A Return to the Mixed-Blooded “Pospillat” People of Paspébiac, Québec: This folder contains a copy of the French translation of Colonel Wilfrid Bovey’s 1932 book entitled, “Canadien – A Study of the French Canadians.” This French translation was done by Révérend Père Guillaume Lavallée, O.F.M. and published in 1935 under the title of “Canadien: Étude sur les Canadiens Français.”

Before I begin our discussion concerning the importance of “Canadien: Étude sur les Canadiens Français,” I will first provide you with a bit of background information concerning “Canadien – A Study of the French Canadians” and its Author, Colonel Wilfrid Bovey. To begin with, I will draw your attention to an article that was published in the May, 1942 issue (Vol. XXIX, No 9) of the Québec scholarly journal entitled, “Le Canada Français.” This article is entitled, “Précieux Témoignage d’un Anglais,” was written by “G.-E. Marquis,” and can be found on pages 753 to 768. The most relevant section of this article, which is actually a thorough review of “Canadien – A Study of the French Canadians,” can be found on pages 753 and 754 and reads as follows:

“… En 1932, un éditeur de langue anglaise lançait sur le marché littéraire: « CANADIEN—A Study of the French Canadians » by Wilfrid Bovey

“On a remarqué que le titre principal est écrit en français. C’est là une attention délicate de la part de l’auteur qui, dès le début de son oeuvre, veut faire comprendre qu’au Canada il y a des Canadiens d’expression française et des Canadiens d’expression anglaise.

J’ignore quelle fut l’impression créée chez les Anglophones du pays et d’ailleurs, par la lecture de ce volume, mais je sais qu’il nous est des plus sympathiques. Il couvre un terrain considérable, relativement à ce que nous fûmes, ce que nous sommes et, dans bien des cas, ce que l’avenir nous réserve en fonction des jalons que nous avons plantés et des luttes que nos pères ont livrées.

En 1935, une traduction française de Canadien était entreprise par le R. P. Guillaume Lavallée, o.f.m., qui déclarait dans son « Avertissement au Lecteur »: qu’« Aucun Canadien français n’a le droit d’ignorer cet ouvrage qui vaut tous les efforts qu’il a coûtés. »

Bien que le travail, composé de dix-huit chapitres, soit assez considérable, l’auteur ne prétend pas avoir épuisé la matière et il signale lui-même quelques sujets qui auraient pu en faire partie, mais qu’il a cru devoir passer sous silence. De plus, « En second lieu, je ne me suis pas efforcé de faire de la critique », avoue bien franchement M. Wilfrid Bovey. Enfin, l’auteur sollicite l’indulgence du peuple dont il a tenté de décrire la mentalité. Le traducteur de ce volume déclarait encore ce qui suit: « On serait presque tenté de dire que M. Bovey décrit ce qui devrait exister et non ce qui existe en réalité, tant sa sollicitude est sincère et prévoyante. »

C’est sans doute cette observation, suivie de plusieurs autres du genre de la part de ses compatriotes, qui a amené M. Wilfrid Bovey à reprendre son travail à pied d’oeuvre, quelques années plus tard, afin de développer certains points, de donner des preuves de ses avancés dans plusieurs cas, comme aussi d’ajouter certains tableaux qui ne faisaient pas partie de Canadien. Au dernier, il a donné le titre de The French Canadians To-Day.  D’un format plus grand que le premier, celui-ci contient une centaine de pages de plus…”

This loosely translates to:

“… In 1932, an Editor of the English language1 released upon the literary market: « CANADIEN—A Study of the French Canadians » by Wilfrid Bovey 2

We noticed that the main title is written in French. This is delicate attention on the part of the author who, from the start of his work, wants to make it clear that in Canada there are French-speaking Canadians and English-speaking Canadians. I do not know what impression was created among Anglophones in the country and elsewhere, by reading this volume, but I know that he is most sympathetic to us.3 It covers considerable ground, relative to what we were, what we are and, in many cases, what the future holds for us based on the stakes we have planted and the struggles our fathers fought.

