In front of the French Union (in French – Union Française) building stands a bronze statue of the famous French heroine, Joan of Arc (In French Jeanne D’Arc), symbolizing the strong connection between Quebec and France. This sculpture is one of many copies created from the original statue by André Vermare, which was sculpted in 1909 for the Église St-Louis des Français in Rome for the celebrations of Joan of Arc beautification. Another copy of this statue was gifted by the union to the Notre-Dame Basilica in 1920 for her canonization celebration. Next to Arc’s statue stands the statue of Marianne, or the Republic, gifted by the French sculptor Paul Chevré. Joan of Arc (1412-1431) heard the voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret since she was a little girl who lived in Domremy village. When she was 17, the divine visions instructed and guided her to help France recover from English rule, and she left her home to meet with the king and join the army. As the head of a relief army, she led the force towards victory in the battle of Orleans. Her additional accomplishments enabled Charles VII, the king of France, to be officially crowned king in Reims and led France to win the Hundred Years’ War. In May 1430, Joan of Arc was captured and sold to the English. At Rouen’s marketplace, she was burned alive after being found guilty of heresy and perjury in 1431. She was only 19 years old. After her death, she became a French national heroine and a symbol of bravery, persistence, determination, fearlessness, and leadership worldwide. She is also the only person in history who was both condemned and canonized by the Catholic Church and has the most statues in her honor. The French Union is an organization that has been working since 1886 to connect and support the French people in Quebec and promote and highlight French culture in all its forms. Read more...

The Maisonneuve Monument (Monument à Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve) commemorates Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder and first governor of Ville-Marie, later named Montreal. Louis-Philippe Hébert sculpted it, and it was unveiled on July 1st, 1895, as part of the 250th anniversary of the city. The monument contains a statue of Maisonneuve standing on top of a granite column. On the bottom, four bas-reliefs depicting important events accrued in Montréal’s early days. Each corner of the column has a statue depicting a character associated with the city’s foundation: an anonymous Iroquois warrior; Charles Lemoyne, who was in charge of the colony’s security; Raphaël-Lambert Closse, the sergeant-major of the colony’s garrison; and Jeanne Mance who founded the first hospital. The statue depicts her as she calmly and gently takes care of an injured child, bandaging its wrist. Several landmarks nearby commemorate Montréal’s founders, including the Jeanne Mance Marker on Saint-Sulpice Street, the origins of Montréal Marker, the Notre-Dame Basilica, Montréal’s Founders and First Colonists Monument, and Saint-Laurent Boulevard. Jeanne Mance (1606-1673) was born in Langres, France. During the Thirty Years’ War, she volunteered for various charitable societies and developed nursing skills. In 1640, Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve asked her to join the first group of people to settle in a new French colony on the Island of Montréal and to be responsible for the settlers’ healthcare. On her arrival to the new world in 1642, she established a hospital in her home; three years later, she founded the Hôtel-Dieu hospital, where she served as a nurse, director, and treasurer and became known as the “Angel of the Colony.” She lived in the new city until she died at the age of 67. Only in 2012, was she recognized by Montreal’s city council as a co-founder of Montreal. Another statue of her stands at the entrance to the hospital she had founded, Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal. Read more...

At the center of Victoria Square in Montréal stands a life-size bronze statue of Queen Victoria. The initiative to erect the statue occurred in 1869 as an homage to Prince Arthur, the queen’s seventh child, who visited the city. It was founded by a public subscription and made by sculptor Marshall Wood. Casting took place in England and then shipped to Canada, where it was unveiled in 1872 by the Governor-General of Canada, one of the first public monuments of the city. The statue depicted Victoria as a young woman as she was when ascending the throne at 18. She wears a crown on her head, carrying a laurel wreath in her left hand and a scepter in her right hand, all royalty symbols. Queen Victoria (1819-1901) was born Alexandrina Victoria in Kensington Palace, London, the daughter of Prince Edward, the fourth son of King George III. In 1837, following the death of her uncle, King William IV, the 18 years old Victoria ascended the throne and became the queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1840, she married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and together they had nine children. Her children married into many royal families in Europe, and she was often referred to as the grandmother of Europe. During her 63 years of reign, known as the Victorian era, the royal house supported and endorsed arts, science, trade, and industrial development, and the British monarchy took on a more ceremonial role instead of a political one. Many monuments representing colonialism and the monarchy have been vandalized since the beginning of the 21st century, including Victoria’s statue in Manitoba’s Legislature building in Canada, her statues in Mathura museum, India, and Nairobi, Kenya. Read more...

