Log Cabin Chronicles

Old Quebec City

Photograph/John Mahoney

QUEBEC AFFAIRS

With PETER BLACK

Victoria Day, Dollard Daze

There's no question Queen Victoria left her mark on Canada without ever having visited the place. Even in Quebec, Victoria's 64-year legacy has survived contemporary efforts to erase the English presence here.

To wit, Victoriaville, current population 21,500, home of the Vic hockey sticks that sprout from fertile NHL benches, was named for her Imperial Majesty in 1860.

Victoria's tenure at the helm of the British Empire coincides intimately with the social and political development of Canada - her reign begins with the 1837 Rebellions and ends in 1901 with Canada's first prime minister of French ancestry nearing the peak of his power and popularity.

So, whether one is a monarchist or not, Victoria's sentimental and historical connection to this country would seem to justify naming a spring holiday for her on May 24, her birthday.

In Quebec, as in most events with a political spin, Victoria has been dethroned by Adam Dollard des Ormeaux as the historical figure reigning o'er the May long weekend. Dollard, too, has left his mark on the land, most notably a Montreal Island suburb.

He's also left a simmering debate among historians over what exactly his role was in Canadian history and how he fits into the pantheon of Quebec nationalist heroes.

You quickly discover upon doing any reading on the history of New France that, in most cases, the problem is not enough historical documentation, but too much of it. Seems everyone a cut above illiterate in the colony committed their every thought and observation to paper. The Jesuit Relations, describing life in New France in incredible detail from 1632-1672, are just one rich source of historical record. Others abound.

Hence, what really happened that fateful May of 1660, when Dollard paddled off to his death, remains unresolved among historians, each faction of which relies on a different set of substantiating material. Depending on which school of interpretation one believes, DDO was either a brave and selfless martyr in the righteous missionary cause, or a klutzy bandit who escalated hostilities with the Iroquois in whose territory the evangelical little colony of Montreal was parked.

The more or less officially endorsed version, popularized mostly by religious historians of relatively recent vintage, has it that Dollard, sixteen other colonists, four Algonquins, and forty Hurons canoed up the Ottawa River to head off an invasion party of Iroquois.

Sure enough, a party of 300 arrived, and, using an abandoned stockade as a fort, Dollard and company repelled them for a week before finally being overwhelmed. Five survivors were carried off for torture.

From this encounter some historians deduce that Dollard had saved Montreal from decimation by forcing the Iroquois warriors to reconsider their invasion plan. Dollard bought the colony some breathing space from native attacks, the line goes, although almost non-stop warfare with the Mohawks continued until a peace pact was agreed to in 1701.

The other version is that Dollard, a humble grad of the French army, seeking to heap glory and riches upon himself, mounted an ambush party to raid the Iroquois returning south in the spring, canoes weighted down by beaver pelts, but lightened of ammunition. Dollard hoped to lay siege to the traders as they navigated the treacherous Long Sault rapids.

This version has it that Dollard had no idea he was about to become embroiled in a huge Iroquois invasion mobilization then in progress.

The historical record is unanimous that the Mohawks were marshaling in the Richelieu area south of Montreal for a spring attack with the goal of rubbing out the European invaders.

According to historian André Vachon, who, in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, examines the competing theories of Dollard's motivations, there's no doubt he deserves a place in Quebec history as perhaps the first colonist to take the fight to the Iroquois. On the other hand, Vachon argues, Dollard's exploits are matched by dozens of other heroes to the French in their struggle to wrench the New World from its earlier inhabitants.

In these days of a slightly more enlightened approach to relations with people who survived European invasion, devoting a May holiday to celebrating Dollard's exploits may be more controversial for its racial implications, than for its historical importance.

Much like Victoria and the British Empire.

CBC logo Peter Black is a writer living in Quebec City, where he is the producer of Quebec A.M. -- CBC Radio's popular English-language morning show (91.7 FM, 6-9, Mon.-Fri).


More Peter Black Columns


Home | Stories | Columns


Copyright © 1999 Peter Black/Log Cabin Chronicles/5.99