In 1935, a French translation of Canadian was undertaken by the R. P. Guillaume Lavallée, O.F.M., who declared in his « Warning to Reader »: that « No French Canadian has the right to ignore this book, which is worth all the effort it has cost. »

Although the work, composed of eighteen chapters, be it quite considerable, the author does not claim to have exhausted the material and he himself points out some subjects that could have been part of it, but that he thought he should ignore. Furthermore, « Secondly, I did not try to criticize », frankly admits M. Wilfrid Bovey. Finally, the author requests the indulgence of the people whose mentality he tried to describe. The translator of this volume still stated the following: « One would almost be tempted to say that Mr. Bovey describes what should exist and not what actually exists, as his concern is sincere and far-sighted. »

it is without a doubt that this observation, followed by several others of the kind from his compatriots, which brought M. Wilfrid Bovey to resume work on the work, several years later, in order to develop certain points, to give evidence of its advances in several cases, like also adding some tables that were not part of Canadien. Lastly, he gave the title of The French Canadians To-Day1.  Larger than the first, this one contains a hundred more pages …”

Now that we know a bit of information concerning the history of “Canadien: Étude sur les Canadiens Français” from a “French-speaking Canadian perspective,” I’ll now provide you with a bit more information concerning this 1935 publication from an “English-speaking Canadian perspective.” 

Before I move on to our discussion concerning this “English-speaking Canadian perspective,” I’ll first note that I’ve also included a copy of the French translation of the above noted re-working of “Canadien – A Study of the French Canadians” in this folder, which was translated into French by a man named Jean-Jacques Lefebvre and published in 1940 under the title of “Les Canadiens-Français  d’Aujourd’hui: L’Essor d’un Peuple.” However, I won’t be discussing this 1940 French translation and its inclusion in this folder was simply for reference.

Moving on, to discuss the above-noted “English-speaking Canadian perspective” of the 1932 publication of the original English version of “Canadien – A Study of the French Canadians,” I will now provide you with an article that was published on page 32 (in columns 06 and 07) of the Saturday, March 18, 1933 issue (Vol. CLXII, No. 66) of the Montral, Québec newspaper entitled, “The Gazette.” This article, which given the year of publication (1933), concerns the original English version of this book entitled, “Canadien – A Study of the French Canadians,” was written by “R. C. Fetherstonhaugh,” and is entitled, “Canadien.” This article reads as follows:

CANADIEN. A Study of the French-Canadians. By Colonel Wilfrid Bovey, McGill University. London, Toronto and Vancouver: J. M. Dent and Sons.

When a Canadian writer of English descent attempts a comprehensive study of his French-speaking compatriots, he embarks on an undertaking – and the same would be true if the roles were reversed – from the perils of which if he be ignorant, prejudiced, or unsympathetic no literary or other skill can save him. When he is none of these, there is afforded to him an opportunity to contribute as much to the promotion of true Canadian citizenship.



With a view to rendering a service of this nature and paying tribute to the memory of two Canadian soldiers – one English and one French – who lie buried in the Ypres Salient where they fell, Col. Wilfrid Bovey, Director of the Department of Extra-Mural Relations, McGill University, has written a book to which he has given the title “Canadien: A Study of the French-Canadians.”

Though the author states in his preface that the book covers only a fraction of its potential field, and though, in the nature of things, this must be so, its comprehensiveness is a matter for congratulation. In it the author presents the historical and geographical backgrounds of the “Canadien” race – factors of importance if one would understand the race’s story – discerning comment on the French-Canadian point of view in religion, education, and politics, and enthusiastic but in no way exaggerated surveys of notable “Canadien” accomplishment in art, literature, agriculture, commerce, engineering, and other branches of human endeavor. Even sport is not forgotten, and the famous “Canadien” hockey team is accorded the mention that is its undeniable due.

