A French colony in Canada

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Challenges of Discovery

Hail Brave Hearts

The never ending adventure to voyage and discovery to meet and greet the new people, to learn their ways.  Peace among us is a priority, gifts and exchange, routes of travel and a path to the new world.  Discover, trade and progress, learn the language, the customs, the society.  There are many peoples, many societies, many worlds to discover.  Come with this explorer into the heart of our land and meet the people, listen to their stories, share their passions, learn their wisdom.  This is New France, in 1615, with an exploration into the aboriginal territories of Ontario, as far as Georgian Bay and Lake Nippissing, in search of a route to the Orient.

The Orient.  That spell binding, alluring destination of dreams.  Silk, spices, riches.  The Orient!  Find the route through Canada, we know it’s there.  Yes, it is, but not this time.  Not in 1615, when the world was forested and filled with mighty, turbulent rivers, with rapids and waterfalls to portage.  Not in 1615 when every few hundred kilometers brought new nations of aboriginals to meet and negotiate with.  As skilled and brilliant as these explorers were, the land is too large, the peoples too many, the dangers too difficult and the demands too great.  Still, the path to the Orient exists, but the people need to know these explorers, before extending such a substantial gift as the whereabouts of this sought after trail.

Samuel de Champlain 1604-1616

Travel and travel and travel, is a must.  Explore the world around and before you.  Go to these uncharted lands.  Bring peace, negotiation and prosperity with you, if you can.  It’s a daunting mission, to be the explorer, to discover and collaborate with people of unknown character.  Meeting them in their own land, on their own terms.  Peace and skilled negotiation.  The intellect soars as the negotiations are successful and the peoples minds are set at ease, with this friend.  Gratitude for such necessary gifts, as some burdens are lifted and some work is eased.  Sharing and caring, the beginning of a new world.  The start of a new land.  This is now New France, being explored and documented and carefully mapped.  Each river that is traveled, each new tribe that is encountered, each new language that is spoken and the forest of trees, plants and animals to marvel at as well.  All carefully described, by this well educated person, who knew the land so well.

This is the life of a great explorer, Samuel de Champlain.  His mission of discovery was so successful that it formed peaceful and prosperous relations with several aboriginal tribes and the French people, who earnestly sought common bonds and  well intended relationships with the people of the new world.  The needs for these negotiations for the fur traders were high.  In the end Champlain died in Quebec city with only 150 settlers living in the colony.

With the explorer, came the missionaries.  Jesuit priests from France, intent on bringing Christianity to the people of Canada.  This seemed necessary for the aboriginals to understand the religion of the French people  so that they would have a common bond in humanity to share.  Peace among the people, brothers in Christ.  Although the aboriginals had their own religion, with their own after life, it was deemed essential to bring these people to Jesus.  Such was the quest of the Jesuits who pursued this mission to the ends of their lives.

Carhagouha – 1615 site of first Mass in Ontario

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

February 28, 2020

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Jacques Cartier

Hail Brave Hearts

Still to adventure, still to explore, still to choose the path to discovery. Plan and chart a path, wander and investigate. Choose to follow the dreams of new life. The traveler follows the stars to a new world. Unbelievable! To find a new nation rising up out of the ocean. Forests and land, new people and a new world. The space travelers of the 1500’s.

France was determined to be first. Find the riches, find the gold, find the new waterway to the orient. Make us rich, make us bold, let us gloat at our prosperity. Give me riches, give me wine, give me life and leisure. Give me money, give me wealth, give me land, give me power, give me the great gift of jealousy. I am fine, I am regal, I am cultured, I am powerful. Support my dream, support my quest, make me the champion ruler of the west. Pave a pathway from East to West. Give me the Orient, fulfill my request.

Depart again, on a voyage of discovery. Take these vessels, take these men, find the route before you return again. These are your orders, do your part, I am the ruler, the wise one, the mighty. Do your duty, find the way, give me what I want, of course, I’ll pay. I am smug, I am strong, I am the mightiest. Do your duty. I am never wrong.

So again, Jacques Cartier sets sai for Canada and for the conquest of the new land. The instructions are simple. Give us a colony, give us peace, find the passage to Asia.

Jacques Cartier 1534-1542

The hardworking set sail. The earnest keep striving. The determined keep focused. Yes, the oceans will be crossed, the sea will roll us from one continent to another, the stormy battles with nature will be won. Fear will subside, dismay will vanish, the distraught will be quieted and apprehension will soon leave. Relief will follow with the sight of land.

