1762 in Canada

Events from the year 1762 in Canada.

Incumbents

• French Monarch: Louis XV<ref>Guéganic (2008), p. 13.</ref>
• British and Irish Monarch: George III<ref name="rh">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Governors

• Governor of the Province of Quebec: Jeffery Amherst
• Colonial Governor of Louisiana: Louis Billouart
• Governor of Nova Scotia: Jonathan Belcher
• Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland: Richard Edwards

Events

• November 3 – According to the preliminaries of peace, signed at Fontainebleau, England is to have, with certain West Indies, Florida, Louisiana, to the Mississippi River (without New Orleans), Canada, Acadia, Cape Breton Island and its dependencies, and the fisheries, subject to certain French interests. Spain is to have New Orleans and Louisiana, west of the Mississippi, with an undetermined Western boundary.

Births

July 17 : Alexander Macdonell, Roman Catholic bishop (died 1840 in Scotland)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Deaths

August 28 : Augustin de Boschenry de Drucour, governor of Isle Royale.

Historical documents

Seeking to improve its fisheries position at peace talks, France captures Newfoundland, and loses it again three months later<ref>John Entick, "Newfoundland surprized by the French" The General History of the Late War; Vol. V (1764), pgs. 386-94. (See "The Recapture of Saint John’s, Newfoundland; Dispatches of Rear-Admiral, Lord Colville, 1761-1762") Accessed 29 March 2022</ref>

France "renounces all Pretensions" to Nova Scotia and cedes Canada and Cape Breton to Britain, which grants religious liberty to Catholics<ref>Article II, Preliminary Articles of Peace between His Britannick Majesty, the Most Christian King, and the Catholick King (in French and English; 1762), pgs. 6-7. (See also articles on French fishing rights and cession of St. Pierre and Miquelon to France) Accessed 29 March 2022</ref>

Seigneuries ("fiefs") of Canada are "deemed noble," with eldest son inheriting one half, and his male siblings sharing other half<ref>"3. State of the Government under the French Administration; Fiefs," General Murray's Report of the State of the Government of Quebec in Canada June 5th, 1762, Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada, 1759-1791 (1907), pg. 40 (PDF frame 54). Accessed 30 March 2022</ref>

"The Canadians [are], in general, of a litigious disposition" with "multiplicity of Instruments" (to be replaced by "short and well digested Code")<ref>"3. State of the Government under the French Administration; 5," General Murray's Report of the State of the Government of Quebec in Canada June 5th, 1762, Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada, 1759-1791 (1907), pg. 41 (PDF frame 55). Accessed 30 March 2022</ref>

"Canadians in general are not much given to drunkenness, yet Men, Women and Children are used to drink a certain quantity of strong Liquors"<ref>"4. Revenues and Expence of the Government under the French Administration; Observations; 2," General Murray's Report of the State of the Government of Quebec in Canada June 5th, 1762, Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada, 1759-1791 (1907), pg. 50 (PDF frame 64). Accessed 30 March 2022</ref>

Jesuits have missions to Indigenous people near Quebec at Jeune-Lorette (Wendat) and at Tadoussac and Chicoutimi (Innu; Note: "savages" used)<ref>"5th, Church Government; The Jesuites," General Murray's Report of the State of the Government of Quebec in Canada June 5th, 1762, Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada, 1759-1791 (1907), pg. 51 (PDF frame 65). Accessed 30 March 2022</ref>

Quebec general hospital is run by "ladies[...]of the best Families," but war and French king's unpaid debt must leave them in "utmost beggary"<ref>"5th, Church Government; The General Hospital near Quebec," General Murray's Report of the State of the Government of Quebec in Canada June 5th, 1762, Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada, 1759-1791 (1907), pg. 53 (PDF frame 67). Accessed 30 March 2022</ref>

Canadians being "extremely tenacious of their Religion," British by not altering it and rebuilding "their great Church" would earn their loyalty<ref>"5th, Church Government; Observations: 1st, 4th," General Murray's Report of the State of the Government of Quebec in Canada June 5th, 1762, Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada, 1759-1791 (1907), pgs. 53-4 (PDF frames 67-8). Accessed 30 March 2022</ref>

Brief profiles of Innu, Huron-Wendat, Wolastoqiyik and Abenaki, with pledge of justice and instant redress of their complaints (Note: racial stereotypes)<ref>"6th, Indian Nations residing within the Government," General Murray's Report of the State of the Government of Quebec in Canada June 5th, 1762, Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada, 1759-1791 (1907), pgs. 54-6 (PDF frames 68-70). (See also locations of three Indigenous villages in Trois Riviéres region on pg. 67 (PDF frame 81) Accessed 31 March 2022</ref>