Col. Bovey is aware of the fact that in a study of the French-Canadian, or any other, race generalization cannot be avoided and that generic references fall not infrequently in their individual application. Nevertheless he believes – and he is right – that in order to attain the objective he has had in view, to convey a fuller knowledge of the “Canadien” to his compatriots, the risk of an occasional generalization missing the mark was well worth taking. As he writes, “of all the people in the world, who ought to know the ‘Canadien,’ and do not know him, the most astonishingly unacquainted are his fellow-Canadians” and this circumstance apt generalization can help to dispel, more particularly in those instances where inapt generalization has too long found ready acceptance.

Explaining the anomaly of the inter-racial lack of acquaintance that exists, the author cites the obvious barriers of language and religion, but probes deeper and finds that from far-off days “the ‘Canadien’ has inherited a sort of complex: he has a feeling that somehow or other the English have got the best of him; that he is in danger of being overwhelmed” and consequently that he must resist and struggle to remain unchanged.  Louis Hemon gave expression to the feeling, which he also found in French Canada, when he made Maria Chapdelaine hear the voice of her unchanging country – “half the song of a woman, half the sermon of a priest.” But change has come since Louis Hemon wrote even to the seemingly changeless Province of Quebec, and, as the author of this book notes, the “Canadian” today, conscious that the danger of being overwhelmed, if it existed, exists no longer, is lowering the barrier once so diligently maintained, much to his own and his English compatriots’ advantage.

In describing almost unconscious loyalties and motives such as this, Col. Bovey’s book is illuminating. English-speaking Canadians realize dimly the “Canadien” countryman’s attachment to the soil, but fail to realize, as the author puts it “that the land has grown into him, until it is part of the very fibre of his being,” and that his ardent patriotism remains almost entirely unaroused if his tenure of the land is not threatened with molestation. Of a loyalty equally deep, in which many English-speaking Canadians of the province share, the author writes, “to us in Quebec the St. Lawrence, as nearly as anything on earth can be, is the symbol of eternity,” and of still another, “to the ‘Canadien’ his language is to national life what the word of the Scriptures is to spiritual life.” No wonder that on this point, Col. Bovey observes, interference whether right or wrong has been fiercely opposed.

In the chapters dealing with historical events in which French and English interests in Canada have clashed, Col. Bovey judicially presents the French point of view. No new facts are adduced – such has never the author’s intention – but his fair and sympathetic marshalling of established facts will help to dispel some misunderstandings that have long existed. Particularly there will result a realization that in such events as the expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia, the rebellion of 1837, and the Riel rebellions of 1870 and 1885, the French people, or some of them, suffered grievously, and not always as justify as, in careless disregard of facts, so many English-Canadians believe.

Turning from consideration of the past, the author presents in a series of short chapters a convincing picture of modern French-Canadian achievement. Again he states that the picture is incomplete, but again, without departure from the readable style in which the earlier chapters are written, he has packed his pages with interesting comment and information. It is a vigorous race that he portrays, this race living for the most part in the province of Quebec, and the measure of its vigor grows in impressiveness as one reads of vast territories opening fast before the colonist’s axe, of great industries thriving where ten years ago the wilderness held away of road construction penetrating fastnesses almost unknown to man, of the Gouin and Lake St John reservoirs – two of the three greatest artificial lakes in the world – of progress in agriculture science, financial art, and education, and at the same time of stability and reliability not exceeded elsewhere in the Dominion and perhaps not in the civilized world.

Col. Bovey in his preface asks the indulgence of those about whom he writes for the book’s shortcomings. At the same time he asks leniency on the part of those to whom a study of the “Canadien” from a more critical point of view might have been more acceptable. His book is not critical in the narrow sense, that is to say, it is not carping; it is friendly to a degree, but its friendliness does not result in undiscriminating adulation. On the contrary, though controversy has quite consciously been avoided, it presents a picture as complete and as true to life as is possible in a study of its kind, and from the many months of arduous work that have gone into its preparation, Canadians of both races, if they will, may benefit.

