This volume examines the lives and work of colonists in Canada, France's territory which corresponded roughly to present-day Québec. We will not consider colonial activity in other areas of New France, such as Acadia and Louisiana.
There was an interval of approximately one hundred years between the time the French began to settle to any extent, to build towns and farm the land along the St. Lawrence, and the British conquest in 1760. The 1660s mark the beginning of systematic occupation of the territory. Canada's fortunes were closely tied to those of the trading companies which operated in the colony and activity centred on three small population centres: Quebec City, Trois-Rivières and Montréal. These were simply trading posts, the latter two with fortifications. The future brightened when the French monarchy decided to take direct control of the colony's administration and development.
What is one century in human terms? Our comprehension is improved if we think in terms of the average human life span, approximately sixty years. Suppose that a twenty-year-old immigrant arrived in Canada in 1660 and died, in 1700, at the age of sixty. In the same year his son would be thirty and his grandson would have been born. By 1760 the grandson would have died and three generations would have spent a century in the colony.
Historians estimate that approximately 10,000 people left France to settle in Canada during this period, that the most intense immigration occurred between 1663 and 1671, and that there was an annual average of 300 arrivals. The immigrants occupied various rungs on the social ladder. A minority were middle-class merchants or civil servants; others were drawn from the lower stratum of French nobility. These people were not wealthy, but they could at least afford to pay their own passage and that of their families. Members of the nobility generally came to Canada as military officers. Class distinctions were very rigid in France during the ancien regime and, even if there was some social levelling (something which has not been proven), there is no question that having a higher social status enabled one to establish business and government connections, thereby making settlement easier. These elements of French society constituted the nucleus of Canada's social elite.
Most of the immigrants, however, were from humbler origins. Three-fifths of them were descended from peasants, craftsmen and labourers; the rest were progeny of the urban poor. In general, these people left France hoping to find a better existence. Many, in their search for work, encountered agents of the king or various companies, priests or shipowners who were recruiting labour for Canada. Some people were drawn by prospects of adventure and of making their fortunes in America but, for the majority a degree of material security, which had been denied them in the Old World was their greatest ambition. Some men agreed to serve as indentured labourers in Canada for a set period of time, usually three years. Afterwards, they were free to marry and to settle in the colony. Another way of obtaining free passage and of saving some money was to enrol with the royal troops stationed in New France. Following a few years of service, soldiers wishing to become colonists were demobilized.
These conditions explain why most of the immigrants were young, between twenty and twenty-five, and single. In the colony's early period there was a serious lack of women. This problem was remedied by recruiting several hundred single women at the king's expense. These women had no difficulty finding husbands at a time when the male/female ratio was in the order of fifteen to one. This imbalance was gradually corrected as the children born in the colony became adults. The colonial birth rate was high and the number of births consistently and substantially exceeded the number of deaths, despite the severity of wars and periodic epidemics.
The population increase was modest, however, and by 1760 Canada had only about 65,000 inhabitants, the population of a medium-sized city today but the early Canadians were spread over a territory some 300 miles long. Several geographical factors militated against the development of the colony: the climate was cold; the distance to Europe was great and the natural resources were of little interest and difficult to exploit at that time. With the formation of winter ice on the St. Lawrence the colony's commercial and other links with France and the rest of the world were broken. With the small labour force the colony's production was low in all sectors, and there was little specialization. Despite these problems, however, economic life was structured around a relatively simple division of labour which enabled the production of most goods and services essential for subsistence. Moreover, it was possible to purchase abroad those commodities which could not be produced locally.
