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History of Outaouais.
Introduction
The Outaouais. A region between two worlds. A region of frontiers. Complex, ambiguous, fragile, strong. A region of multiple identities. Betwixt and between. A region to discover.
In one sense, History of the Outaouais is exceedingly ambitious. It attempts to offer interpretations of the social, economic, political, and cultural history of a region over the span of thousands of years. Moreover, it attempts to contribute to the theory and method of the "new regional history," an approach in which a specific region is studied both for its own intrinsic interest and in order to address general historical questions relevant to many regions.
In another sense, however, and more importantly, History of the Outaouais has a modest objective. It seeks to establish a new point of departure for further research on the region. Almost six decades have passed since the publication of the last regional history, Le Nord de l’Outaouais, a remarkable work for its time. Researched and written by a team of three priests and two school inspectors, the book offered a panoramic view of the Outaouais emphasizing economic and geographic characteristics in their historical contexts. The authors designed the work for use in high schools as well as for a general readership. While the volume was fascinating, it was also an unabashedly favourable description of the region’s past, intended to promote positive feelings among the area’s residents. As such, Le Nord de I’Outaouais did not do justice to the true richness of the region’s history. And, of course, the volume was written before the transformations experienced since the 1930s.
Other general histories of the region have also contributed significantly to the evolution of historical consciousness in the Outaouais, and they sometimes provide modern researchers with valuable analyses. A work which deserves special mention is Raoul Blanchard’s Les pays de l’Ottawa published in 1954. However, these earlier works have serious limitations which render them unable to meet the demands of current readers. Their chronological and [14] thematic constraints as well as their theoretical orientations reflected both the authors’ backgrounds and the dates of publication. These books have themselves become part of the history of the Outaouais.
In this context, the point of departure for the research project that underlies History of the Outaouais was a systematic review of the ways in which the Outaouais has been depicted in studies of Quebec and Canada. It is important to remember that the Outaouais has never existed as a region whose boundaries were unequivocally defined. The word "Outaouais" itself has a fascinating history that reflects the regions changing circumstances. Moreover, for many residents, the region is Western Quebec or l’Ouest du Québec, a fact currently reflected among anglophones in the local newspaper known as The West-Quebec Post. Even the creation of formal administrative regions in Quebec has not ended the ongoing reconsideration of territorial limits. As history would predict, the boundaries of Region 07 have undergone revision focusing on the eastern and northern limits. Early discussions led to the exclusion of Argenteuil while Labelle came to be completely removed in 1985. In contrast, Le Nord de l’Outaouais had included both areas as part of the region.
The continued rethinking of the official boundaries of Region 07 reflects the fact that the Outaouais has evolved as a dynamic part of the historical process. The region has not been frozen in time or in space. This dynamic quality suggests that the Outaouais’ territorial limits can best be defined historically, that is, in the context of the theme and time period under analysis. The imposition of a single boundary over the course of time defies the ambiguities and tensions central to the history of this region. In this context, a substantial conceptual challenge is to explain the evolution of the Outaouais in terms of competing definitions of space. In place of imposition or suppression of territorial limits, this challenge calls for discussion and analysis of the evolving circumstances that have inspired new subjective and objective definitions of the Outaouais.
It is clear that general histories of Quebec and Canada have not considered the Outaouais as a significant region deserving significant discussion. Many volumes hardly mention it and those that do often use the term "Ottawa Valley", thus not differentiating between the two sides of the Ottawa River. General histories of Quebec have characteristically included more information or discussion on the Outaouais than have works on Canada but the difference has not been substantial.
At first glance, the infrequent references to the Outaouais in general histories should be no surprise. Given the region’s location in the shadow of Ottawa and its more general association with the "Ottawa Valley", specific and [15] significant attention to the Outaouais should not be expected. References to the region mention the Outaouais in one of only two contexts: as a lieu de passage at the time of the fur trade; and as the home of a forest industry in the 19th and 20th centuries. This limited economic portrayal is rarely enriched in general histories by any attention to the regions social, cultural or political evolution. Thus, should we conclude that this image accurately represents the history of the region?
