Press for Conversion! (Issue # 69) Fall 20178

Canada’s Extraordinary Redactions:

Held Captive by Nation-Building Myths about Jacques Cartier

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from the ranks of Quebec’s middle-classnationalist intellectuals,” says Gordon, its“broad embrace suggests that it resonatedwith ordinary people.”2

The post-colonial era was a timewhen Cartier’s image has put to use byAnglophone elites, academic and other-wise, eager to promote English-dominatedCanadian nationalism. Gordon describeshow the federal government in “Ottawa at-tempted to elevate Cartier into a nationalbicultural symbol.”3 And, in describing thisera of historiography, Trigger notes that

Many English Canadian historianssought to promote national unity byurging their readers to honour the bravemen and women of that period [the so-called ‘Heroic Age’] as the founders notonly of New France but of modernCanada as well.4

Champlain and Jesuit missionarieswere “lauded” by English-speaking histo-rians, says Trigger, “as stalwart men whosacrificed their lives to prevent New Francefrom being overrun by savages.” In so do-ing, he says, they

provided a model of heroic deeds inwhich later generations of Canadians,regardless of their ethnic origins,mother tongue, or religious creed, cantake particular pride.

The heroes of New France were venerated“in true Victorian fashion” with “volumi-nous publications,…poems, paintings, …sculptures,” plaques, statues and shrines,and “impressed on the minds of children

in … history texts.”5

Gordon explains that by the 1930s,“government agencies, both federal andprovincial, were also drawn to adopt Car-tier as a symbol of (often competing) na-tional identities.” Then, during the 1960s,“with the emerging Québécois nationalismcharacteristic of the Quiet Revolution,” the“old common sense surrounding Cartierno longer fit.” Since then, says Gordon,Cartier’s celebrity has receded, “not intoobscurity but to the periphery.”6

What’s in a Name?Renditions and Redactions

The Cartier myth remains alive and wellin Canada. A variety of Canadian govern-mental and non-governmental sources stillpromote highly sanitized renditions of hislegacy. For example, while mainstreamnarratives often remember Cartier as a keyfigure in the story of how Canada got itsname, they often remove from the recordany mention whatsoever of Cartier’s rolein the kidnapping, extended captivity andenslavement of Aboriginal people.

While noting that Cartier “is usu-ally credited with discovering Canada,”the Canadian Encyclopedia tells us thatCartier “was the first explorer of the Gulfof St Lawrence.” By declaring that Car-tier “discovered one of the world’s greatrivers,”7 this popular mainstream sourcecontinues the longstanding tradition of

By Richard Sanders

Besides John Cabot, an-other towering figure inthe pantheon of Can-

ada’s national heroes, long saidto have “discovered” this land,is Jacques Cartier. Both Cabotand Cartier were little more thanofficially aggrandized criminals— well-armed pirates chartingthe way for European kings andpopes to seize control of whatbecame known as “Canada.”

While Cabot staked theEnglish monarchy’s fictive claimto dominate North America, Car-tier is celebrated for three voy-ages, between 1534 and 1542,which set the colonial course ofhistory for New France.

As anthropologist BruceTrigger noted in 1985, the era ofEuropean explorations followingCabot and Cartier, until “the establishmentof royal government in New France in1663 was long seen as a ‘Heroic Age.’”The brave heroes in question were

French explorers, missionaries, andsettlers [who] performed noble deeds.Cartier the ‘discoverer’ of the St. Law-rence Valley, was hailed as the proto-type of a bold mariner.1

In his book The Hero and the His-torians: Historiography and the Uses ofJacques Cartier (2010), Alan Gordondocuments an ebb and flow in the centu-ries-long manipulation of Cartier’s imageby a diverse array of professionals withspecial interests. Gordon delves into howhistorians have exploited the Cartier brand,and discusses how politicians, bureaucrats,government agencies, church leaders, non-profit groups and tourism businesses haveall profited from fictive narratives thatcapitalise on the glorious myths still float-ing around Cartier.

In the early 1800s, narratives aboutCartier were used to serve the political as-pirations of Quebec nationalists. By “in-venting Cartier as a national historicalhero,” says Gordon, “nineteenth-centuryFrench Canadians were also inventing anidentity for themselves.” During the latterhalf of 19th century, there was a “suddenand massive outpouring of representationsof Jacques Cartier” which Gordon dubs“Cartiermania.” While the “creators” and“guardians” of this “Cartier cult … sprang

I think therefore I am, an... explorer, conqueror, criminal, pirate, hero

Fall 2017 (Issue # 69) Press for Conversion! 9

collective Canadian ignorance and amne-sia. The myth that Cartier “discovered” theSt. Lawrence, turns a blind eye to the factthat the river had already been well ex-plored by countless generations of nativepeoples who had been occupying the re-gion for many thousands of years.