R. C. Fetherstonhaugh”

As you can hopefully see, this “English-speaking Canadian perspective” summary of Colonel Wilfrid Bovey’s 1932 book entitled, “Canadien – A Study of the French Canadians” written by “R. C. Fetherstonhaugh,” although it notes similar shortcomings of this publication to those noted by “G.-E. Marquis” in “Précieux Témoignage d’un Anglais,” provides greater support for Colonel Bovey than the much more-critical “G.-E. Marquis” does. 

Basically, what is apparent from the two critiques of “Canadien – A Study of the French Canadians” and “Canadien: Étude sur les Canadiens Français,” is that this publication was written by an outsider to the “French-Canadien” community and will never completely satisfy readers from the community of subject of this book. As we have seen throughout this collection, this is a similar situation that we often find ourselves in when people write about Indigenous Peoples, as the majority of “Experts” in the study of these Peoples have been, and still are non-Indigenous for the most-part.

Given the information discussed above, despite its noted shortcomings, I believe it appropriate to conclude that the information found in the French translation of Colonel Wilfrid Bovey’s 1932 book entitled, “Canadien – A Study of the French Canadians,” which was done by Révérend Père Guillaume Lavallée, O.F.M. and published in 1935 under the title of “Canadien: Étude sur les Canadiens Français” can be considered a very reliable source of information.

That being said, it is now time to begin our discussion concerning  the importance of the Révérend Père Guillaume Lavallée, O.F.M. 1935 French translation of  Colonel Wilfrid Bovey’s 1932 book entitled, “Canadien – A Study of the French Canadians,” which as we know, is properly entitled, “Canadien: Étude sur les Canadiens Français.”

There is one except in “Canadien: Étude sur les Canadiens Français” that is of great relevance to the scope of this collection. This excerpt concerns the Mixed-Blooded “Pospillat” People of Paspébiac, Québec and can be found on pages 242 and 243, which is part of a chapter entitled, “Chapitre XIV: Les Canadiens de l’Est, du Nord et de l’Ouest.” This excerpt reads as follows:

“Canadien: Étude sur les Canadiens Français” P.242

“… Le Canadien des bois est un survivant des anciens jours ; il peut vivre de chasse ou de pêche là où d’autrès crieraient famine ; il connaît mieux que n’importe quel sauvage les cours d’eaux compliqués du Nord ; il transportera des charges incroyables à des distances considérables et, le soir, après avoir préparé son camp, s’assoira pour fumer sa pipe jusque bien avant dans la nuit. Sur la péninsule de Gaspé, survit un groupe de vieux postes composés d’éléments nombreux et divers. La plupart des pêcheurs français des premiers temps retournaient en France chaque année, mais quelques-uns s’établirent sur le littoral et formèrent le noyau primitif. Un certain nombre d’Acadiens vinrent ensuite s’établir à Carleton — gens tranquilles, paisibles, parlant un dialecte qui leur était particulier. Tout près de là, à Bonaventure, on rencontrait des Canadiens. Après la revolution américaine, New-Richmond, New-Carlisle et même le village de Gaspé accueillirent un nombre considerable de loyalistes des États sécessionnistes ; au vrai, le village de Gaspé fut, jusqu’à une époque assez; récente, composé en majeure partie d’Anglais. Gaspé comptait aussi un établissement irlandais, de même que le cap des Rosiers. Des pêcheurs de Jersey se fixèrent à Gaspé et à Percé, des Guernesiais, le long de la rive nord de la baie de Gaspé ; il y avait un établissement écossais sur le littoral de la baie des Chaleurs ; de temps à autre, après un naufrage, un groupe de marins anglais ou écossais s’installaient parmi les pêcheurs de la rive nord puis épousaient les filles de leurs nouveaux voisins. Derniers nommés, mais non des moins remarquables, les “Paspyjacks”, habitants de Paspébiac — les Français les appelaient “Pospillats” — un groupe de métis violents dont tout le monde avait peur…”

