Pate Chinois (French Canadian Shepherd’s Pie)

This literally translates as 'Chinese Pie', although it is by no means a Chinese dish.The oral history behind the dish is that it was prepared by the Chinese railway workers in Quebec, and the recipe was adopted by the locals.
This is a traditional French Canadian dish that is cheap, easy to make and tastes delicious.

Pate Chinois (Shepherd's Pie)
about 35 minutes cook time
serves 4
350* oven
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion
1 Tbsp oil plus 1 Tbsp butter or hard margarine
salt and pepper, to taste
1 or 2 (384ml, 14oz) cans of creamed corn (to taste) mashed potatoes : about 5 medium sized potatoes, boiled and mashed with milk and butter (or mashed in your favourite way)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
Heat oil and butter/margarine in a large skillet or frying pan. Add onions and cook until clear, stirring frequently. Add the ground beef, cook until browned and no longer pink. Put into a 1.5 or 2 qt casserole dish. Pour the creamed corn over top of the beef. Drop the mash potatoes on top and cover bottom layer completely, sealing to the edge of the casserole dish. The potato topping should be about 1.5 to 2 inches thick. Bake for about 35 minutes, until potatoes are turning golden and the corn is heated.

Hochelaga, QB Tobacco Factory Fire, April 1895

GIRLS HURT AT A MONTREAL FIRE

They Are Compelled to Jump from the Windows of MacDonald's Tobacco Factory--Some Reported Killed.

MONTREAL, April 25--Many persons were injured and it is feared a number were killed this evening during a fire which caused a loss of $250,000 at the MacDonald tobacco factory at Hochelaga, a suburb of Montreal.

Eleven persons, injured by jumping from windows, were in the hospitals at 1 o'clock.

The physicians in charge say that several of the number are likely to die before morning.

Following is a list of the injured, so far as can be learned:

BEAUCHAMP, ROSANA, collarbone broken, and internally injured
BLONIN, NAPOLEON, left arm and leg fractured
CHAPUT, DELPHIS, both legs fractured, will die
FONTIN, ADELE, internally injured
GAGNON, JOSEPH, fireman, leg fractured
GELINAS, MAY, badly bruised
GUILLMETTE, ETIENNE, badly bruised
PEIRIER, MARY, badly bruised
SENET, ZERAPHIN, back broken
THIBAUDEAU, ALPHONSE, back broken

MacDonald's tobacco factory is the largest of its kind in Canada, covering several acres of ground on Ontario Street, in Hochelaga.

The fire, which started about 6 o'clock in the tower of the main building, made rapid progress, and in a short time the whole upper portion of the building was in flames. The place was crowded with employes[sic], many of them girls, who were finishing their day's work and preparing to leave for their homes.

Exit was cut off and many of the girls were forced to jump from the upper floors to save their lives. Ambulances were called and several girls were removed to the hospital badly injured.

The loss will reach $750,000, and there is no insurance. The factory is the property of W. C. MacDonald. The fire was under control at 1 o'clock.

The New York Times, New York, NY 26 Apr 1895

ET Corsets Saint Hyacinthe 1892 - 2015

The days are numbered for the building that once housed the Eastern Township Corset, located at the corner of Laframboise and Delorme streets in the Sacred Heart area of Saint-Hyacinthe.

The demolition of the building which was established in 1892 would be a loss to the industrial heritage of Saint-Hyacinthe as it is the oldest industrial relic still standing in the city.

Developers want to demolish this building in order to build a new one, so much for the sense of belonging to our city and its heritage. Instead, why not give it a restoration and claim the charm of yesterday year for generations to come.

Industrialization appeared in Saint-Hyacinthe in the last decades of the nineteenth century, the promoters set up their factories near the Yamaska River to use the driving force of the water. It was the first industrial park in Saint-Hyacinthe.

The second Maskoutan industrial pole was installed near the station and the railway to be able to facilitate the carriage of manufacturing. Thus, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the city has a policy to encourage the establishment of factories near the railway. The textile industry has long been the trademark of our community with its many factories and school on Laframboise street.

c.1909

The Guide to Saint-Hyacinthe from 1894 tells us more about the Eastern Township Corset Co. This company was founded in 1880 by O. Gendron in Sherbrooke. In 1892, then moved to Saint-Hyacinthe. The owners then erected "the largest factory Dominion corsets. "Importantly, the City of Saint-Hyacinthe gave a" bonus "to  plants that moved here. At that time, the Corset employs between 175 and 200 employees.

In 1909 the activity of the corset company makes changes to the neighborhood. Indeed, Mr. J N Dubrule, CEO of the company Eastern Townships Mfg.Co. sends a request to the City of Saint-Hyacinthe April 23, 1909 on the public opening of the Delorme Street located on the property of Georges Casimir Dessaulles.

"At his Worship the Mayor and gentlemen Aldermen of the City of Saint-Hyacinthe.

Gentlemen,

Whereas our employees responsible for "carting" of our own materials to manufacture, have been denied by the employee of the Honourable Mr. Dessaulles, the transition path between the Laframboise and rue Ste Anne, the latter claiming that this path was private and, in addition, as we know that at this place, a street named Delorme was verbalized, so please make your kindly Council open this street immediately in order to avoid us trouble. "

In 1948, nearly 125 people specializing in women's clothing lingerie worked at this plant, which was closed in 1979.