In July 1534, upon making land-fall, possibly near Gaspé, Cartier erecteda 30-foot cross with a “fleur-de-luce”-emblazoned shield and the words “Vive leRoi de France.” With this symbolic magic,Cartier laid claim to the land for France,while reserving its inhabitants’ souls forCatholicism. An 1865 history textbookcalled A School History of Canada thisgiant cross with its royal inscription was

emblematic of the new sovereignty ofFrance in America. Thus was accom-plished a most memorable event; andthus was Canada silently and uncon-sciously incorporated into a mightyempire.

This rendition, in a section called “Carti-er’s Discovery of Canada,” then states thatthe cross raising “completed that three-foldact of discovery in America,” which“placed ... on a vast unknown continent,the symbols of the sovereignty of three ofthe greatest nations of Europe.” Spain,England and France, this history text said,

planted each their foot upon the virginsoil of a new world, eager to developupon a broad and open field the indus-try and enterprise of their separate na-tionalities.

Cartier’s symbolic capture ofCanada for France was recorded in the firstextant narrative of the event, which histo-rians such as Ramsay Cook believe is“probably based on a ship’s log … by thecaptain, Cartier, himself.”8 In this originalversion — The Voyages of Jacques Car-tier — the giant cross and royal shield wereraised “in the presence of” many membersof a “great multitude of wild men.” Re-markably, these 200 “men, women andchildren,” in about 40 boats,9 had jour-neyed 700 kilometres from the town ofStadacona, where Quebec City now stands.

Cartier’s account says the Stadaco-nan chief, Donnacona, “made us a long ha-rangue … that we ought not to have set upthis cross without his permission.” Cartierthen described the trickery he used to lureDonnacona and his sons close enough toforcibly render them captive on his ship:

[W]hen he finished his harangue, weheld up an axe to him, pretending wewould barter it …. and little by little[he] drew near the side of our vessel.10

One of our fellows, ... in our boat,

took hold on theirs and suddenly leaptinto it, with two or three more, whoenforced them to enter into our ships.11

After Cartier had “entertained themvery freely, making them eat and drink”(likely alcohol), they were bribed with trin-kets. Cartier then told Donnacona that “wewould take two of his children with us.”The chief’s two sons, who Cartier says “wehad detained to take with us,”12 were ren-dered captive and taken away from theirfamily, community and country to France.Throughout Canadian history, popularsources of fiction such as history textbooksand encyclopedia’s have either removedall reference to Cartier’s kidnapping ofIndigenous peoples, or excused thesecrimes with the rationales that commonlyafflicted Eurocentric racists. (See “Cana-dian History Books as Captivating Worksof Fiction,” p.15.)

During his second visit to“Canada,” Cartier exploited Donnacona’ssons as translators and guides. His journalrefers to them as “the two savages we hadcaptured on our first voyage” and the “twomen we had seized on our former voy-age.”14 Cartier had also used his captivesas objects of curiosity in France, wherethey met an untimely death five years later.

There are, of course, gravely con-flicting renditions of these pivotal eventsin Canadian history. The Canadian Ency-clopedia whitewashes the rendition ofthese two young men by telling us that in1534, after “planting a cross and engag-ing in some trading and negotiations, Carti-er’s ships left … with two of the Iroquoischief Donnacona’s sons and returned toFrance.”15 This popular source also claimsthat the chief “agreed to let his sonsDomagaya and Taignoagy return with Car-tier to France.”16 This shameless versionstrikes from history that the original recordof Cartier’s voyages used the words“seized,” “captured” and “detained” todescribe the deception and force used to“take” the brothers from their father in1534. This leading Canadian encyclope-dia also ignores the obvious fact that oncehis sons’ kidnapping was a fait accompli,Donnacona had no real choice when he issaid to have “agreed” to their captivity.

The Historical Encyclopedia ofWorld Slavery is blunt but accurate in as-sessing this key incident. It says

French enslavement of Native Ameri-cans began in 1534 when Jacques Car-tier seized several Native Americans onhis first expedition to the New Worldand carried two to France.17

Not surprisingly, various Govern-ment of Canada websites prefer the ex-traordinarily deceitful rendition of historythat expunges Cartier’s role in ushering inthe long Canadian tradition of holding In-digenous peoples captive. For instance, thegovernment’s Canadian Heritage websitehas a page called the “Origin of the Name— Canada.” It repeats the often-heard leg-end from Cartier’s second voyage:

In 1535, two Indian Youths told JacquesCartier about the route to ‘kanata.’ Theywere referring to the village of Stada-cona; ‘kanata’ was simply the Huron-Iroquois word for ‘village’ or ‘settle-ment.’ But for want of another name,Cartier used ‘Canada’ to refer not onlyto Stadacona…, but also to the entirearea subject to its chief, Donnacona.18

This innocent-sounding Heritage-Canada tale appears verbatim on othergovernment websites, including those cel-ebrating Quebec’s 400th anniversary(2008)19 and Canada’s 150th (2017).20

Left unsaid in these sanitized ren-ditions is the fact that the story’s “two In-dian Youths” were actually Donnacona’skidnapped sons whom Cartier had by thenbeen holding captive for more than a year.