“Canadien: Étude sur les Canadiens Français” p.243

This loosely translates to:

“… The Canadien of the woods is a survivor of the olden days ; he can live by hunting or fishing where others would cry starvation; he knows the complicated rivers of the North better than any Savage ; he will carry incredible loads at considerable distances and, the night, after setting up camp, will sit down to smoke his pipe until well into the night.

On the Gaspé peninsula, survives a group of old posts composed of many and diverse elements. Most early French fishermen returned to France each year, but some settled on the coast and formed the primitive nucleus. A number of Acadians then came to settle in Carleton — quiet, peaceful people speaking a particular dialect. Nearby, in Bonaventure, we met Canadians. After the American Revolution, New-Richmond, New-Carlisle and even the village of Gaspé welcomed a considerable number of loyalists from secessionist States ; actually, the village of Gaspé was, until quite a time; recent, composed primarily of English people. Gaspé also had an Irish establishment, as well as the Cap des Rosiers. Jersey fishermen settled in Gaspé and Percé, Guernesiais, along the north shore of the Baie de Gaspé ; there was a Scottish settlement on the coast of the Baie des Chaleurs ; sometimes, after a shipwreck, a group of English or Scottish sailors settled among the fishermen on the north shore then married the daughters of their new neighbours. Last named, but not least remarkable, les “Paspyjacks”, inhabitants of Paspébiac — the French called them “Pospillats” — a group of violent métis that everyone was afraid of …”

The most important part of this excerpt is that it is asserted by the original Author, Colonel Wilfrid Bovey that “Derniers nommés, mais non des moins remarquables, les “Paspyjacks”, habitants de Paspébiac — les Français les appelaient “Pospillats” — un groupe de métis violents dont tout le monde avait peur” (“Last named, but not least remarkable, les “Paspyjacks”, inhabitants of Paspébiac — the French called them “Pospillats” — a group of violent métis that everyone was afraid of”). This is not new information to this collection, as the mixed-blooded “Paspyjacks”/ “Pospillats”/“Paspébiacs”/“Paspéya” of Paspébiac, Québec are discussed in detail at many points throughout this collection. However, the new thing that this excerpt adds to this collection is that Colonel Bovey refers to them as “Pospillats.”

It is important to note before we end our discussion concerning “Canadien: Étude sur les Canadiens Français” that the “Paspyjacks”/ “Pospillats”/“Paspébiacs”/“Paspéya” of Paspébiac, Québec, as we know from various summaries found throughout this site thus far, here, were involved in riots in early 1886 and were identifies in various documents from the time as having been “Half-Breeds”/“Métis” of Acadian and Mi’kmaq origin. However, as we know based on past summaries, they were actually largely of “Norman” and Mi’kmaq descent.

In conclusion, the French translation of Colonel Wilfrid Bovey’s 1932 book entitled, “Canadien – A Study of the French Canadians,” was done by Révérend Père Guillaume Lavallée, O.F.M. and published in 1935 under the title of “Canadien: Étude sur les Canadiens Français” is a very welcome addition to this collection.

Although “Canadien: Étude sur les Canadiens Français” does not really contain any “new” and/or “groundbreaking” evidence to add to this collection, it’s still a very important addition because adds additional support to a very important conclusion that we made long ago in this collection, which is that the “Paspyjacks”/ “Pospillats”/”Paspillats”/“Paspébiacs”/“Paspéya” of Paspébiac, Québec were historically considered a distinct mixed-blooded/“Métis” People. 

It is also important to note that this conclusion, as we have seen throughout this collection, is easily supported by other Academic literature, newspaper articles, and historical documentation that we have discussed throughout this collection.