the “Métis” of Labrador and the “Paspéya” of Paspébiac 1897
347. Further Historical Evidence of the “Métis” of Labrador and the “Paspébiacs”/“Paspéya” of Paspébiac, Québec: This folder contains a copy of Abbé Victor-Alphonse Huard’s 1897 published account of his voyage to the region of Labrador and Anticosti, Québec, which is properly entitled, “Labrador et Anticosti: Journal de Voyage – Histoire – Topographie - Pêcheurs Canadiens et Acadiens - Indiens Montagnais.” This account was published when Abbé Huard was the “Supérieur du Séminaire de Chicoutimi et Directeur du naturaliste canadien” (“Superior of the Seminary of Chicoutimi and Director of the Canadian Naturalist”).
Before I begin our conversation concerning this publication, I will provide you with a bit of biographical information concerning its Author, Abbé Victor-Alphonse Huard. According to an online “Wikipedia” article entitled, “Victor-Alphonse Huard” (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor-Alphonse_Huard), Abbé Huard, who was born on February 28, 1853 in Saint-Roch, a ward of Quebec City, Quebec:
“… was a French-Canadian churchman, naturalist, writer and editor. He was a popular educator and promoter of the natural sciences, although his anti-evolutionist stance garnered him criticism both in Quebec and elsewhere. He was the founder or editor of several publications, most notably the Naturaliste Canadien, and wrote a number of manuals. Although not particularly qualified for the position, he became the first Provincial Entomologist of Quebec…”
And:
“… There were limited numbers of priests available in the Saguenay region, as it had only recently been opened for colonization, so Huard was sent to teach at the newly opened Seminary of Chicoutimi, which acted as both a minor seminary (Petit séminaire, lit. "little seminary") and a seminary proper (Grand séminaire, lit. "great seminary"). Huard's slight stutter and shyness prevented him from ever assuming active parish duty, although he is described as an affable, passionate man and a competent musician.
Huard taught a number of classes including religion, rhetorics, zoology and geography, and took on a number of positions in both institutions. He became the first director of the Grand Séminaire, and was successively or concurrently secretary, prefect of studies, vice-superior and superior of the Séminaire until 1899, stopping to teach in 1893 when he was vice-superior. In addition to those duties, he founded the seminary's bookstore and choir, organized the library, was curator of the museum, and co-founder and co-editor the Petit Séminaire's student newspaper. In 1895 he founded a religious publication, the Messager de Saint-Antoine ("St-Antony's Messenger").
Although he made use of his interests in natural history while teaching, it was not until 1894 that Huard had the chance to truly apply them, when he returned the Naturaliste Canadien, Provancher's monthly journal, to active publication. Although Provancher had hoped the new government would be willing to offer grants, Huard had to maintain the magazine alone until 1919 when the governments of Lomer Gouin and Louis-Alexandre Taschereau began to offer financial assistance. Under Huard, the magazine was more popular and less technical than Provancher's version, although it maintained an anti-evolution stance. The Naturaliste was printed practically without interruption until Huard's death. Huard also acquired part of Provancher's papers and his herbarium. Part of Provancher's last works would be published posthumously in the Naturaliste…”
Based on this information, I believe it appropriate to conclude that Abbé Victor-Alphonse Huard’s 1897 published account of his voyage to the region of Labrador and Anticosti, Québec, which is properly entitled, “Labrador et Anticosti: Journal de Voyage – Histoire – Topographie - Pêcheurs Canadiens et Acadiens - Indiens Montagnais” can be considered to be a very reliable source of information.
That being said, it’s now time to begin our discussion concerning “Labrador et Anticosti: Journal de Voyage – Histoire – Topographie - Pêcheurs Canadiens et Acadiens - Indiens Montagnais.” The first important excerpt from this publication can be found on page 263 and 264 and concerns the area of Mingan, Québec. This excerpt is as follows:
“… Dans la bourgade sauvage de Mingan, il n’y a guère que quatre maisonnettes; toutes les autres habitations sont des tentes. Il serait bien inutile, en effet, pour ces familles nomades, de construire ici des palais luxueux, puisque toutes passent dans les bois la plus grande partie de l’anné ; un métis seulement reside en permanence à Mingan…”
This loosely translates to:
“… In the Savage village of Mingan, there are only four little houses; all other dwellings are tents. It would be useless, indeed, for these nomadic families, to build here luxurious palaces, since all reside in the woods most of the year; a métis only resides permanently in Mingan...”
This excerpt is very important, as it informs us that even as late as the end of the nineteenth century, the inhabitants of the “Savage village” (First Nations village) of Mingan, Québec were nomadic except for one permanent resident who was a “métis.” The First Nations inhabitants of this area resided in the woods most of the year.