Parks Canada (PC) has also helpedshield Canadians from the embarrassingfact that Donnacona’s sons were kid-napped. Stating that “in 1534, JacquesCartier encountered several Amerindiansnear the present-day city of Gaspé,” thePC story says Cartier “returned to Francewith two young members of this group.”21

The PC staff responsible for suchredactions of history should read their own“Code of Ethics.” It says that “All ParksCanada employees must be open and hon-est in their dealings with the public, stake-holders and other organizations.” It alsostates that PC “employees contribute in afundamental way to good government, todemocracy and to Canadian society.”22

In 1535, during his second visit,Cartier set another powerful example forfuture Canadians by using deception andforce to seize even more Indians as hos-tages. This second case of kidnapping wasalso preceded by the raising of a huge cru-cifix. The 35-foot cross featured a shieldwith France’s coat of arms, and words pro-claiming the sovereignty of King Francis.

Cartier’s own diary says he luredDonnacona and others into captivity. Af-ter enticing them to “eat and drink asusual,” Cartier used what he called a“pretty prank … to take their lord Douna-cona, Taignoagny, Domagaia, and some

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more of the chiefest of them prisoners ...to bring them into France.”23 When Donna-cona and the other chiefs were seized, the“Canadians ... began to flee and scamperoff like sheep before wolves.”24 Cartier’sjournal notes how, after his troops “laidup the prisoners under good guard andsafety,” the Stadaconans lined the shore“striking their breasts, and crying andhowling like wolves” through the night.25

Canada’s First Liesand First Prisoners

By 1541, when Cartier made his third andlast trip to “Canada,” nine of his ten Indi-genous prisoners, excepting one younggirl, had died in France. While he admit-ted to the Stadaconans that chief Donna-cona was dead, Cartier lied about the sorryfate of the others he had kidnapped, say-ing they were all married and living inFrance “as great Lords.”26

Like Cartier, who lied to cover upthe deaths of his prisoners, Canada’s gov-ernment continues — 500 years later —to deceive citizens by redacting Cartier’scrimes from official narratives. For exam-ple, in a camouflaged tale of how Canadagot its name, the Department of NationalDefence (DND) avoids the truth saying:

When Jacques Cartier returned toFrance from his first voyage toAmerica, he took back with him twoNative braves. They returned toAmerica with Cartier on his secondvoyage and acted as guides. They toldCartier about the settlements of Stada-cona and Hochelaga [site of present-day Montreal] … and referred to themby the Huron-Iroquois word Kenneta,which means ‘a habitation.’27

Although this well-varnished ren-dition of history quaintly notes “two Na-tive braves” that Cartier “took back withhim,” it holds Canadians captive with adeceitful story that cleverly excludes allmention of European trickery and vio-lence, or the kidnapping and death of theirIndigenous hostages.

DND presents this sanitised ver-sion on a webpage about the HMCSDonnacona, a Navy Reserve division of200 sailors in Montreal. Although usingthe title HMCS (“Her Majesty’s CanadianShip”), the Donnacona is not a ship, but aland-based naval unit, or so-called “StoneFrigate.” It was deployed in the Iraq (1991)and Afghan (2001) wars, in various NATOoperations and, quite insultingly, in theOka crisis over Indigenous land (1990).28

Its official symbol contains mapleleaves arising from clasped red and whitehands. This cordial handshake, says DND,is used to “commemorate the meeting be-tween Chief Donnacona and Jacques Car-tier at Stadacona.” Meanwhile, the “ma-ple leaves are from the arms of Canadaand indicate that the name ‘Canada’ camefrom the Iroquoian word ‘Kenneta.’”29 Sosays the official government “Register ofArms, Flags and Badges” of the CanadianHeraldic Authority. (See opposite page.)

Heraldry, with origins in the for-malized symbolic conventions that iden-tified mediaeval knights whose identitieswere hidden by battle armour, is equallyconcerned with the fineries of military rankand protocol. As the key representative ofBritain’s monarchy, the Governor Generalis Commander-in-Chief of Canada’s

Armed Forces and the highest authoritywithin this country’s heraldic system.