A colony is imperative, since that’s what our lives are. Cut from the cloth of a settlers life. Give me strength, give me courage, give me shelter, food and clothing. I am the castaway, looking for safety, with instructions so simple, build a home and survive. Survive in the spring, when our rations are plentiful and build your straw houses for shelter and warmth. Survive in summer when the lands gives us plenty, the harsh work of building a colony for all of us. Survive in the autumn when the fruit is ripe and when gathering the crop for storage is a necessity. Survive in the winter when the wind is cold and howling and when the fire burns through the fuel that was so carefully stored. Survive when it’s freezing and the snow piles high, but the instructions were so simple; build a home and survive.

Quarreling and adversary fills the air. What about our lives? This is not a life, this is despair! So with great sadness and futility, the plan is abandoned. Cast aside your hopes, your dream, your plans, this adventure in living is by far too grand. Home to France, back to civilization. Back to the home and the hearth that we know. Back to France where our hearts lie dearly. Forget this foolish scheme of misery. The idea of a colony in Canada is now squashed until the next century.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

December 21, 2019

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Hochelaga

Hail Bravehearts

It’s a fabulous notion, to start anew, with fresh ideas, community, land and skills. Exciting and enticing, to feel the fresh air, to feel freedom, adventure to call this land your home. The tingling sensation of anticipation and joy. At last, a home. It’s a long way to voyage, to come to Canada, to serve in the conquest of a voyage so rare. To build it, so live it, the adventure of the century, to dwell in the new colony, to be history.

Now venture along the St. Lawrence, with it’s turbulent waters. See the sweet little town called Quebec, but travel, just a little bit further. Another 255 kilometers to the new city of Montreal. A fabulous place, built with the dedication of the colonialist. A fine mind set on conquering a new frontier. Another test of strength and courage, but also negotiation, acceptance and peace. A chance for a new home, a new life, but sharing. To share the land with strangers who will be your neighbors, who will, in their own way, help to make the nation and the colony survive. An unusual friendship, the European and the aboriginal, but so it will be, in the commerce of trade and in the harmony of the land. Peace be with us.

Mystery of the missing village of Hochelaga persists

From the voyages of Jacques Cartier, to the new settlers of the land, the joy of adventure is with us.

Jacques Cartier. A voyage of discovery in Canada, the search for a new land. Fabulous! To travel so far, to strive so diligently, to be courageous and educated is such fine arts as navigation, weather, geography, negotiation and more. It’s the skills of human intelligence that wins this fine race across the Atlantic Ocean.

A daring adventure filled with the unknown. A curiosity that must be resolved, the question of what’s out there? Bring back gold, riches and spices. Find a way to the orient! Adventure, oh braves ones, out to the sea, into the winter and to the dangers that it brings. Rest in the camp, die in the land, but bring back gold, riches and spices. Find the path to Asia! Be fantastic, be noble, be brave, be successful be obedient. Bring back gold!

It’s a brave new world, filled with brave new people who must be met and communicated with. It is with hard work and toil, that this endevour pays off so well. The people are kind. Joy be with us! Good luck and good fortune have found the explorers as they land on these shores among strangers who are congenial, or intended to be.

October 2, 1535 was a grand day, for a great nation. The expedition lands in Hochelaga an Iroquois village which will become part of the modern city of Montreal. Share the joy, share the harvest, share the land, meet the people, be our friends. Come, Jacques Cartier, eat with us, talk to us. Don’t be strangers. But the discourse lasted only a few hours before the Europeans returned to the camp upstream, after naming the hill behind Hochelaga, Mont Royal.

Foiled again! The wintry blasts of icy cold are too much of a burden to bear. By more good fortune, the camping party is saved from scurvy, which did claim 25 lives during the winter.

Come, oh fine humans, drink the Iroquois tea of white pine needles, to cure your scurvy and to save your lives. Drink to your good health, literally.

When spring finally came, in the merry month of May, the beleagured group of adventurers return to France with positive reports of a river to the west. The pathway to Asia, to riches, spices and gold, lay through the continent, in the land called Canada.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

December 17, 2019

Count yourself in
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Count yourself in

Greetings, Brave hearts

Cast away, you awesome human, into the lands of the great wild. Set your spirits free on the winds of change. Take up the challenge and smile. Drift and sail to the land of plenty, to a world of wonder, work and toil. Lift your hearts to the glory of your nation, to build a place, for freedoms to soar. Counting on your courage, your skills and your character, build a colony, for your survival.