The portrayal of the Outaouais as a lieu de passage and forested area is certainly grounded in an historic reality related to its location and topography. But to what extent does this image accurately depict the regions historical development and central characteristics? Questions of both timing and content can be asked. Was the arrival of the Europeans the starting point in the history of the Outaouais? Was the regions role in the fur economy simply that of a trade route? Has the forest industry been the only noteworthy economic activity in the region during the 19th and 20th centuries? What about the social, cultural, and political history of the Outaouais? Have misleading stereotypes simply been repeated rather than scrutinized?
The relevance of such questions is suggested by recent studies on selected aspects of the history of the Outaouais. Since the 1960s, researchers have been asking new questions and using neglected sources to produce innovative studies on a wide variety of topics. Unfortunately, many of these studies are quite inaccessible, especially those buried in government reports and university theses. Moreover, this work has been undertaken by researchers from diverse disciplines (including history, geography, archaeology, political science, and economics) and institutions who, through circumstance, often work in isolation from each other. Taken together, however, their findings challenge the conventional image of Outaouais history. Studies now indicate that the region’s evolution has been neither monolithic nor simple. Fresh perspectives have been offered on old topics such as the fur trade and lumber industry, and, perhaps more surprisingly, scholars have begun revealing hitherto unappreciated dimensions of the regions history.
History of the Outaouais integrates the findings of these new studies with a great deal of additional research by a multidisciplinary team of authors that began work in 1987. The authors include those with training in history, political science, economics, archaeology, and geography. Ideally, regional history calls for a "total history" in which all aspects of the historical process are recognized as relevant to understanding the evolution of a particular geographic reality. This ideal can, of course, never be realized since it implies [16] studying an infinite number of topics with a limitless amount of historical documentation.
Although the goal of true comprehensiveness is unattainable, the diverse strengths of the authors have resulted in a book that goes well beyond the traditional historical focus on elite men. For example, the following chapters examine the history of the labouring classes as well as elites, the history of women as well as men, the history of both majority and minority ethnic groups, and the history of First Nations throughout the entire sweep of history. While the critically important roles of figures such as Wright and Papineau deserve full consideration in the case of the Outaouais, their successes and failures must be viewed within a larger context often defined by residents who remain anonymous to history. The ambitions and actions of such famous men must be analyzed as one dimension of the total human activity that determined the Outaouais’ evolution. While no study can do justice to the full range of this activity, it must be recognized that individuals and groups from all backgrounds have contributed (to varying degrees) to the history of the region.
A central characteristic in the newly perceived complexity of the history of the Outaouais was partially captured in a series of feature articles by the Parisian newspaper Le Monde in 1985. These articles described une région entre deux mondes and emphasized the unique position of the Outaouais, pulled by the metropolitan forces of both Quebec and Ontario. While Le Monde also tended to rehearse the regions traditional image, its description focussed on a fascinating but poorly understood dimension of the region’s history. Like the Roman god Janus, the Outaouais has looked in two directions from the time of first human contact. Whereas Janus looked forward and backward in time, the region has looked from side to side in space as external influences have competed for influence. The result has been a complex history in which familiar concepts, such as frontier and periphery, must be greatly refined to be applied fruitfully.
To gain a better understanding of this complexity, the following chapters are divided into four chronological periods. The opening and closing dates of these periods have been carefully chosen in keeping with the region’s social, economic, political, and cultural history. Each set of chapters is preceded by a brief text introducing the main themes of the period and providing general information on such topics as population and transportation. The chapters are accompanied by illustrations, photographs, charts and maps carefully chosen and prepared to highlight, clarify, and add to the central themes under discussion.
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A region between two worlds. A region of frontiers. Complex, ambiguous, fragile, strong. A region of multiple identities. Betwixt and between. A region to discover. The Outaouais.
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