HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1993-09-15, Page 5Clothes do make the man
by Marsha Boulton
QUEBEC CITY,, 1738 -- What
adventurous immigrant arrived in
Quebec City as a male and was
deported as a female?
If you knew that Esther Brandeau
entered Canada as "Jacques La
Farge," you may also know that
Brandeau was the first Jew to set
foot in New France and she was
deported because she refused to
convert to Catholicism.
Esther Brandeau was the daughter'
of Jewish refugees from the Por-
tuguese Inquisition who settled in
1, Bayonne, France. At the age of 15,
she was shipwrecked while on her
way to visit relatives in Holland.
Following her rescue she decided
not to return Mime, preferring to
embrace adventure and see the
world.
She quickly discovered that her
sex placed her at a disadvantage, so
she disguised herself as a boy and
signed on as a ship's cook in Bor-
deaux. Her ruse proved effective.
Using the name Pierre Mausiette,
she spent the next four years
working variously as a tailor, a
baker, a messenger boy in a con-
vent and a footman to a military
officer.
At 19, Brandeau adopted the
name Jacques La Farge and set sail
for New France. '
Officials in Quebec City were
immediately suspicious of the
young Frenchman who bore a
polished manner but wore ill-fitting
clothes. No one could put their
finger on anything specific, but La
Farge was definitely "different."
Under questioning by the
Maritime Commissioner, Ia Farge
finally admitted that his name was,
assumed -- as well as his gender.
To further complicate the issue,
Brandeau then revealed that she.
was also Jewish. For this admission,
she found herself placed under
arrest and confined at a hospital.
According to the policy of the
French, non-Catholic settlement was
prohibited in the tradition of one
language, onereligion, one loyalty
and one monarch. any non-Catholic
immigrantswere to be deported or
converted.
Church authorities pleaded with
Brandeau to convert. For months,
they used every power of per-
suasion, cajoling and threat, but
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Brandeau was unyielding. A Jew
she was, and a Jew she wished to
remain.
After a year of fruitless effort,
exasperated authorities gave up on
the notion of ever converting Esther
Brandeau:
"She has been as much receptive
as hostile. to the instructions that
zealous ecclesiastics have attempted
to give her," reported the perplexed
Intendant Gilles Hocquart. He was
confounded by Brandeau's refusal
to relinquish her religion and
characterized her behavior as "fic-
kle."
In France, King Louis XVI was
kept apprised of the bizarre
situation in the colony. Finally, in
1739, on his express orders, Bran-
deau was shipped home at the ex-
pense of the French government.
Following the capitulation of the
French in 1760, the British made
the settlement of Jews in Quebec
legal.
Seventeen years later the first
permanent synagogue opened in
Montreal. Sherith Israel was built
on land donated by the family of
Lazarus David, whose son, David,
was the first Quebec -born Jew.
In 1871, the first Canadian census
in the new Dominion of Canada
included statistics on religion. Out
of five religions listed, there were
1,333 Canadians of the jewish faith.
This figure more than doubled
within the next decade as Canada
accepted thousands of refugees
from the anti-Jewish. programs in
Russia.
I.,ueknow Sentinel, Wednesday, September 15,-1993 - Page 5
Big winners
No -minds were at It again on
the weekend when this stop
sign was removed from the
Willoughby Street entrance to
the park, and placed In front
of the Fairview Car Wash.
Such acts of imbecility could
be .life-threatening to innocent
people. Those responsible
should turn their grey matter
towards finding some other
means of entertainment.
•
'from page 1 for the
general store. They stopped .at the
mala and Mr. MacNay .picked up
the Lotto ticket at a kiosk there. He
picked but six lines on the card but
also used the Quick Pick feature.
The. ticket was in his pocket on
Thursday and Friday when he put it
on the desk at home. On Saturday,
Mrs. MacNay had other tickets with
her in town to check against the
winning numbers but that other
ticket still sat at home on the desk.
It wasn't until Sunday they
remembered to check that one
against the winning numbers in the
Sunday Star, said Bob, "and there it
was."
"It's once in a lifetime," he said,
still in a bit of a state of shock
Monday.
"We took the limo from Guelph,"
he said, just so they wouldn't have
to worry about traffic on the way to
Toronto.
The formalities were still under-
way Monday afternoon and he said
they hadn't had time to think about
their plans yet.
Mrs. MacNay, who manages the
store in Amberley, said the win was
unbelievable.
"We couldn't believe it. and we
didn't until we got here (Toronto).
"We are just going to take the
next • little while and look after.
things," she said.
Their one son Steve and his wife
Mary were in Toronto with them.
They were also with them when
they discovered the winning num-
bers on Sunday. Their daughter
Sharon lives in Australia and they
have three grandchildren.
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