Build it and they will come.

From a small outpost of housing along the shores of the St. Lawrence to a stronghold of prosperity, build it, and they will come.

Come to a dream of adventurers delight! A peasants chance to gain a new life. Hardship and toil. But hardship and toil is the life that is cast already. There is promise in this new land. A promise of new newness, of life reserected, a new fulfillment, paths of discovery. A chance for the almighty human. Find yourself, whoever you are. Come brave hearts, to this grand adventure. Some of you will rise.

And so they built it and it was splendid, with all of the conveniences, even a hospital. Carved from the forest to house the daring. You are special. Small but mighty. A fort on the river. Come, you daring ones, to the life of this awesome adventure. There is nothing more important than this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B4tel-Dieu_de_Qu%C3%A9bec

To retail and commerce, to hospitals and care wards, to churches and politics, to inventions and furs. To the stalwarts of history, who chose this wild place, to adventure and explore, to bargain and negotiate, to be a new person in a new world. Different from who you were before. New rules, new prospects, new education, new friends, new work, new world, new life, new you. All a change from who you were to who you will be, in this grand new place. Will you be a linguistic and speak many languages, or write fabulous novels of this rare time? Will you create your own folk lore and pass on the history, or dwell in the music of this new time? Dancing to the tune of this new drummer. Will instruments be your past time, or stitching clothing to sell? Will you be a nurse or a Florence Nightingale? A teacher of school, or of special crafts. Something new is suddenly waiting for you. Be daring. The adventure of you life is now.

This Augustinian monastery keeps its culture alive with hotel and wellness spa
This Augustinian monastery keeps its culture alive with hotel and wellness spa

There are needs, of course, and these always beckon. Hurry to our side. Listen and watch and be attentive, seek and you will find. If need becomes invention, then the motherlode is near. Be creative, patient and caring, your good brains are magnificent here. That strong mind, that willing courage, that daring escape to a new world. Challenges and inspiration, motivation and cure. How will we survive here? This land is for the brave, the strong, the creative, the opportunist. Those that seek survival in a world of change.

Come to this change, to this awesome challenge. Come to this land of newness and new life. You are carved in the history of a country in the making. Joy and sorrow, life and laughter, bold and brilliant, this land is for you.

written by Dr, Louise Hayes

March 25, 2019

The Mighty River Flows
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The Mighty River Flows

Hail Brave hearts

Yes, it’s here, the spring has arrived, in snowy, blustery style,  In like a lion, with  heavy snow falls, March has ended the winter with a cold snap, that keeps us bundled up and happy.  Of course, the summer will eventually come, but now the trails are white.  The forest floor is covered, a late spring, with no drought in sight.

The itch is on, to turn the seasons, pull out the canoe and test the current.  Ice flows passing with the water as the melting winter turns to spring.  Catch us in our history, as we wave farewell to winter, the icy highways turn to melt waters and the dangerous ice flows temp.  No  more the sleighs to speed us along the slippery, white rivers, now it’s canoes and boats and water craft, to take our time away.

Go back, fine fellows, to days gone by, to times of yesteryear.  To the fur trade and the brave at heart the times of the voyageur.  A dangerous time of year, this is, when winter turns to spring.  The trails are wet, the rivers are thin ice and the progress becomes slow.  Take a nap and wait a week, a well deserved holiday.  The harshness of this difficult time, will melt the winter away.  Soon the canoe will be laden, with supplies to take inland.  To visit with the natives and to find a brand new land.  Off come the winter fur coats, hats and mitts are stored.  Onto another adventure, to the watery highways of this world.

A well traveled route, the St. Lawrence, filled with Coureur de Bois.  One of the most dangerous occupations of that lifetime, to travel, explore and trade in the great unknown wild.

http://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=25887&type=pge     Trois Riviers, Quebec

The canoes are large enough, they carry several men.  All trained and skilled in many ways, to tackle the obstacle at hand.  Come from far away, in European style, to make a living the hard way, adventure, in the Canadian wild.  A fearsome, mighty river, the St. Lawrence is cracking up.  Pretty soon, it will be show time, pack your bags and liven up.  No more naps or holidays, the spring torrents are flooding.  It’s an adventure too dangerous for us,  spring break up is not even for the daring.  Icy flows and chilly woes, we’ll wait for another day.  This is not the best of times, for watery, river play.