The symbolic “badge” of theHMCS Donnacona was confirmed withLetters Patent from the Canadian Heral-dic Authority in 2009.30 This occurred justin time for that year’s 475th anniversaryfestivities heralding Cartier’s landfall inGaspé, where he kidnapped Donnacona’ssons. Canada’s then Governor General —former CBC journalist Michaëlle Jean —issued a statement saying she was “de-lighted” to “celebrate” Cartier’s arrival.“What our history books teach us of Carti-er’s first expedition in 1534 has becomethe stuff of legend,” she noted. Ironically,she then built upon the deceitful “legend”of Canadian multiculturalism by speakingof Cartier’s “cordial relations with the St.Lawrence Iroquoians.” Governor GeneralJean then continued the coverup of Carti-er’s role as kidnapper by saying that he“returned to France with two of Donnaco-na’s sons, Domagaya and Taignoagny.”31

Although noting that “certain as-pects of the story are open to interpreta-tion,” Jean did not elaborate. Instead, herspeech disguised the truth of Cartier’scrimes with a torrent of effusive babbleabout the “joyful celebrations of cultureand the blending of cultures highlightingthis historic date for the Gaspé Peninsulaand all of Canada …” But the duplicity inrendering a laundered version of Cartier’scrime didn’t end there. Jean had the au-dacity to conclude this set of lies with apretentious and hypocritical appeal forhonesty! The Cartier “celebrations,” shesaid, “provide us with the opportunity tofurther our understanding of our historyand seek out the truth, two conditions nec-essary for respect and harmony.”32

A few weeks later, Jean had a per-fect symbolic opportunity to make a cor-rection to her flawed rendition of the Car-tier-Donnacona “legend.” The occasionwas an awards ceremony in Quebec City,where as Governor General she handed out“Corrections Exemplary Service Medals”to eight employees of a maximum-secu-rity prison called ... the Donnacona Insti-tution! This would certainly have been agood moment to mention the injustice ofCartier’s imprisonment of Donnacona, hissons, various chiefs and Indigenous chil-dren. Despite her geographic proximity tothe 475-year-old crime scene whereDonnacona was taken prisoner, Canada’sGovernor General did not seize the “op-portunity” to correct her obfuscations of

and took them to France. By 1541, nine of Cartier’s ten prisoners were dead.The Donnacona Institution is now a maximum security prison near Quebec City.

In 1534, Chief Donnacona’s sonsbecame the first Indigenous cap-tives of the French in Canada. Ayear later, Cartier seized Donna-cona, rekidnapped his two sons,seized six other chiefs and a girl

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The HMCS Donnacona

“Oka crisis” overIndigenous land

was deployed in Iraq,Afghanistan & the

third voyage spelled out a formula for di-viding the spoils that were expected fromthe conquest. The King’s new license saidone “third of all the movable gains andprofits proceeding from the said voyage,army, and expedition,” were to be dividedamong those who took part. This includ-ing Cartier, who was the fleet’s admiraland chief navigator. Another third, said theKing, “We have reserved ... for Ourself.”39

The final portion was for the King’s friendand fellow nobleman, Jean-François de LaRocque de Roberval, a pirate and profes-sional soldier who became the first Lieu-tenant General in France’s first colony.40

Although the French king had beeninformed of the “abundance of good fish”and “[a]nimals whose hides as leather areworth ten cruzados each,” he was also toldfanciful myths about “Canada.” For exam-ple, Lagarto says Donnacona told theFrench king that “Canada” had an “abun-dance of clove, nutmeg, and pepper,” aswell as “oranges and pomegranates.” IfDonnacona did tell Francis these tall tales,he was perhaps lying in order to expeditehis return home as a valuable guide to thesefalse riches. Fabrications about gold, sil-ver and spices were also apparently flesh-ed out in Donnacona’s phantasmagoricalaccounts of people “possessing no anus”who “never eat nor digest,” and others with“only one leg,” as well as “men who fly,having wings on their arms like bats.”41

Like the Spanish and Portuguesemonarchs whose slave traders werespreading their mercantile tentacles aroundthe world, King Francis would have beeninterested in finding profitable sources ofable-bodied people. During his first voy-age, in which he described Labrador as“the land God gave to Cain,” Cartier re-ported that “[t]here are people on this coastwhose bodies are fairly well formed, butthey are a wild and savage folk.”42

In describing the wealth of“Canada,” Cartier often combined his ac-counts of physical riches with accounts ofhuman resources, which added potentialfor acquiring religious converts. For ex-ample, in introducing his second voyage,Cartier told the king “you will learn andhear of their fertility and richness, of theimmense numbers of peoples livingthere….” Cartier then assured the monarchthat he and his men were filled “with thesure hope of the future increase of our mostholy faith and of your possessions …”43

In the commission for Cartier’sthird voyage, the King similarly mixed up

Imperial MotivesCriminal Precedents

and Religious ExcusesCartier’s brazen use of de-

ception and armedforce to capture Abo-

riginal “Canadian”captives exempli-fies his legacy asa paragon ofcriminality whobrought Europe’sculture of imperi-

alism to NorthAmerica. As one of

Canada’s foundingcriminals, Cartier’s ac-

tions set powerful legaland political precedentsfor the evolution of our“Peaceable Kingdom.”

