. As there was not much else to do on the Peninsula, then, someone could feel a “dreary solitude” - Charles Ross’ expression. During a period of two or three years of trading establishment, there was no place for social life as a need yet! Anna Stooke in her book Daily life at Fort Victoria specified that “the hard work and the danger caracterised life at the Fort”.

In 1856 there were 154 stations at HBC. All the French Canadians who stayed in a trading post (they were 300 with the NW Co. in 1817) or had been part of expeditions, didn’t stay in the Extreme West. Many “engagés” retired in regions known for giving good living conditions. (Au Berceau de la C.-B. par Olivier Maurault P.D., P.S.S., MSRC)

The aspect of “freeman” shown by the Voyageurs didn’t help to find them and to know where they were. Young adults in their twenties, hired around 1815, reached their fifties+ in this period 1842 - 46; they were tired men, and some of them will make the choice to settle in Oregon, attracted by the Wallamette Valley for a good land and a confortable life.

The challenge of finding descendants of the Voyageurs is a difficult research. Many documents lead to a dead end. It is like learning pieces by pieces, linking all of them to a collective memory, giving you a grey zone, almost erased. Guy Poirier agrees:”Incomplete and often contradictory information we found as we pursued the matter and tried to sort out the various discrepancies”.

Often we will notice on the lists an expression like “family records are somewhat confusing” ex.: in the case of Trudelle, Louis : du Québec, (fort Stikine) charpentier 1848-50 au magasin CBH 1851-52 – plante les premiers pommiers du côté de Saanich; J. B. Dupuis qui a élevé une famille et fut enterré à l’église Church of the Assumption in Saanich 31/12/1874. It is easier for a family to find their ancestral line than to start with a voyageur and try to locate its descendants. A family can do their genealogy and return to the Voyageurs.

Sometimes, we noticed that few legitimate children would not help to carry on a research of someone’s legacy. The progeny, the children tended to die at such a young age! Only 1 child over 4 reached 7 years of age or more. In the case of Léon Morel, we know that over 12 children, 9 of them died before reaching 17 years old. It remains unknown whether his last three sons had any descendant. Two decades 1830 – 1850 were especially difficult on women and infants. Hygiene was not much known. The contagious illnesses, breathing problems, pneumonia and others, like Mountain fever, influenza ….. were the cause of premature death.

So, what do we know about the descendants of a French Canadian Voyageur? Glen Cowley wrote in The Vancouver Province in 1977: “His legacy is carried largely in the blood of the Metis”. The fur trade passed away, and also the 50 years dominance of the Fr.-Can in the West, to leave place to the “Gold Rush.” The demand of England for silk replaced the demand for beaver.

Finally, let’s take a few seconds of recognition for the role of all these brave women who had up to 10 children and tried to play their gender role besides these determined men. Book: “Woman’s diaries of the Weswark Journey” by Lillian Schlissel.