Antoine Gérin-Lajoie


Gérin-Lajoie, Antoine
Antoine Gérin-Lajoie, journalist, lawyer (1848), public servant, writer (b at Yamachiche, LC 4 Aug 1824; d at Ottawa 4 Aug 1882). As a student at Nicolet College, he wrote the poem "Un Canadien errant" (1842) and Le Jeune Latour (1844), the first Canadian tragedy. He was a founding member and president of the INSTITUT CANADIEN and one of its highly respected lecturers, a journalist for La Minerve (1845-47), the author of a very useful Catéchisme politique (1851) and a public servant.

After being translator to the Assembly of the Province of Canada, he was assistant librarian at the Library of Parliament 1856-80 and chief compiler of its Catalogue (2 vols, 1857-58). He helped found Les SOIRÉES CANADIENNES and Le Foyer canadien, of which he was the leading figure (1862-65). His most famous work is a 2-part novel: Jean Rivard, le défricheur (1862) and Jean Rivard, économiste (1864), which extols the virtue of clearing uncultivated land in Québec as a means of ensuring survival of the French Canadian nation. Part of his Mémoires (1885) and an historical work, Dix ans au Canada, de 1840 à 1850 (1888-91), were published posthumously.

Author RENÉ DIONNE

0
0
Absolutely free, with over 40,000 articles in French and English, The Canadian Encyclopedia is the ultimate online resource for all things Canadian, from history, sports, arts, science, technology, and much, much more. Get started at www.TheCanadianEncyclopedia.com
Feature Articles
The Formation of the RCMP

The Dominion government's advertisement asked for volunteers "able to read and write either the English or French language" with "good antecedents" who were good horsemen...

INSIDE TCE

Gallery
Browse the rich visual resources of The Canadian Encyclopedia through thematic galleries of Canadian Art, History, Nature, People, and Science and Technology.
Interactive Resources
Illustrations, lively text, animations, sounds and games help make learning about Canadian history, art, geography, architecture and other topics entertaining as well as informative.
Canucklehead
The ultimate test of your knowledge of Canada, trivial and otherwise. You can choose from more than 60 dynamic quizzes with visual or text clues. Your scores depend on the speed with which you answer and the number of clues you need. Results are sent to you by email and high scores are posted on the site.
Timeline
This unique resource includes more than 6000 events from Canadian and world history. It can be searched by era, subject, keyword or date. To find out what happened on your birthday, select the month and day of your birth.
100 Greatest Events
This selection of the 100 "greatest" events in Canadian history was made by editor in chief James H. Marsh to draw attention to events that have left an indelible memory in the minds of later generations.