Cartier journals con-tain confessions of imperial

crimes which reveal the mo-tives behind them, the means

used to commit them, and thebenevolent alibis used in their justification.

In March 1533, when Francis Igave permission and funding for Cartier’sinitial voyage, he launched France’s over-seas empire. Cartier’s royal contract statedthe king’s intent that Cartier “discover cer-tain islands and countries where it is saidthat a great abundance of gold and otherprecious things is to be found.”34

Cartier’s greed for material wealthis clear from the narrative of his secondvoyage, which admits his decision to “out-wit” the Stadaconans and “seize theirleader.” Cartier’s diary says he decided “totake Donnacona to France” because hewanted the chief to tell King Francis that“there are immense quantities of gold, ru-bies, and other rich things” in “Canada.”35

The ploy worked. In 1539, a navi-gator named Joao Lagarto reported to hismonarch, John III of Portugal, that “theKing of France says the Indian King[Donnacona] told him there … are manymines of gold and silver in great abundance…”36 Two years later, when describing theFrench armed forces being assembled forCartier’s third expedition, a Spanish spywrote, “When the members of the saidarmy have arrived on land, they will searchfor gold and silver mines.”37

Cartier’s account of that voyagenoted that his captives told “the King thatthere were great riches”38 in Canada. Withthis in mind, the King’s contract for the

this country’s sanitised his-torical record.

To be fair, the faultprobably lies with Jean’sspeech writers. TheGovernor Generalmay have had noreal idea of theirony in herwords and ac-tions. Those en-slaved by mythsabout Canada’smulticultural val-ues, and captivatedby the blanched ver-sions of our criminalhistory, cannot see theshame in a federal prisonbearing the name of ChiefDonnacona, whose sonswere the first known “Ca-nadian” prisoners. And whobetter to put a trustworthyface on Canada’s history ofracist captivity than Jean, aformer CBC personality descended fromslaves in Haiti, another former Frenchcolony? Further irony regarding this ig-norance about Canada’s criminal heroesis that while Jean has 12 honourary PhDs— in everything from philosophy, litera-ture, foreign relations and military science— five of her doctorates are in law.33

The breathtaking abandon withwhich high-ranking government officialsturn a blind eye to basic facts of Canada’scriminal history is, unfortunately, just thetip of the cultural iceberg. The long-standing truth of Canada’s whole legal sys-tem is that “First Nations” are also “FirstPrisoners.” And, like state captives uncer-emoniously thrown into solitary confine-ment, the long Canadian tradition of im-prisoning Indigenous peoples has beenthrown down the nation’s memory hole.

Once this history is secured out ofsight and mind behind the prison-like wallsof cultural amnesia, it is difficult to releaseit to the light of day. Successive govern-ments and civil-society groups have aidedand abetted the cleansing of historicalmemory — not only of the extraordinaryrenditions of Donnacona’s time, but of themany thousands of Indigenous prisonersand slaves who have been held by Euro-peans during the succeeding five centu-ries. The struggle to correct false rendi-tions of history, and to redress the legacyof Canada’s crimes, is ongoing.

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references to material “commodities” withmention of “peoples,” captives and reli-gious converts. He noted, for instance, that“the lands of Canada and Hochelaga” are

provided with several valuable com-modities and the peoples of those coun-tries [are] well formed of body and limband well endowed in mind and under-standing of whom he [Cartier] broughtback at the same time a certain numberwhom We have had kept for a long timeand instructed in our said holy faith.44

This is similar to a passage inColumbus’ 1492 journal which toldSpain’s monarchs about the physical andmental qualities of “Indians” and remarkson their capture, conversion and commodi-fication as “servants”:

“They are all of a good size and stat-ure, and handsomely formed …. It ap-pears to me, that the people are ingen-ious, and would be good servants and Iam of opinion that they would veryreadily become Christians …. If itplease our Lord, I intend ... to carryhome six of them to your Highnesses,that they may learn our language.”45

Seizing Indigenous captives servedthe imperial intent of early conquerors likeColumbus and Cartier. Besides using themas objects of curiosity in Europe’s royalcourts, and to attest to the richness of newly“discovered” lands, native hostages couldbe urged to inspire royal funding for fol-low-up expeditions on which they were ex-ploited as guides and translators.