The fur trade was the first commercial activity pursued in the colony. The arrangement was a natural one as the Amerindians desired European goods and the French sought furs for the European market. The beaver was in particular demand as contemporary, European fashions in hats required an enormous supply of this fur. Participation in the trade did not require substantial investment and the return was very good. Many of the goods which colonists had to import were paid for from fur trade profits. A substantial number of colonists were involved in the trade but not everyone had the same responsibilities or enjoyed an equal share of the profits. Dominating the activity were the businessmen based in French ports or at Quebec City. These shipowners directed the transport of trade goods to the colony and set prices. From Quebec City the goods were sent by barque to Montréal where merchants and outfitters purchased and retailed the goods at handsome profits. The actual business of trading rested with professional traders who conducted all transactions with the fur producers. They earned a lesser share of the profits than the ship owners and the merchants. Finally, at the bottom of the income scale, were those hired to man the freight canoes and, thus permit the flow of merchandise and furs between Montréal and the distant posts. These workers received wages but not a share of the profits. For the several hundred men, most of them fairly young, who were hired to move the freight canoes and their cargo, the work was viewed not as a trade but, rather, as temporary labour. Activity extended to all areas of the colony where Amerindians could be found to hunt and trade furs. Operations centred on Montréal, however, and it was there or in the vicinity that most of the labour was recruited.
Although the fur trade held an important place in the colonial economy, it must be borne in mind that the mainstay was farming. At least three families out of four earned their living from the land.
Colonial administrators began by dividing the territory into large estates known as seigneuries. Then the seigneurs or owners of these estates, some 200 in number, ceded parcels of land approximately 100 acres in size to those who requested them. Although this property was free, at a time when the available farming equipment was quite rudimentary, a tremendous amount of work was required for one man to transform a hundred acres of forest into land sufficiently productive to support a family. Let us picture an immigrant who has just received a parcel of land far removed from any settlement. His most urgent task would be to build some kind of cabin for shelter. With an axe as his only tool, he would be hard-pressed to clear more than two or three acres during the first year. The largest tree stumps would be left to rot until they could be removed more easily. A little wheat or corn would be sown amongst the stumps, but it would take at least five years of relentless labour to prepare enough land for the colonist's food requirements. By that time he would also have a permanent house providing moderate comfort in winter. In the meantime, however, our colonist would have to borrow money to clothe and feed himself until the first harvest was reaped and to buy a few animals, some nails and other essential items.
After marrying, he would continue to enlarge the area of his fields in order to meet the needs of his expanding family. He would always have to produce more grain and meat than he consumed, and by selling his small surplus he could pay off his debts, pay for services of the priest, the blacksmith and the notary, and buy necessary items at the store, such as salt, kitchen utensils, window panes, clothing material, a plow and other iron implements.
The colonists practised what is termed subsistence farming; that is, they produced for their own consumption wheat to make bread, their principal staple, along with vegetables, meat and milk products, and sometimes wool and flax for the manufacture of clothing. Complete self-sufficiency was an impossibility, however, and it was necessary to sell grain and other farm produce in order to be able to buy other items. It was for this reason that land situated near the towns was greatly sought after.
The early farmers were always trying to find ways to increase their limited income: they sold firewood, provided transportation, and even opened sand or gravel pits. In the Quebec City and lower St. Lawrence region fishing was a supplementary activity which, in the poor and remote areas, was sometimes more important than farming. Cod, eel and other fishes from the St. Lawrence were salted for preservation and then sold at local markets. The inhabitants also found employment in logging and in the sawmills. The eighteenth century saw the modest beginnings of the lumber industry which provided wood for urban and naval construction and for export to the French West Indies in the form of planks and staves.
Transportation services also provided a source of income in rural areas. Drivers were needed for the sleighs which travelled between Quebec City and Montréal in winter and boatmen were required to move grain, merchandise and passengers along the St. Lawrence. In this period, people did not travel after nightfall and, since there were as yet no inns in the rural parishes, it was impossible to earn money by lodging travellers. On the Island of Montréal and in the south shore seigneuries between Longueuil and Vaudreuil the fur trade remained for some time the main source of supplementary income. In addition to contracting their services for the western fur trade, many colonists conducted trade closer to home by dealing directly with the Amerindians settled at Sault Saint-Louis and Lac des Deux-Montagnes and with visiting bands.
As more land was cleared, as the population increased, and as parishes and closer social relations were formed, life became easier. There were still difficulties, but with hard work and perseverance the colonist could expect to attain a reasonable level of material security.