But if you were an itchy voyageur, with bills at home to pay, perhaps the tempting season, would  cast him adrift anyway.

A lovely camping trip, with lakes and rivers to follow, the Canadian rivers of highway, still bind us to our past.  Traditions of camping and canoeing, following well traveled routes.  Today, we love this great wild land and praise the nations splendor.  Our ancestors did a very fine job, of protecting and implementing the heritage that we covet today.  A land of unspoiled wonder, with historical routes to travel.  This is our fine country we still travel in style.  From winter sleigh to summer canoe, the adventure has never left us.

written by Dr.  Louise Hayes

April 18, 2018

Northern Ontario Canoe Trip,  The Nat River

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6ie5jptrgY
Winter Horse Races
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Winter Horse Races

Hail Brave hearts

Enjoy the best, the wilds of winter put us to the test.  It’s dog sledding and snow shoes, skis and skates.  It’s winter camping and bonfires, with marshmallows and  hot chocolate.  It’s fireside in the cabin, cozy and warm, it’s darkness and quiet and wild winter storms.  The winter, at it’s best is the season of chill, with ice, frost, snow and wild winter storms to combat.  The fireside beckons, it calls us to be warm, come into this fine cabin to avoid the winter’s storm.  The cold winter’s icy blast, it makes our hearts sing, to have another snowfall, we’re blessed with these fun things.

Another invention, of horses and riders, take us back to our history of early colonial times.  A Quebec invention, horses, they say, becomes a competition of horse races in the winter.  Ride, you awesome champions, skilled and daring, mount your fine steeds for a flight along the icy river.  A unique experience in horsemanship and breeding, the new stock of racehorse was a special adaptation that kept it’s footing on the ice of the river.  A gaming day, to enjoy the sport, pull up your chair in minus temperatures and spend the day outside enjoying the show.

It’s early colonial times in Quebec, but this is Canada, after all.  Making the most of what life gives us, chilly cold, snow, ice and fun and the adventure of it all.

To be in a colony, so far away, from a homeland so remote, it lives in yesterday.  The future is dependent on the survival skills of all, fight off the loneliness, the questions, the gloom of despair.  Come out of your lodging, bring your chair.  Have fun in the winter, dress warmly and with layers.  Come out and enjoy this, we love it this way, with horses and snow and ice and sleigh.  Come sing, with high spirits, chase off the dark.  Enjoy this day of racing, gaming, and fun in the winter.

http://www.walkerswest.com/History/CanadianPacer.htm

The cold, the isolation, the small numbers of people, but tireless energy and determination to survive, to win at the odds of feeling cast aside.  Gather together, all you peoples, in community and spirit, chase away the dangers of illness and fear.  The numbers are still small, but we’re getting used to our lives, of hardship, deprivation, thrift and careful counting.  Make sure your larder will last until the next harvest.

Inventions are a must,  stretch your minds.  Think of something new, to make us better people.  We’re changing out here in a colony so rustic.  We’re becoming a people of our own.

Don’t look back, look forward, prepare and plan.  Become the genius we all know you can.  Invent the horse, play games anyway, invent your recipes, plan your stay.  The colony is forever, we can’t give it up, so make the most of it, live well, drink from this cup.  It’s a warm winter’s day, time for some fun, head off to the river to enjoy the race.

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

February 21, 2018

Prayers for the People
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Prayers for the People

Hail, oh brilliant ones

From the minds of the common man, the culmination of skills and knowledge to survive in the cold, white winter.  Plant your crops, harvest your gold, smell the sweet scent of success.  The smiles of surpassing years of struggle, the world is won, the population is rising, the connection has been met.  Sow the seeds of prosperity, in the soil, in your minds, in the community and in the cultural exchange.   Tips of survival that heal the body, heal the mind and mend the sorrow.  Live you awesome stalwarts.  Live and let live, to soar in this land of plenty.