Hundreds of men and women have worked in the sweat of brow to improve their lot. They left their mark in this building.

My three eldest paternal grand-aunts, Adrienna, Evelina, and Amelia worked at ET Corsets while still living at home in Saint-Hyacinthe.

(c)2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

Happy Canada Day!

On July 1, 1867, the nation was officially born when the Constitution Act joined three provinces into one country: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Canada province, which then split into Ontario and Quebec. However, Canada was not completely independent of England until 1982. 

The holiday called Dominion Day was officially established in 1879, but it wasn't observed by many Canadians, who considered themselves to be British citizens. Dominion Day started to catch on when the 50th anniversary of the confederation rolled around in 1917. In 1946, a bill was put forth to rename Dominion Day, but arguments in the House of Commons over what to call the holiday stalled the bill.

The 100th anniversary in 1967 saw the growth of the spirit of Canadian patriotism and Dominion Day celebrations really began to take off. Although quite a few Canadians already called the holiday Canada Day (Fête du Canada), the new name wasn't formally adopted until October of 1982. 

Canada's national anthem, as proclaimed in 1980, is a slightly modified version of the first verse of a poem written by Judge R. Stanley Weir in 1908.


O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North, strong and free!
And stand on guard, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.

Refrain
O Canada, glorious and free!
We stand on guard, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!
O Canada! Where pines and maples grow.
Great prairies spread and lordly rivers flow.
How dear to us thy broad domain,
From East to Western Sea,
Thou land of hope for all who toil!
Thou True North, strong and free!

Refrain
O Canada, glorious and free! etc.
O Canada! Beneth thy shining skies
May stalwart sons and gentle maidens rise,
To keep thee steadfast through the years
From East to Western Sea,
Our own beloved native land!
Our True North, strong and free!

Refrain
O Canada, glorious and free! etc.
Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our dominion within thy loving care;
Help us to find, O God, in thee
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the Better Day,
We ever stand on guard.
Refrain
O Canada, glorious and free! 

Original Poem by Judge, R. Stanley Weir, 1908

Music by: Calixa Lavallée

Foulons School (Diamond Harbor School) 1816 - 1884

Former Foulons School - 1946

Foulons School served the largely Irish Catholic population of Cap - Blanc from 1816 to 1884.

In the early 19th century, many working-class Irish Catholics settled around Cap - Blanc. Most worked as longshoreman, shipbuilders, and sailors. By 1861, these English speaking Catholics represented about three-fourths of the neighborhood's population.

To meet the needs of theis growing population, Father Joseph Signay, the Catholic priest of Notre-Dame-de-Quebec, paid to set up a boy's school in the area. The building was destroyed by fire in 1839, and a new building designed by Thomas Baillairge went up in its place.

In 1849, the Brothers of the Christian Schools, who also ran the Clacis School, took over. A chapel was added soon after which eventually became the Irish-Catholic Church Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The school came to be known as the Foulons School or, the Catholic Diamond Harbor School. It offered classed in French and English, but most classes were in English. By the 1880's there were only 4 Francophone children in the school with over 200 English speakers.

By 1884, classes were moved to St. Patrick's School in the Upper Town but the chapel remained until the 1960's.



(c)2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson

Champlain Street Methodist Chapel - 1830 - 1841

Champlain Street Methodist Chapel was set up for Methodists living near the harbor in the Cap - Blanc neighborhood.


In 1830 a Methodist chapel was founded to afford the means of grace to many of the sailors who visited the port during the summer and were pre-disposed to attend divine worship.

The chapel was financed by Peter Langlois, one of the city's first immigrant Methodists, who arrived from Guernsey in 1806. It was open during the shipping season until 1841, when it was closed as a result of rock slides in the area.

The building was destroyed by the rock slide of 1889.


- courtesy Archives of Quebec

Champlain Street - Quebec City

I've mentioned my Irish great-grandparents in previous posts. My great-grandfather George Burns was a stevedore working the timber wharves. My great-grandmother, Elizabeth and he had 4 children, the youngest of which was my grandmother, Bertha.

I can't say for sure they ever lived on Petit Champlain Street but they lived close by, my grand-father helped in the rescue of the 1899 rock slide.

1900

Champlain Street was known as early as 1716. It was the prolongation of De Meulles Street, now called Rue du Petit Champlain.

Champlain Street runs along a narrow terrace bordered on one side by the steep cliff face of the Quebec City promontory and, on the other, by the St. Lawrence River, which is very deep there and usually roiled by strong currents.

Champlain Street, seen here, is located in Quebec City's lower town, below the promontory called Cap Diamant. Many dockworkers lived in this area in the 1800s, and there were also a number of inns.

Keeping this street clean was no easy task, for rains and the thawing snow in springtime turned the lower town into a sea of mud. Fortunately for the residents, municipal authorities fitted out the city with plank sidewalks between 1855 and 1860.

1865

Squeezed between the cliff and the river, this neighbourhood remained a dangerous place under constant threat of rockslides. No less than 85 people died in tragic circumstances there in the 19th century.


The street is named in honour of Samuel de Champlain, who founded Quebec City in 1608.

1916

1950

 Copyright (c) Linda Sullivan-Simpson