Introduction
Parks Canada thanks you for downloading the audio tour “Testimonials”. We invite you to go to a bench to fully appreciate this audio experience.Enjoy!
Account
“And on the Wednesday following, 19 May, the wind came fair in our favour and we set sail with three vessels, namely, the Grande Hermine of some 100 to 120 tons’ burden, on board of which sailed the Commander /Cartier/ with Thomas Fromont as mate, and Claude de Pontbriand, son of the Lord of Montréal and cup-bearer to His Highness and Dauphin, Charles de La Pommeraye, Jean Poullet, and other gentlemen.
Testimonials
I love green spaces. We look it on a map and saw this historic place close to our home. We thought there is water and green spaces, so, let’s go see what it is and we loved it. We have been there several times. We find it to be nice place and also an important historical mark. Not only for us, in Québec, but also in Canada. I know that for the first time that the Jesuits set for here in Québec, I also know that there was a (some) meeting of different cultures through the arrival of Jacques Cartier in Québec. I find it a place of great importance, and that… we are really lucky to have it directly here in Québec City.
Account
|On September 8|, “And the Captain likewise ordered out our longboats to make our way up the stream with the flood tide, to find a harbour and safe spot in which to lay up the ships.And we went some ten leagues up the river, coasting the island of Orleans, at the end of which we came to a forking of the waters, which is an exceedingly pleasant spot, where there is a small river and a harbour with a bar, on which at high tide, there is a depth of from two to three fathoms. We thought this river a suitable place in which to lay up our ships in safety. We named it “St. Croix”, as we arrived there that day.”
Testimonials
I remember my old days at the National Historic Site of Canada Cartier-Brébeuf. I really enjoy those, those days. I worked there for about a decade. And I’ve always liked the location because that’s in my own neighborhood, you know, (..?..) Limoilou, you know, where I was born and raised. Even my mom was born and raised in Limoilou, you know. And from Cartier-Brébeuf, I used to, to see the hospital where I was born, right. So, so people were asked me like “where are you from”? Are you from Haïti? Are you from Africa? You know like Africa is a country, you know! From Africa? No, from right here! Ah! Yeah! Yeah! Right. But where are you from? Right. Look. You see that building over there? This is where I was born. I was born here like I was born closer from here than you. So, this is an important place for me.
Testimonials
Olivier Lejeune, the first African to live permanently in Canada. And in 1632, this is what father Lejeune wrote: “I became a teacher in Canada. I had a little native boy on one side and an African boy on the other side” he used another language. You understand! I taught them the a, b, c’s, right. So, this site was the site where the first African to live permanently in Canada. The first African slave in Canada. This is where he studied. He didn’t study much, right. He learnt the bases of Christianity, to be baptized, and a, he learnt a bit of French. But, the first one, the first student in our history was this young African boy from, from Madagascar or the Guinea coast. He was baptized by father Olivier Lejeune, the Jesuit and he gave him the name Olivier Lejeune. But, this is a story that nobody knew about. Nobody told that story. When I read about it, I started to talk about it in every tours I was doing. I will tell people how Olivier Lejeune studied on that site, on the National Historic Site of Canada Cartier-Brébeuf.
Account
“This land is everywhere covered and overrun with timber of several sorts and also with quantities of wines, there are many otters, beavers, martens, foxes, wild-cats, hares, rabbits, squirrels, wonderfully large rats, and other wild beasts. There are also great numbers of birds, the same as in France. Again this river is the richest in every kind of fish that any one remembers having ever seen of heard of; for from its mouth to the head of it, you will find in their season the majority of the known varieties and species of salt and fresh-water fish. Up as far as Canada, you will meet with many whales, porpoises, sea-horses, walruses, and Adhothuys, which is a species of fish that we had never seen of heard of before. They are as white as snow and have a head like a greyhound’s. Their habitat is between the ocean and the fresh-water that begins between the river Saguenay and Canada.”
Testimonials
Stadaconé Distillery is located half way between where was the Iroquois village of Stadaconé and also where Jacques Cartier and one hundred other Frenchmen spent their first winter. This place is now called Cartier-Brébeuf National Historic Site and every time we have visitors coming at the distillery, we explain to them that we're very nearby this park.Cartier-Brébeuf National Historic Site is located in the heart of Québec City and as you can imagine, there are a lot of people living around it. So it is something that is part of many people's lives. If you walk over there on a Saturday or a Sunday, it's filled out with people having their picnics or playing sports on the fields. When visitors of the distillery are coming in, the first thing we tell our visitors is the story of Jacques Cartier.Jacques Cartier was a French explorer that went to find a path to India. In his first travel in 1534, he went to Gaspé. Gaspé is about 5 or 6 hours by car east of Quebec City. This is where he met Donnacona, which was the chief of Stadaconé village and as you know, Stadaconé is where Quebec City is now located. So, Donnacona was doing his annual fishing trip with about 30 other men, approximately a week of canoe to get there. When Jacques Cartier met Donnacona, and again you have to imagine it was by pure coincidence, he brought back with him, two teenagers in France, and this is where the two teenagers learned French so that they could be used as interpreters for the second travel. So in September 1535, he brought the two teenagers back in Stadaconé village and he came with 3 ships and about 100 men. They spent about 2 weeks next to the village but quickly, because of huge cultural differences as you can imagine between Europeans and First Nations, they move about 1 kilometre away, where currently stands the Cartier-Brébeuf National Historic Site.What is interesting is that Stadaconé Distillery is right in the middle of these two historical sites, which means that 500 years ago our ancestors were probably walking through the path where the distillery stands today and maybe, you know, there is still some spirits that are going in our own spirits.
Account
“From the middle of November 1535 until Saturday the fifteenth of April 1536, we lay frozen up in the ice, which was more than two fathoms in thickness, while on shore there were more than four feet of snow, so that it was higher than the bulwarks of our ships. This lasted until the date mentioned above, with the result that all our beverages froze in their casks. And all about the decks of the ships, below hatches and above, there was ice to the depth of four finger breadths. During this period there died to the number of twenty-five of the best and most able seamen we had, who all succumbed to the aforesaid malady.”
Conclusion
We hope that these testimonials have captivated and inspired you. If you would like to learn more about the history of the site, we invite you to visit the interpretation centre, located near the parking lot. A guide will be happy to welcome you.The long trail along both sides of the St. Charles River is also a good way to explore the area at your own pace. Enjoy your visit!
Comment card
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