By royal decree the brides arrive, about 800 in total.   By royal decree, they marry and they stay.  No more visiting and making the decision to stay, only to return to France because the colony is too rustic.  Now there are families and sighs of relief.  Mutual sharing, caring and helpfulness, homes and companionship, comfort and joy.  The blessings of a child, the good work of the hospital.  The population starts to rise.  In 1663 the population of New France is merely 3200 strong and hearty souls.  In ten years time, the population doubles, to 6700 in 1672.  From the humble beginnings of 26 in 1608, to rise to a population of 6700 , sixty eight years later, in 1672.

http://www.lookbackward.com/perrault/filleroi/  The Kings Daughters,  Filles de Roi

The success of the Kings Daughters was mainly due to the origins of the women.  Peasant girls for the countryside were more well suited to the rigors of life in the colony, than girls from the towns.  Make your own bread, pick your own berries, harvest your own crops, feed the animals, milk the cow.  The country girls had more life skills than their counterparts in the city and could manage the hard work better, with more knowledge and more skills to their credit. Mainly rural people, from the farm.  People who understand animals, crops, weather, soil.  Hardworking people, who know how to plant seeds and preserve food.

The small population of Quebecois in Canada is finally starting to rise.  These women were needed to prevent incest and to finally ensure a that the small group of people, living in that far off land, would actually survive and become a people of their own.

Cast off into the colonies, with wits and courage to save them, they will work hard for their living and persist in developing the land and the character of the people who dwell their. They will have their babies and change the world.  With the developing colony comes a people of ingenuity.  Inventions of their own.  Negotiations of their own.  An existence that becomes a life of unexpected chance.  Maple syrup and horse racing.  Unique and unknown in some circles, becomes a part of life.  A chance for joy.

With prayers for the people, the nation is developing well.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

September 15, 2016

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We Got What We Asked For

Hail Bravehearts

Necessity is the mother of invention, they say, so invent away, oh brilliant ones.  We need your intelligent, focused minds.  The land is lush and forested, the ways of the new world are forming.  Unique culture, unique people, united through a necessity to survive.  The harshness is surpassed, the colony if finally a reality, a town, a community, a people of strength and character.  A new world to be proud of, a new colony to call home.  Safety and security, faith heals all.

This new destiny brings hope for longevity, wealth in adversity, dreams to fulfill and lives to share.  More happiness, more health, more survival,  more life.  A community starting to thrive and a prosperity starting to emerge.  Now the world changes and with new life, new skills emerge.  Challenges are overcome and ideas form and are listened to. Hail, oh brave ones, enter the invention.

A small effort, to bread a horse.  Commonplace and casual.  No one thinks twice about it.  So there’s a mare and there’s a stallion and a farmer needs a foal.  But this is a different world, a world of constant work.  That necessary animal needs to be changed.  Tweek those muscles, change that stature, increase that stamina.  We need a workhorse, an iron maiden, a horse of steel to work all day, to  ride on, to show with, to jump with, to teach our children to ride on.  We need a smaller horse, one that doesn’t eat too much, but well muscled for the work at hand.  We need an well rounded animal, that we can use for anything.  Work in the fields, pull a cart, take a day off for a ride on.   Please give us such an animal.  The king has sent many horses, try an experiment, fulfill our wishes, see what you can do.

And so it comes to pass.  From the breading stock of the King of France, comes several different breeds to consider.  Perhaps the Andalusian, maybe the Barb, an Arabian, a Norman, a Breton  and a draft horse.  All animals of superior breeding, all animals of quality and perfected genetics.  Each of these breeds has character and worth of it’s own.  Now, for the outcome that we desire, pick the perfect matches.

http://www.chhaps.org/breedinfo.htm  the Canadian Horse

From fine bloodlines and carefully selected breeding, comes the horse of their dreams.  Sturdy and capable, strong and even tempered.  A horse for all occasions.  Breeding their own, gives them rights, superiority of aptitude, distinction of intellect.  A breed made to order, an invention of necessity.  A work horse, a riding horse, a unique horse.  Well done, oh awesome human, to conjure up the animal of your needs.  Well done, oh early homesteader, to support your survival in such a unique way.  A new horse, and a beauty!  Hail to you, and the Canadian.

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

September 4, 2016

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Some Luxury

 

Hail Bravehearts

Hail and hearty the adventure awaits the bold and daring and the ambitious ones.  Skills to survive, to conquer it all, to bring peace and prosperity to a fragile new colony.

The great wild awaits, with it’s luring call.  Venture forth, oh great human.  Come into this great wild land and reap the rewards of this new world.  Come, entices the forest, come to this viewpoint and see my wondrous beauty.  Come, calls the wind and I will show you how to live.  Come to the new colony, to this brave new world.