Marguerite Bourgeoys sculpture stands between Montreal City Hall and Montreal Courthouse. The Congrégation de Notre-Dame, the Quebec Ministry of Cultural Affairs, and the City of Montreal worked to place the statue and inaugurated it in 1988. The artist Jules Lasalle created the monument; it consists of three life-size bronze figures – two children who stride toward Bourgeoys while she is waiting for them with open arms. Her left arm offers to connect with her while her right points to the direction she is leading. Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620-1700) was a French nun who was one of the founders of Montreal. She was born in Troyes, France, and at 15 joined the confraternity of the Congregation Notre-Dame. In 1652, she followed the request of the Governor of the French settlement in New France to establish a convent in Ville-Marie (which later became Montreal). The following year, at 32, she left France and sailed to the new world. She founded the Congregation of Notre Dame and built the city’s first permanent church – the Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours Chapel (the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Counsel). Over the years, she established the first public school in the city, a boarding school for girls, a school for the poor in Quebec, and schools in nearby villages. In 1982, she was declared a saint by the Catholic Church, becoming the first female saint of Canada. A short walk from the monument is Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum. It stands on the site of the first pilgrimage chapel and offers exhibitions about the life and achievements of Bourgeoys and the highest view of Old Montreal. Read more...

Facing the St. Lawrence River stands a statue of Madeleine de Verchères, who was 14 years old when she defended the Fort de Verchères against a raid of Iroquois. The 7.2-meter bronze statue, initiated by Governor General of Canada, Lord Grey, was unveiled on September 20th, 1913, and designated a national historic site of Canada in 1923. In 1927, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada added a plaque detailing her heroic story. Created by Louis-Phillipe Hébert, the statue depicts 14 years old Madeleine on top of a conical tower, wearing a man’s hat and holding a rifle, defending her home against the attack. Marie-Madeleine Jarret (1678-1747) was born in Fort Verchères, New France, the fourth of 12 children of a French military man who arrived at the new colony during the Iroquois Wars. On October 22nd, 1692, while her parents were away, the Iroquois made a surprise raid on the fort. Since many of the men were working in the fields, they were killed or captured. Madeleine was at the cabbage garden near the fort; she was captured but managed to escape and ran to the fort, shouting “Aux Armes! Aux Armes!” (To arms) to the few people who were there – her two younger brothers, an elderly servant, and two soldiers. She put on a men’s hat to resemble a soldier, reached the bastions, and began to fire cannon and gunfire from different locations to make the impression that the fort was fully occupied and well-guarded. She maintained the facade for eight days until the reinforcements arrived. By then, the Iroquois had left the site and captured on their retrieval. During her life, Madeleine had to advocate for herself to receive recognition for her actions. She wrote two letters describing her involvement in the raid and requesting a pension. Several months later, in 1700, when her father died, his pension got transferred to her on the condition that she would support her widowed mother. It was only in the early 20th century that her story rose to fame, and she became a military heroine. At the statue dedication ceremony, the prime minister Wilfrid Laurier said, “If the kingdom of France was delivered and regenerated by Joan of Arc, this colony, then French in its cradle, was illustrated by Madeleine de Verchères.” Read more...

At the bottom of the Louis Hébert Monument, which honors the early European settlers of Quebec, stands the bronze statue of Marie Rollet, Hébert’s wife, and their three children. It was unveiled on September 3rd, 1918, in Parc Montmorency in Quebec City, where the Rollet-Hébert’s land used to be. Marrie Rollet (~1850-1649) was the first Frenchwoman to settle in New France and its first female farmer. She was born in Paris to an upper-middle-class family, studied at a convert, and knew how to read and write (a rare skill for a woman in the 16th century). In 1601, she married the apothecary Louis Hébert (the ancient equivalent of a pharmacist); they lived in Paris with their three children: Anne, Guillemette, and Guillaume. In March 1617, following a contract Hébert signed with the Company of New France, they left France for Quebec City. After three months of a challenging voyage on the Saint-Étienne ship, they arrived in New France. The family settled in Cape Diamond and built and operated their farm. Hébert treated the settlers and the First Nation people, and later on, the king nominated him as the justice administrator of the colony. In 1627, Hébert died in an accident (slipped on a patch of ice), and shortly after, Rollet married Guillaume Huboust. In the Anglo-French War (1627-1629), many settlers returned to France; Rollet and her family stayed and used their corps to feed those in need. In 1633, Quebec returned to France, and new settlers arrived at the colony; Rollet and her family welcomed and helped them settle in, teaching them about life in the new country. She also educated the Indigenous schoolchildren who were under the care of the Jesuits. Rollet passed away in May 1649 at the age of 69 and was survived by her husband, daughter, and many grandchildren. Read more...

In the heart of the park that bears her name stands an equestrian statue of the French heroine and saint Joan of Arc since autumn of 1938. Joan of Arc (1412-1431) was a 17 years old young woman who followed the saints’ calling and led an army to the French victory in the Hundred Years’ War. Two years later, she was captured by the English, sentenced, found guilty of heresy, and burned at stake. This sculpture is the fifth and last replica of the statue made by the American sculptress Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington. In 1910, Huntington created the first model of Joan after doing extensive research to come up with an original design. Joan of Arc’s first statue was dedicated on December 6th, 1915, in Riverside Park in Manhattan, New York. It was the city’s first statue honoring a real woman. The other three replicas stand in Blois, France, Gloucester, Massachusetts, and San Francisco, California. Thirty years after the first dedication, Huntington and her husband gifted the statue to the Canadian National Battlefields Commission, offering it as “an emblem of the patriotism and valour of the brave in 1759 and 1760.” Joan of Arc Park is one of the parks on the Battlefields Park, which stands on the grounds of the battle site of the Seven Years’ War. The park was created in 1938 by landscape architect Louis Perron. It combines the classic French style with English-style mixed flowerbeds with many varieties planted every summer. Read more...