And, imperial purposes were alsoserved by having a few initial native hos-tages convert to Christianity. Upon theirreturn, these early religious captiveshelped spread Europe’s invasive cultureamongst the enemy population. King Fran-cis noted that Cartier

brought to Us from those countries vari-ous men whom We have kept for a longtime in our kingdom having them in-structed in the love and fear of God andof His holy law and Christian doctrinein the intention of having them takenback to the said countries, …in ordermore easily to lead the other peoplesof those countries to believe in our holyfaith.46 (Emphasis added.)

“Divide and Conquer” withHate Speech and other Weapons

Christianity provided linguistic tools topen people into opposing groups, namely,the Divine and the Demonic. This is illus-trated in a 1538 list of “men and supplies… that the King wished to send to Canada”for Cartier’s third voyage. The “great KingFrancis” was said to be full of “piety, mag-nanimity, and open-heartedness” because,“notwithstanding that wars had exhaustedhis finances,” was “in a state of peace” andwanted “to establish the Christian Religionin a country of Savages at the other end ofthe world.”47 His goal was said to be the“winning over of an infinite number ofsouls to God” to gain “their liberation fromthe domination and tyranny of the infer-nal Demon, to whom they used to sacri-fice even their own Children.”48

This apocryphal language of de-monisation, with its bogus accusations ofchild sacrifice, typified the witch huntsthen rife in Europe, where the Catholic mo-nopoly on truth was being challenged. Butwhat Cartier called “winning over … soulsto God” from “the infernal Demon” re-quired more than just official, hate litera-ture. Religious laws had to be enforced bystate-sanctioned acts of ultraviolence.

Cartier’s support for the impositionof religious superiority using state sanc-tioned violence, including execution, isfound in his account of the second voyageto Canada (1535-1536). This may be thefirst document about “Canada” to incitehatred against identifiable groups and tosupport their execution. Telling Francis Ithat “we have seen this most holy faith ofours in the struggle against wicked her-etics and false law-makers,” Cartier dot-ingly congratulated the king for all “thegood regulations and orders you have in-stituted throughout your territories andkingdom.” Bluntly described the enemiesof Catholicism as “wicked Lutherans,apostates, and imitators of Mahomet,” Car-tier applauded the use of “capital punish-ment” against these “infants of Satan.”49

Fresh in Cartier’s mind when pen-ning this fanatical invective may have beenthe “Affair of the Placards” (1534-1535).During this offensive, hundreds were ar-rested and dozens burned at the stake forthe crime of putting up anti-Catholic post-ers. The French king’s savage persecutionof dissidents culminated in 1545, the sameyear that Cartier’s second journal was pub-lished. That year, Francis launched a cru-sade against Waldensian “heretics” in

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Upon discovering the decadent palace of King Francis I at Chambord,they put up a few teepees and tried to share their understandingof spirituality and civilisation with the chiefs of Europe’s tribes.

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southeast France. While about 8,000 ofthese Protestants were slaughtered, 700survivors were imprisoned and then soldinto slavery aboard French galleys.50

Cartier took good advantage of theking’s willingness to force prisoners intolabour aboard French warships. Two docu-ments from October 1540 detail the king’sorders that 50 inmates be provided forCartier’s third voyage. Cartier was givenhis choice of “prisoners accused of orcharged with any crime whatsoever,” ex-cept for “crimes of heresy … against God,”“lese-majesty” [i.e., offending the king’sdignity] and “counterfeiters.”51 Whilethese brands of inmates could not betrusted on Cartier’s mission of imperialconquest and religious conversion inCanada, murderers were welcomed.

Cartier also engaged certain “gen-tlemen” who, like the prisoners, were com-pelled to join his voyage. According to theSpanish spy who described Cartier’s ex-pedition, these men included “two unfor-tunates from Brittany who have commit-ted some killing, for which they will dopenance on this voyage,” and another who“was sentenced to go on this voyage be-cause … he insulted” several aristocrats.52

Besides enlisting prisoners and“gentlemen” guilty of murder and insult-ing nobles, Cartier’s forces also included“men at arms.” These professional soldiersof Cartier’s “army” were blessed with Eu-rope’s deadliest weapons. This is revealedin the “List of Men and Effects for Canada”(1538), which stated that

munitions of war must be taken to belanded and installed in the Forts, includ-ing Artillery [cannons] and Arquebuses[muzzle-loaded firearms] …, Pikes[thrusting spears used by infantry], Hal-berds [long-handled axes topped witha spike], Lead, Cannon-balls, Shot &and other munitions.53

Reporting to the Spanish court, aspy estimated the quantities of weaponsinvolved saying that Cartier was

taking a great deal of good artillery, ...four hundred arquebuses, two hundredbucklers [shields], two hundred cross-bows, and more than a thousand pikesand halberds.54

