Maison George Étienne Cartier

Maison George Étienne Cartier

One of the “must see” sites in Montréal is Maison George Étienne Cartier.

The property located at 458-460 rue Notre Dame Est is today considered a National Historic Site in memory of George Étienne Cartier. This building also gives us an idea of how life was enjoyed by the “bourgeois” class in the mid eighteen hundreds. It was the Cartier family home from the years 1848 to 1855.

The original construction of the building dates back to 1837 and the first owner and builder of the property was Arthur Ross.

George Étienne Cartier was a very important political figure and one of the Fathers of Confederation. He was a lawyer, businessman, politician and Prime Minister of the Union of the Canadas. (Upper and Lower Canada).

It is noteworthy to mention that George Étienne Cartier was not a descendant of another famous French Canadian, Jacques Cartier, as apparently some historians have us to believe.

Born on the 6th of September, 1814 at St. Antoine on the Chambly river in the County of Verchères, Lower Canada, Cartier passed a great deal of his time in Montréal. After he attended the College of St. Sulpice located in Montréal, Cartier studied and began practicing law in this great city in the year 1835.

This was the time of the rebellion, which I discussed, in my earlier article concerning Louis Joseph Papineau and unfortunately three years after commencing his law practice Cartier was forced into exile with a charge of treason on his head. However, eventually he returned to Montréal to resume the practice of law and by the year 1848 he had a thriving law practice.

In fact, not only was he earning a decent living from his profession, he also received a substantial income from many of the properties he purchased near his office and rented to merchants and professionals. Most of these properties located on rue Notre Dame are no longer in existance.

One of the major turning points in Cartier’s life was probably the election of 1861 when he contested the constituency of Montréal against a Monsieur Dorion. The latter never had any problems in being re-elected in the past and what is important to bear in mind is that Monsieur Dorion was the leader of the “rouge” or Lower Canada Opposition party.

Unfortunately for Monsieur Dorion, after a hard run campaign, Monsieur Cartier was elected as representative. To some historians this victory was probably the greatest election triumph every achieved in Canada as it meant the defeat of the Lower Canada oppositionists.

Cartier’s greatest achievements were in his very important role in the negotiations and adoption of innumerable pieces of legislation such as the adoption of the Civil Code of Lower Canada (now known as Quebec), the abolition of the seigneurial system of ownership of land in Quebec, making the legislative council elective, and bringing about
Confederation.

Cartier is also known for being one of the main founders of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste patriotic society where he supposedly sang his famous poem “O Canada, mon pays! mes amours”, which should not be confused with O Canada, the National anthem of Canada.

Cartier was also instrumental in creating the Grank Trunk, Intercolonial, and Canadian Pacific Railways. He initiated discussions that led to the passage of the British North America Act.

The legislation creating the Provinces of Manitoba and British Colombia were greatly influenced by Cartier.

When visiting Maison Cartier, keep all of the above in mind and if you meet up with George Étienne perhaps you can engage him in a conversation as to what he thinks about present day Canada and will Canada survive?

To reach Maison George Étienne Cartier take the métro to the Champ-de-Mars station in Old Montréal.It is a very short walk from the station going east on Notre Dame.

From the months of June to September the hours are 10am to 6pm, seven days a week. Unfortunately, the house is closed during the months of January through March.

During various times of the year theatrical activities are presented and there are guided tours available for different groups such as schools, adults etc.

For more information you can call 1 800 463-6769 or, if you are in town, you can call 283-2282 (area code 514).

This article was originally published at Suite101.com.

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