Soil is good, but Canadians are lazy and "not much skilled in Husbandry," and corrupted by "avaricious Men" (which British rule will end)<ref>"7th, Nature of the Soil and its Produce," General Murray's Report of the State of the Government of Quebec in Canada June 5th, 1762, Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada, 1759-1791 (1907), pg. 56 (PDF frame 70). (See also similar comments about Trois Riviéres region on pg. 63 (PDF frame 77) Accessed 31 March 2022</ref>

With end of Canada's monopolies and more opportunity, trade in cod, whale products, naval stores, furs, hemp and flax, and potash will flourish<ref>"9th, Trade," General Murray's Report of the State of the Government of Quebec in Canada June 5th, 1762, Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada, 1759-1791 (1907), pgs. 57, 58-9 (PDF frames 71, 72-3). Accessed 31 March 2022</ref>

British will end Canadian gentry's privilege, should keep clergy "in proper subjection," and have won over peasantry with generosity and lenity<ref>"10th, Character of the People," General Murray's Report of the State of the Government of Quebec in Canada June 5th, 1762, Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada, 1759-1791 (1907), pgs. 59-60 (PDF frames 73-4). Accessed 31 March 2022</ref>

Excellent but misused iron industry near Trois-Rivières can be revived and expanded to supply Navy "with proper Iron for Ship Building"<ref>"Advantages derived to the French," Col. Burton's Report of the State of the Government of Three Rivers (April 1762), Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada, 1759-1791 (1907), pgs. 64-5 (PDF frames 78-9). Accessed 31 March 2022</ref>

After detailing fur trade abuses, Gen. Thomas Gage suggests limiting western posts to five: Kaministiquia, Michilimackinac, Detroit and two others<ref>"To remedy the Inconveniencies & abuses," General Gage's Report of the State of the Government of Montreal (March 20, 1762), Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada, 1759-1791 (1907), pg. 71 (PDF frame 85). Accessed 31 March 2022</ref>

Catching whitefish at Sault Ste. Marie requires great skill in canoeing as well as netting<ref>Alexander Henry, "They are full of white-fish" Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories[....] (1809), pg. 59. (See also spearing trout under ice) Accessed 30 March 2022</ref>

Nova Scotia Council worried about security with so many Acadian prisoners in Halifax, and even more so in small unprotected settlements<ref>Council meeting (July 26, 1762), Nova Scotia Documents, Acadian French, pgs. 323-5. (See also Acadian depredations and deportation in northern Nova Scotia and Gen. Amherst on Acadian detention alternatives and complications following Massachusetts assembly's refusal of deportees) Accessed 30 March 2022</ref>

With Anglo-French hostilities ended, Commissioners for Trade and Plantations find it "neither necessary nor politic" to expel Acadians<ref>"Extract from the Minutes of the Proceedings of the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations" (December 3, 1762), Nova Scotia Documents, Acadian French, pgs. 337-8. Accessed 30 March 2022</ref>

Nova Scotia executive authorized to borrow up to £4,500 to cover unpaid bounties and public works expenses, and to suspend bounties<ref>"An Act to enable the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or Commander in Chief, to borrow the Sum of Four Thousand Five Hundred Pounds for paying off the Public Debts, and to postpone the Payment of Bounties and Premiums" 2 George III - Chapter 2, British North American Legislative Database, 1758-1867. Accessed 29 March 2022</ref>

"Frauds and other Injuries [in] Trade and Dealing" committed against Indigenous people in Nova Scotia are to be prosecuted upon complaint<ref>"An Act for Preventing fraudulent Dealings in the Trade with the Indians" 2 George III - Chapter 3, British North American Legislative Database, 1758-1867. Accessed 29 March 2022</ref>

For dissent or desertion "in Times of imminent Danger," Nova Scotia militia officers will be cashiered and lower ranks fined or imprisoned<ref>"An Act for the better regulating the Militia, on actual Service in Time of War" 2 George III - Chapter 7, British North American Legislative Database, 1758-1867. Accessed 29 March 2022</ref>

Seaman in St. John's harbor court-martial, sentenced for desertion to 600 lashes over 2 days, reprieved after first day for "imminent danger of his Life"<ref>"Herewith I inclose you the Sentences of nineteen Courts Martial as follow (...) 18. Matthew Hay" (October 10, 1762), "The Recapture of Saint John's, Newfoundland; Dispatches of Rear-Admiral, Lord Colville, 1761-1762," Maritime Museum of Canada Occasional Papers, Number Six (1959). Accessed 29 March 2022</ref>