He also noted that “soldiers and marinerswill carry ... bucklers, because the savages... shoot with bows.” If this wasn’t enough,more ammunition and weapons could bemade because Cartier’s ships carried “fiftybarrels full of iron and all the tools andinstruments needed for ten ironworkersand smiths whom they are taking.”55

Correcting Official NarrativesOne of the only Canadian governmentwebsites that mentions Cartier’s stockpileof weapons is the Canadian Military His-tory Gateway. This project of the Directo-rate of History and Heritage at the Depart-ment of National Defence (DND) containsthe online version of a three-volume setcalled Canadian Military Heritage. Thiscolourful picture book is the official ver-sion of Canada’s military history. The au-thor, Serge Bernier, began his history train-ing with a BA from Canada’s Royal Mili-tary College and “ended his military ca-reer as a historian in uniform” at the DNDDirectorate of History in Ottawa. He thenbecame DND’s Senior Historian and Di-rector of History and Heritage.56

One section in this official historyis called “Voyages of Discovery.” In itBernier quotes from 16th-century docu-ments, but leaves out all references to Car-tier as the militaryfront man in theFrench king’s plansof conquest for “Ca-nada.” Instead, theDND’s fabricationuncritically de-scribes Cartier’s so-called “discovery”of Canada by saying:

[T]he land claimsmade by Cartier in the St. LawrenceValley were recognized in Europe,where the territories that he discoveredwere identified on maps as New France.

Similarly, Canada’s official historynotes that after Cabot sighted land on June24, 1497, he “took possession of his dis-covery for England ....” The government’schildish history then gives a defensive-sounding rationale for why great heroeslike Cabot and Cartier armed their crewswith the deadliest of weapons available:

It would have been unthinkable forthese intrepid explorers to set out insearch of unknown lands, inhabitedpossibly by natives of unknown dispo-sition, but presumably hostile, withoutensuring a minimum of security througheffective weapons and men who knewhow to handle and maintain them.Therefore, the sailors from all the Eu-ropean nations who signed on for theseexpeditions had to be able to becomemen-at-arms when danger threatened.57

(Emphasis added.)Excised from such simplistic gov-

ernment narratives of history is the fact thatEurope’s warmongering royal patrons em-powered Cabot and Cartier to use what-

ever violent means they needed to usurpthe riches of the “New World.” Canada’sofficial history also conveniently forgetsthat European conquerors were blessedwith religious doctrines to justify the cap-tivity, enslavement and murder of Indig-enous peoples because they were consid-ered not only culturally inferior, but alsosavage, animalistic and even demonic.

Although Cabot and Cartier epito-mise the religious brand of predatory im-perialism that reigned in Britain andFrance, this stark reality has been largelywhitewashed from official versions of Ca-nada’s history. Thanks in no small part togovernment-issued fictions, many gener-ations of Canadians never learned that,from its creation, the “Canada” project wasdriven by the European elite’s unquench-able quest for power, glory and wealth.Driven by raw greed, warmongeringFrench and English monarchs facilitated

the excursions of pi-ratical “explorers”and tasked them toclaim dominionover the lands, peo-ples and wealth ofthe “New World.”For centuries, theircrimes were cloakedin pious-soundingreligious rationales

that were overtly racist, xenophobic andculturally narcissistic.

After 500 years, many Canadiansare still so enamoured by the fiction thatpasses as official history that they are blindto this country’s deeply rooted criminal or-igins. The crimes of kidnapping, slaveryand theft from Indigenous peoples are themost deeply rooted. Following in the cen-turies-old cultural tradition of treating In-dians as outcastes and outlaws, Canadian“Correctional facilities” have always beendisproportionately filled with Indigenousprisoners. (See “Indigenous Prisons andSlave Labour Today,” p.43.)

Many “corrections” are still need-ed to rid Canada of the structural violenceand systemic racism that has evolved hereover the past five centuries. One step inthis process is to revise our understandingof history and to do away with nationalcreation myths that portray Cartier andCabot as heroic founders of Canada. Weshould instead acknowledge them as theofficial founding criminals of this fictivenation which has been built on a captivat-ing web of myths that continue to deceive.

Official myths about Cartierstill whitewash his role in the

kidnapping, enslavementand deception of Indigenousleaders. As one of Canada’sfounding criminals, Cartierhelped set the genocidal

course of our colonial history.