The second important excerpt from “Labrador et Anticosti: Journal de Voyage – Histoire – Topographie - Pêcheurs Canadiens et Acadiens - Indiens Montagnais” can be found on page 477 and concerns the inhabitants of “Lower Labrador” and of the “North Shore” that Abbé Victor-Alphonse Huard encountered on his voyage to the region. This excerpt is as follows:
“… J’ai parlé plus haut de l’hospitalité qui distingue les pêcheurs du Labrador inférieur, comme du reste tous les habitants de la Côte Nord. Il ne faudrait pas s’imaginer, par exemple, que ces gens reçoivent le voyageur dans des huttes misérables. Ils habitent, au contraire, de bonnes maisons, peintes à l’intérieur, bien éclairées et généralement bien tenues.
L’ameublement, sans être luxueux, est convenable. C’est qu’il y a là-bas toute une industrie domestique qui permet de se pourvoir à peu de frais de beaucoup d’articles qu’il serait bien dispendieux de faire venir de Québec ou d’Halifax. Par exemple, ces beaux “prélarts” que vous voyez sur les planchers, qui soupçonnerait qu’on les a faits avec de la toile à voiles, que l’on a peinte en carreaux? Je pourrais citer certaine femme métisse qui exerce à ses heures le métier d’ébéniste. Elle arrive à faire des chaises ‘’berceuses” vraiment confortables avec... des barils qu’elle découpe de façon à laisser les bras et le dossier qu’il faut. Les gens se sont emparés de cette invention, et, avec des barils de différentes capacités, ils font des “berceuses” appropriées aux différents âges. Et pendant que les grandes personnes se préfassent dans leurs vieux barils à patates, les enfants se bercent dans... des tinettes!
Pour ce qui est de l’alimentation, les conditions sont à peu près les mêmes que celles dont j’ai déjà parlé, dans un chapitre précédent, au sujet du Labrador supérieur. L’automne, on s’approvisionne à bord des goélettes des traders, où l’on obtient, en échange des produits de sa pêche, ce qu’il faut de farine, de légumes, de lard et de boeuf salé. La chasse fournit de la viande fraîche, surtout l’hiver et le printemps…”
This loosely translates to:
“… I spoke earlier about the hospitality that distinguishes fishermen in Lower Labrador, as well as all the people on the North Shore. It should not be imagined, for example, that these people receive the traveler in miserable huts. On the contrary, they live in good houses, painted inside, well-lit and generally well kept.
The furniture, without being luxurious, is suitable. The fact is that there is a whole domestic industry there that makes it possible to provide for a lot of items that would be very expensive to bring from Québec or Halifax. For example, those beautiful “prélarts” that you see on the floors, who would suspect that they were made with canvas, which was painted in tiles? I could cite some Métis woman who is a cabinetmaker at work. She manages to make really comfortable "lullaby" chairs with... barrels that she cuts so as to leave the arms and the backrest as needed. People have seized this invention, and, with barrels of different abilities, they make "lullabies" appropriate to different ages. And while grown-ups are prepping in their old potato barrels, the kids are rocking in... tubs!
As far as food is concerned, the conditions are pretty much the same as those I mentioned earlier in a previous chapter about Upper Labrador.
In the fall, they get their supplies on the schooners of the traders, where you get, in exchange for the products of your fishing, what you need of flour, vegetables, bacon and salted beef. Hunting provides fresh meat, especially throughout winter and spring …”
The importance of this excerpt lies not only in the fact that it refers to a “Métis” woman residing in the region of “Lower Labrador” and the “North Shore,” but it also describes how the inhabitants of this area lived.