In the towns the organization of labour was quite different from what it is today. Rather than work being concentrated in factories and the like, the cottage industry system prevailed and production was scattered in many small shops. Craftsmen had their businesses in their homes and were assisted by one or two apprentices, usually between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. These apprentices wanted to learn a craft and in return were expected to serve their masters faithfully for a certain number of years. Since they were fed, housed and clothed by their masters, apprentices received only a small salary, or none at all, and in some cases parents even paid to obtain an apprenticeship for their son. Once their contracts had expired, apprentices could open their own shops and practise the trade independently.
These craftsmen can be grouped into various categories. There were the iron trades, including blacksmiths, gunsmiths, locksmiths, wheelwrights and makers of edge-tools, such as spades; the wood trades, including joiners, cabinet-makers, carpenters and coopers; masons, stonecutters and lime burners; bakers, butchers and brewers; a few weavers and a large number of tailors and dressmakers; the leather trades, which were particularly abundant in Montréal, including tanners, shoe and saddle makers; and finally, there were a few sculptors, silversmiths and surgeon-barbers who served as physicians. The work was usually done to order and the craftsmen sold the items themselves. Amongst the other urban occupations were those, such as innkeepers and carters, which did not require apprenticeships.
The merchants who formed the upper level of the urban middle class were not specialized as they are today. Most stores sold wool, linen and cotton, sewing supplies, hardware, pottery and glassware, guns, and groceries such as pepper, coffee, chocolate, olive oil, dried fruit, liquor and wine, in short, items imported from France. Although all of the merchants sold virtually the same goods, their stock turnover varied greatly with the larger operators achieving success while the smaller shopowners struggled to escape bankruptcy.
Attempts were made, but not without great difficulties, to launch large-scale enterprises such as shipbuilding and the St. Maurice Forges. Such initiatives failed, however, because the colonial market was too small and the export trade was undependable. During the period we are examining, craftsmen provided a ready and adequate response to the basic needs of the population.
A small minority in the colony performed administrative and judicial functions. The senior administration was handled by the king's agents in the colony, including governors, intendants and other officers under them, who returned to France at the end of their terms. The judges, procurators, notaries and clerks were Canadian, but on the whole few people were employed in the administration. There was a substantial number of priests and other ecclesiastics, and some of them participated in evangelization activities amongst the Amerindians. The others ministered in the parishes. Convents, hospitals and hostels staffed by nuns were established in Quebec City, Montréal and Trois-Rivières. There were schoolteachers in the towns but very few in the countryside.
Such were the activities of the Canadians during the French regime, but the development of the colony and the slow process of social and material progress did not occur in a peaceful climate From its inception, the colony had been embroiled almost constantly in a series of armed conflicts. The population had to contend with Britain's North American ambitions, with the opposition of certain Amerindian tribes and with the vigorous growth of the British colonies on the Atlantic coast. Canada was a sort of bridgehead from which France attempted to maintain its presence in North America, and the colonists were its pawns. As soon as they were old enough to bear arms, men were enrolled in the militia and required to assist the regular army in military expeditions on the frontiers. The lot of the civilians also included forced labour, compliance with requisitions for farm produce, billeting of soldiers and submission to the authority of military officers, who held a privileged position. Military expenditures absorbed a major portion of the colonial budget and although some benefited by it, this almost permanent state of war hampered settlement, inhibited economic growth and created a state of tension and disorder. On the whole, the people did not understand much about the imperial rivalries and simply wanted to live in peace.
The war which finally put an end to French colonization was much longer and more costly than any previous one. The inhabitants of the towns and the countryside were all affected and, in the final phase of the conflict, part of the territory was ravaged by the enemy. The people were forced to abandon their land and to fight on all fronts. Beginning in 1758, the country experienced a severe famine which, along with the reversals suffered by the French army, served to break the people's morale. Emerging from the conflict, the inhabitants of Canada began to rebuild what had been destroyed; they returned to their work and an uncertain future.
