Journal of the House of Assembly, Lower-Canada : [Journals of the House of Assembly of Lower-Canada from the 15th January to the 22d Mar, 1817 …
Quebec : John Neilson, 1817
50- A Petition of the Clergy, and others, inhabitants of the Parish of Saint Louis, Seigneurie of Kamouraska … That the total loss of the harvest in this Parish, reduces its inhabitants to the necessity of addressing themselves to the beneficence and generosity of the Provincial Parliament in order to obtain assistance in the present hour of unexampled distress. …That almost all the Farmers are deprived of the means of procuring Wheat for seed, being exhausted of money in consequence of the badness of the harvest the two preceding years. …
Tags: Lower Canada, farming, crops, distress, charity, government
112- J.C. SHERBROOKE, Governor in Chief.
The Governor in Chief has directed to be laid before the House of Assembly, Copies of Divers Petitions, and other representations, containing the information respecting the distress prevailing in the Province, which induced him to make measures for affording relief to those Parishes, of which the necessities were most urgent; ….
…of the Parishes in distress, those only to which there are no means of conveying provisions during the Winer, namely, the Parishes of Malbaie, Les Eboulemens, Baie St. Paul, Petite Riviere, Matane, and Cap Chat, have been supplied with Provisions to the first of May next; and that the quantity sent to the other Parishes has been only what was considered sufficient for their relief up to the first of March next.
Tags: Lower Canada, farming, crops, distress, charity, government
152- A Petition of divers Inhabitants of the Parish of Sainte Anne de la Pocatiere … That the bad quality of the grain gathered in the last harvest, renders it impossible that the inhabitants of the said Parish should sow their land in the ensuing Spring, without assistance for the purpose on the part of the House….
Tags: Lower Canada, farming, crops, distress, charity, government
174 – A Petition of divers Inhabitants of the Parish of Cap Saint Ignace, County of Devon, … That last year, in the month of September, at the said Parish of Cap Saint Ignace, there occurred an extraordinary frost, which totally destroyed all the grain then growing, which has occasioned an extreme scarcity in the said Parish….
Tags: Lower Canada, weather, cold, farming, crops, distress, charity, government
176- …it is highly probably that they will be unable to sow their said lands in the spring, whence will ensue their own ruin, and that of their families….
Tags: Lower Canada, farming, crops, distress, government
344 – A Petition of divers Inhabitants of the Parish of Sainte Jean Baptiste, of Green Island, … That the nature of the weather and the season as such as totally damaged the late harvest, in consequence of several successive frosts, and placed the husbandmen under the hard necessity of being unable to sow their grounds in the Spring, no part of the grain obtained in that harvest being fit for being sown. ….
Tags: Lower Canada, weather, cold, farming, crops, distress, government
428- The Committee examined Paschal Tasché, Esquire, who informed your Committee, that there exists a severe famine in the Parishes from Riviere Ouelle to Trois Pistoles; that such is the rigour of the said famine, that some people will soon perish with hunger, unless relief be promptly applied. – That in the Parish of Karmouraska, three thousand minots of Seed Wheat would be necessary for persons who are unable this year to procure any, upon credit, for money, by selling part of their effects, by undertaking work, or in any other mode, and whose lands are in a state fit to being sown, in default whereof much land will remain unsown, whereby a second famine would be occasioned. – That if it be possible to procure such Wheat, while the snow remains, it would be much more certain, for by delaying until the Spring there would
430-would be great risk of not being able to get the seed in at all, or not sufficiently early.
Amable Dionne, Captain of Militia of Kamouraska, informed your Committee, …the famine was not felt as at present; that unless relief be applied in the shortest time, a great number of persons will inevitably perish through hunger, having already consumed the last of their cattle….
Tags: Lower Canada, crops, livestock, distress, food, charity, government
630- Your Committee proceeded to the further examination of the several persons herein after mentioned, that is to say:
Jean Baptiste Morin, of the Parish of Trois Pistoles, who informed your Committee that he left Trois Pistoles on the eleventh of February last, and that unless assistance be given before the fifteenth of March next, some persons will die of hunger. That there is not wherewith to sow; every thing has been destroyed.
Tags: Lower Canada, food, distress, charity, government
836- Mr. Taschereau, seconded by Mr. Després, moved, that the Bill do pass, and that the Title be, “An Act to appropriate a certain sum of money, for the purchase of Seed Grain, towards the relief of the Parishes in distress by the failure of the late harvest.”
The House divided upon the question, and the names being called for, they were taken down, as followeth:
838- Yeas, Messieurs Allsopp, Turgeon, Taschereau, Jones, Dénéchau, Vanfelson, Bellet, Panet, Després, Roy, and Huot.
Nays, Messieurs Cuvillier, Davidson, McCord, Dessaulles, Viger, Languedoc, Sherwood, Bruneau, and Gauvreau.
So it was carried in the affirmative…
Tags: Lower Canada, distress, charity, government, crops