Press for Conversion! (Issue # 69) Fall 201714

rich

ard

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References1. Bruce Trigger, Natives and Newcomers:

Canada’s ‘Heroic Age’ Reconsidered, 1985,p.5.books.google.ca/books?id=fchA2Ker1vQC

2. Alan Gordon, The Hero and the Histori-ans: Historiography and the Uses ofJacques Cartier, 2010, pp.3, 72.books.google.ca/books?id=fYFSAAAAQBAJ

3. Ibid, p.156.4. Trigger, op. cit, p.6.5. Ibid.6. Gordon, op. cit., pp.176, 187.7. Marcel Trudel, “Jacques Cartier,” The Ca-

nadian Encyclopedia, 1988.tinyurl.com/y87w4por

8. Ramsay Cook, “Donnacona DiscoversEurope: Rereading Jacques Cartier’s Voy-ages.” In H.P.Biggar (trans. and ed.), TheVoyages of Jacques Cartier, 1993.tinyurl.com/yb7e5h36

9. John Pinkerton, A general collection of thebest and most interesting voyages and trav-els in various parts of the World, Volume2, 1819, pp.636-637.books.google.ca/books?id=-icZaHu5QAsC

10. Henry P.Biggar, op. cit., p.26.11. Pinkerton, op. cit., p.638.12. Ibid.13. Henry H.Miles, The History of Canada

Under French Régime, 1535-1763, 1872,p.6.tinyurl.com/y92yv8xc

14. Biggar, op. cit., pp.43, 49.15. Trudel, op. cit.16. Donnacona, Canadian Encyclopedia

tinyurl.com/y9f66z2717. Lori Lee, “Enslavement of Native Ameri-

can Peoples,” The Historical Encyclopediaof World Slavery, 1997. Junius P. Rodriguez(editor)tinyurl.com/y7ot9u2q

18. Origin of the Name - Canadatinyurl.com/lrejapw

19. Origin of the Name - Canadaquebec400.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/symbl/o5-eng.cfm

20. National Symbolscanada150.gc.ca/eng/1344342322819

21. The St. Lawrence Iroquoianstinyurl.com/yb7u3qlt

22. Code of Ethics, Parks Canada Agencytinyurl.com/yd7shtyw

23. Pinkerton, op. cit., p.661.24. Biggar, op. cit., p.84.25. Pinkerton, op. cit., p.662.26. Biggar, op. cit., p.98.27. HMCS Donnacona

tinyurl.com/ya255vax28. Ibid.29. Ibid.30. Ibid.31. Michaëlle Jean, Message on the occasion

of the 475th anniversary of Jacques Carti-er’s arrival in Gaspé, July 23, 2009.tinyurl.com/y9yzdh5x

32. Ibid.33. Michaëlle Jean, Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michaëlle_Jean34. “Grant of money to Cartier for his first

voyage,” March 18, 1533. Reprinted inBiggar, op. cit., p.117.

35. “Cartier’s Second Voyage,” Reprinted inBiggar, ibid., p.82.

36. Letter from Lagarto to John the Third, Kingof Portugal, 22 January 1539. Proceedingsof the Canadian Institute (1849-1914),1935. p.8.tinyurl.com/y8bhx9jv

37. “Secret Report on Cartier’s Expedition:Report by a Spanish Spy on Jacques Carti-er’s Preparations,” April 1541. Reprintedin Biggar, ibid., p.152.

38. “Cartier’s Third Voyage.” Reprinted inBiggar, ibid., p.97.

39. “Roberval’s commission,” January 15,1540. Reprinted in Biggar, ibid., p.147.

40. Robert la Roque de Roquebrune, “Jean-François de la Rocque de Roberval,” Dic-tionary of Canadian Biography.www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?id_nbr=396

41. “Letter from Lagarto ...” op. cit.42. “Cartier’s First Voyage,” Biggar, ibid.,

p.10.43. Ibid., pp.37-38.44. “Cartier’s Commission for his third voy-

age,” 17 October 1540, and Roberval’s

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commission, January 15, 1540. In Biggar,ibid., p.135.

45. Christopher Columbus, Journal, October11, 1492.tinyurl.com/y7aswa44

46. “Cartier’s Commission...,” In Biggar, op.cit., p.135.

47. Ibid., p.126.48. “List of Men & Effects for Canada,” Sep-

tember 1538. In Biggar, ibid.49. Biggar, ibid., p.37.50. R.J.Knecht, Francis I, 1984.

tinyurl.com/y8neu5gv51. “Cartier’s Commission...,” and “Letters

Patent from the Duke of Brittany empow-ering Cartier to take prisoners from thegaols,” October 20, 1540. In Biggar, op.cit., p.139.

52. “Secret Report...,” ibid., p.153.53. “List of Men & Effects …,” ibid., p.12854. “Secret Report...,” ibid., p.154.55. Ibid., pp.152, 154.56. Fonds 97/4 - Serge Bernier fonds

www.archeion.ca/serge-bernier-fonds57. “Voyages of Discovery,” Chapter 2: Sol-

diers of the Sixteenth Century, CanadianMilitary History Gateway.www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/page-17-eng.asp