One final important excerpt from “Labrador et Anticosti: Journal de Voyage – Histoire – Topographie - Pêcheurs Canadiens et Acadiens - Indiens Montagnais” can be found on pages 166 and 167 and concerns the inhabitants of Magpie, Québec and of Paspébiac, Québec. This excerpt is as follows:
“… Presque toute la population de Magpie est composée d’Acadiens venant de la Gaspésie, surtout de la baie des Chaleurs et spécialement de Paspébiac (mot que Ton entend souvent prononcer ici Paspéya); il en est de même des deux cent cinquante hommes qui viennent seulement pour la saison de la pêche. Et c’est au point que Ton désigne tout ce monde sous le nom de “Paspébiacs.” Ces Paspébiacs ont un caractère absolument tranché même au milieu de la population acadienne. Il n’est vraiment pas facile d’avoir, plus qu’eux, la tête près du bonnet, et il faut y regarder à deux fois avant de les contredire; ils ont, semble-t-il, le sang à une température très élevée. Quand ces braves gens causent entre eux, vous les croiriez transportés do colère, tant ils ont le verbe haut et... l’adjective retentissant. Partout on reconnaît cette ardeur qui est dans leur tempérament, et la tiédeur dans la foi n’est pas leur fait: ils descendent en ligne directe des Francs dont le roi Clovis aurait voulu se voir accompagné pour aller chauffer les oreilles aux mécréants qui crucifiaient Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ. Le matin de notre départ de Magpie, un colporteur juif (encore la question juive!) tout frais débarqué s’étant aventuré, dans la maison où il logeait, à critiquer la dévotion au scapulaire de la sainte Vierge, reçut la réplique de la mère de famille elle-même, et il y a lieu de croire qu’il ne remit pas lui-même la question sur le tapis. Ils ont pour le prêtre un attachement sans bornes. “S’il fallait, me disait l’un d’eux, donner pour notre missionnaire tout le sang de nos veines, ce serait fait tout de suite.” Les chefs de la Mission ont eu le toupet de dire à Monseigneur: “Si Votre Grandeur nous ôte M. le curé Bouchard, nous fermerons à clef l’église et le presbytère.” C’était parler fort irrévérencieusement, sans qu’ils s’en rendissent bien compte; mais cela montre de quel coeur ils y vont. Ils ont une langue très sonore et qui rappelle le parler des Méridionaux de France. Sére la pougne! (serre la poigne), répétait souvent à un compagnon de rame l’un des hommes de la baleinière qui nous transportait hier à Magpie. Les habitants de la Côte ne se font pas faute de rire un brin des Paspébiacs et même de contrefaire leur langage. Les Paspébiacs leur rendent la pareille à l’occasion. “Ah! voyez donc les chevaux des habitants qui courent sur le plain!” Et un éclat de rire général accueillait cette boutade de l’un de nos rameurs. Les “ chevaux ” des habitants, ce sont leurs chiens, qui s’élancent en aboyant dès qu’ils entendent la détonation d’une arme à feu…”
This loosely translates to:
“…Almost all of the population of Magpie is made up of Acadians coming from Gaspésie, especially the Baie-des-Chaleurs and especially Paspébiac (a word that you often hear here Paspéya); the same is true of the two hundred and fifty men who come only for the fishing season. And it is to the point that this entire place is designated by the name of "Paspébiacs." These Paspébiacs have an absolutely definite character even in the middle of the Acadian population. It is really not easy to have, more than them, your head near the cap, and you must look twice before contradicting them; they have, it seems, blood at a very high temperature. When these good people talk to each other, you would think them carried away with anger, so high are they with the verb… and the resounding adjective. Everywhere we recognize this ardor which is in their temperament, and the lukewarmness in faith is not their fault: they descend in direct line of the Franks whose King Clovis would have liked to be accompanied to warm the ears of the unbelievers who crucified Our Lord Jesus Christ. On the morning of our departure from Magpie, a Jewish peddler (still the Jewish question!) All fresh landed having ventured, in the house where he was staying, to criticize the devotion to the scapular of the Blessed Virgin, received the reply of the mother of the family herself, and there is reason to believe that he did not put the question on the carpet himself. They have for the priest an unbounded attachment. “If it were necessary,” said one of them, “to give our missionary all the blood of our veins, it would be done right away.” The leaders of the Mission had the knack of saying to Monsignor: “If Your Greatness takes away from us the priest Bouchard, we will lock the church and the presbytery.”
It was very irreverently speaking without them realizing it; but it shows how deeply they go. They have a very sonorous language and reminiscent of the language of the Méridionaux of France. Sire the plum! (clenched his grip), one of the men in the whaling boat who was carrying us yesterday to Magpie often told a fellow-rower. The inhabitants of the Coast do not fail to laugh a bit of Paspébiacs and even to counterfeit their language. The Paspébiacs reciprocate them occasionally. “Ah! see the horses of the inhabitants who run on the plain!” And a general burst of laughter greeted this joke of one of our rowers. The "horses" of the inhabitants, it is their dogs, who start by barking as soon as they hear the detonation of a firearm…”
The importance of this excerpt lies in the fact that it describes the inhabitants of Paspébiac, Québec and of Magpie, Québec that Abbé Victor-Alphonse Huard encountered on his voyage to the region in great detail. This excerpt indicates that the inhabitants of Paspébiac were a unique people and were often referred to as “Paspébiacs” or as “Paspéya.” This is very important, as we know from many other documents discussed throughout this collection, that the “Paspébiacs”/“Paspéya” we largely of, or entirely of mixed-blood. The original inhabitants of European ancestry in the region however, as we know from many documents in this collection, intermarried with the local First Nations women and produced mixed-blooded children who often married amongst themselves.
In conclusion, although Abbé Victor-Alphonse Huard’s 1897 published account of his voyage to the region of Labrador and Anticosti, Québec, which is properly entitled, “Labrador et Anticosti: Journal de Voyage – Histoire – Topographie - Pêcheurs Canadiens et Acadiens - Indiens Montagnais” doesn’t really add any “new” and/or “groundbreaking” evidence to this collection, it’s still a very important addition.
I make this statement because it adds another first-hand account of the inhabitants of two areas that are well-documented to have historically been inhabited by mixed-bloods, Labrador and Paspébiac, Québec.
