Bonne fete des Patriotes

This weekend I was back up in Montreal for my brother's wedding. It was actually held in St Antoine sur-le-Richelieu, a little picturesque town east of the city. This hamlet was also the site of a famous battle between the Brits and the local heroes, Les Patriotes.

Inspired by the American Revolution, a band of local rebels founded a new political movement who fought for greater freedom for the mostly French lower classes that were effectively ruled by a British elite, also known as Le Chateau Clique. In 1834 the party (first call Le Parti Canadien, then renamed Le Parti Patriote) won 77 out of the 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec. These reformers then past a bill demanding for political reform, known as the ninety-two resolutions. After ignoring the bill for quite some time, the British Colonial Secretary Lord Russell responded with ten counter-resolutions. This sparked an armed rebellion in 1837. Backed by Americans, Les Patriotes fought the Brits in a battle near St Antoine. In a bizarre twist of events, a dozen rebels attempted to purchase a cannon from a local Amerindian tribe but instead were captured and then ransomed to the British. The twelve were hung across the river from Montreal in 1839. The rebellion ended later that year.

Although it was mostly a French movement, many Anglos were members of Les Patriotes. In fact, one of the movements first leaders, James Stuart, was an Anglophone. Today Quebec celebrates these local rebels and their fight for greater equality and freedom.