When you visit the Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum (Musée Marguerite-Bourgeoys), it is like stepping back in time to 17th century Montreal, when it was called Ville-Marie. The museum in the historic chapel presents the fascinating life story of Marguerite Bourgeoys and the early settlers who founded the city of Montreal. Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620-1700) was a French nun who accepted the request of Paul de Chomedey, the Governor of the French settlement at Montreal in New France and the founder of Montreal, Jeanne Mance, to establish a convent in Ville-Marie. She left France in 1653, sailing to the new world with about 100 men. Upon her arrival, she started her mission and founded the Congregation of Notre Dame. In 1657 she started building the city’s first permanent church – the Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours Chapel (in English – the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Counsel). A year later, she established the first public school in the city. She left for France to recruit teachers and wives for the colony and took care of them in their first years in New France. Besides growing the religious congregation, she established a boarding school for girls in Ville-Marie, a school for the poor in Quebec, and other schools in small villages. She died in Montreal on January 12th, 1700, and was declared a saint by the Catholic Church in 1982. The first female saint of Canada. The church was burned in 1754 and reconstructed in 1771. The permanent exhibit in the museum is about the life of Bourgeoys, including miniature scenes of her whole life. A guided tour will walk you into the archaeological site below the chapel and see an 18th-century stone vault. On the upper level, there are rotating exhibitions of local artists. And at last, the top of the chapel tower offers the highest views of Old Montreal. Visitors will enjoy the views of the Old Port, the clock tower, the round dome of Marche Bonsecours, and the St. Lawrence River. Read more...

At the south entrance to the Quebec National Assembly stands a monument honoring the pioneer women who led the fight for voting rights in Quebec and the first woman elected to the assembly – Monument en hommage aux femmes en politique. From left to right are: Marie Gerin Lajoie, Idola St. Jean, Therese Forget-Casgrain, and Marie-Claire Kirkland. The Canadian federal government granted women the right to vote in 1918, and following the Person case decision in 1929, women could get elected to the Senate. Quebec was the last province to grant women their right to vote and run for office in the provincial election only in 1940 after 20 years of struggle. Four years later, women voted for the first time in provincial elections in Quebec. The women who led this fight are depicted in this monument: Thérèse Casgrain (1896-1981) was a mother of four, a feminist, and a politician. She led the Comité du suffrage provincial (Provincial Suffrage Committee), which in 1929 became the Ligue des droits de la femme (League for Women’s Rights). After winning the right to vote, she stayed in politics at provincial and national levels. Idola Saint-Jean (1880-1945) was an educator, journalist, and women’s rights leader. She established and led the Alliance Canadienne pour le vote des femmes au Québec (Canadian Alliance for Women’s Vote in Québec), edited its journal, and even ran for federal election for the cause of suffrage. She died several months after voting for the first time. Marie Lacoste Gérin-Lajoie (1867-1945) was Université de Montréal professor, a prominent feminist and mother of four. She co-founded the Comité provincial du suffrage féminin (the provincial committee for women’s suffrage), and co-chaired it. Next to the three suffrage leaders stands the statue of Marie-Claire Kirkland-Casgrain (1924-2016). Kirkland was the first woman elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in 1961, the first woman Cabinet minister in Quebec, the first woman appointed acting premier, and the first woman judge to serve in the Quebec Provincial Court. She promoted bills to improve women’s rights and the establishment of Québec’s Conseil du Statut de la femme, a council on the status of women in 1973. As part of the 50th-anniversary celebrations of Kirkland becoming Canada’s first female minister, the artist Jules Lasalle created the sculptures. The monument was unveiled on December 5th, 2012, by Québec premier Pauline Marois, the first woman elected to this position. Read more...

A sitting bronze statue of Queen Victoria was created by her daughter, HRH Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll. Queen Victoria (1819-1901) was the United Kingdom queen for 63 years and seven months, known as the Victorian era. The second longest-reigning British monarch. The statue was cast in 1900 from the Queen Victoria’s marble statue that stands in front of Kensington Palace in the United Kingdom since 1893, created for the fiftieth anniversary of Queen Victoria’s accession. The bronze statue was commissioned by Lord Strathcona, the founder of Royal Victoria College and a friend of Queen Victoria and her daughter. It stands on the stairs of the Strathcona Music Building. This building was the former building of the Royal Victoria College, which was built in 1884 by Strathcona for the higher education of Canadian women. It was Canada’s first residential college for women and was supervised by the British philosopher, educationalist, and author, Hilda D. Oakeley (1867–1950). Princess Louise was Queen Victoria’s sixth child. She was a sculptor, and an advocate of the arts, women’s equality, and the feminist movement. In 1871, she married her first husband, whom she chose. When he got nominated to the Governor-General of Canada in 1878, she assisted him with supporting the development of art and women’s equality and co-founded the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1880. She created several statues of Queen Victoria and other royal members. Some are still standing till these days. Read more...