Manoir Dionne, Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière
One could not divide the thirty acres between all male children. One male child was expected to become a priest, but other male children needed land and could not move to Ontario. After Confederation, the population of Canada, except Quebec, had to be English and Protestant. Orangists prevented French-speaking Canadians from settling elsewhere. They could no longer be educated in French. That was a disaster.
To earn a living, many Québécois moved North and cleared land. They had to “faire de la Terre” make land. Some tried to settle in or near Sudbury, Ontario. The school question surfaced. However, some went to Abitibi-Témiscamingue. This area was located in eastern Ontario, but it became part of Quebec, where the landless found land they could clear. The Church favoured “making land.” This is what le curé Labelle, an influential parish priest, suggested to the landless. It was a patriotic choice.
Exodus
When people are hungry, they look for a place to earn a living. In the colony’s early days, New France had a business class consisting mainly of Huguenots. Champlain was a Huguenot. Quebec had very few skilled businessmen. They left Quebec in 1685 when Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes (1598). They had to leave New France because Cardinal Richelieu started building absolutism. In Richelieu’s opinion, the requirements for French absolutism were one King, one language and one religion. He established la Compagnie des Cent-Associés, the Company of One Hundred Associates.
The Seigneurial System
The Seigneurial System had not been genuinely abolished in 1854. The habitants who had not bought their thirty acres had to pay rent à perpétuité permanently. This was a form of slavery: debt bondage. In 1935, the Québec government created the Syndicat national du rachat des rentes seigneurial, or SNRRS (National Commission for the Repurchase of Seigneurial Rentes). The SNRRS would pay the habitants‘ debt in part.
Louis-Alexandre Taschereau is credited with helping eradicate the habitants‘ debt. Payments were required when Duplessis was the premier of Quebec.
Love to everyone 💕
© Micheline Walker
22 August 2020
WordPress
Micheline's Blog 
More fascinating history
LikeLike
I have little stories about Quebec. I taught French-Canadian literature and learned Quebec’s ideologies. One can write short articles on interesting moments. I could not otherwise post anything. Feudalism in Quebec ended in 1970. It was debt-bondage until Premier Taschereau put his foot down. Quebecers lived in poverty, except for a few families. The process is one event at a time. I can’t indent and pictures must go at the center, but it may be impossible to put a caption. But I can go own for a long time telling Quebec’s history one frame at a time. The block editor limits creativity. I hope WordPress can soon return to the Classic editor. I sense an accident. The internet is not completely safe. I believe WordPress was attacked, hence the new and inferior editor. The new editor disables my mouse. I had to learn how to use the touchpad. 🙂
LikeLike