The sun shines in glory and golden rays sparkle through the trees.  It is springtime and the air is filled with the cheerful song of nesting birds, thriving insects and birthing animals.  Fragrant flowers fill the forests and meadows and the spectacular colour of their beautiful petals brings smiles.  Hope.  It is upon us again.  Hope for success this time.  It is spring.  Hard work and toil should pay off with success this time.

The sap is running, it’s maple sugar time.  The sap of the maple sugar tree can be boiled into a delicious product of sweet tasting syrup.  Syrup, candy, cookies, butter.   A new tradition, a new culinary delight, a new culture in cuisine.  Come, calls the wild land, fill your buckets with this sweet tasting goo.  The sap of the tree is honey or sugar to the new settlers.  Joy  from the wild, since this is a delight that is easy to harvest and delicious to eat.  Maple syrup eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits.  A whole new cuisine based on the sweet delight of the maple sugar tree.  Now the joy of cooking is ours, in the great new land.   A treasure, a gold mine, a product of tasteful delight that gives the new settlers an item for trade.  Food, prosperity, luxury.  Oh brave new world, there is real wealth here.  Live and thrive in the great new land.

http://wildblueberries.net/maplehistory.html  a history of maple syrup

Harvest the riches, the abundance and the gold.  Tap the stream of sap, of the maple sugar tree and be rich.  A prized product from the forest, maple sap, maple syrup, maple sugar.  This centuries old industry developed another uniqueness in the new world.  Unique fur traders, unique sugar maple.  An identity is being born.  A connection to the land and to it’s people.  A connection of trade and business.  Something new to send back to the old world of France. There is nothing like it in Europe.  Interesting.  Curiosity and intrigue develops.  What of that great land across the ocean.  What else is there in that vast frontier?

Slowly, but slowly, the colony increases.  Slowly, but slowly, it ignites the fire of imagination.  Yes, they will come to Canada, even if forced by royal decree, they will come.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

May 31, 2016

 

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The Renaissance

Hail Bravehearts

This journeys end is a new beginning.  This preparedness that painstakingly ensures success is finally our triumph.  Glory and praises, thankfulness and relief, the weary are welcomed.  Come, join us.  Into this fair land of sunshine and wild, of a place of unusual gold.  Riches and fortune, made for a king.

Praises, praises, we have a colony.  At the time of the founding of Quebec city, France was the most populated country in Europe,  yet they had difficulty finding willing settlers to inhabit this great land and to build this great country.  The awesome enticement of riches from the great wild, couldn’t even entice the impoverished slaves from the lower classes to leave the slums of France.  But what does it take to be a fortune hunter, a settler, a soldier and a daredevil?  What qualifications did they need? Perhaps a poor peasant wasn’t the best choice for the colonies.  Slaves might be too fearful and prisoners might be too dangerous.  Choose wisely, oh mighty ones, your day of reckoning will come.

No longer the grandeur of 17th century France.  The life of the  impressive French Renaissance.  Brilliant change and brilliant invention.  Who would leave this awesome place?  Look around yourselves, your good fortune lies here.  Here in the homeland of brilliant France, where the arts are thriving and life is good.  Who would leave this wonderful place, this wonderful life, and venture into the hardship and conflict of life in a colony?  Who dares to be first?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Renaissance

The appeal of colonial life and of making a new country, was not at the top of the list of dreams for the French.  Only those brave few, would dare the Atlantic crossing and venture into the unknown.  Stalwarts and bravehearts, skilled and courageous, colonial life was too daunting an adventure for the polished, sophisticated, countrymen of France.

A backbreaking adventure, a risk of life and limb, a intolerable climate and connections to a people of unknown character.  Life in a fort, in crowded conditions, with bare necessities and humble accommodation.  The freemen of France looked upon the life in a colony suspiciously.  Stumble and fall, stumble and fall, but rise and shine and pursue the adventure once more.

For those who finally ventured forth, into the new, into the unknown, the challenges of life abroad would change the face of North America.  As small as the tiny fort was, it still made a mark in the land, a change in the landscape, a place of accommodation, an establishment and a secure dwelling for those who dared.  Now over 400 years old, the city of Quebec is a thriving city of old and new, of charm and charisma.  A beautiful old place of French pride.

Connect to the people, connect to the countryside.  Learn and teach, the life in the colony will be hard, but finally the adventure is won.

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

May 15, 2016