Émilie Leblanc (May 14, 1863 – December 19, 1935) was a Canadian educator and

Acadian The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...

activist. The daughter of Mathilde and Calixte LeBlanc, she was born in

College Bridge A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering v ...

, New Brunswick. A series of 13 letters written by Leblanc appeared in the Weymouth newspaper ' between February 1895 and February 1898 under the pseudonym Marichette. Marichette was supposedly an elderly Acadian woman with many children, unlike Leblanc herself, who was young and had no children. Her first letter spoke in favour of giving women the right to vote. The letters also spoke of the importance of preserving the Acadian culture, language and religion and condemned political corruption and the unfair treatment of the Acadians. The newspaper's owner

Valentin Landry Valentin Landry (February 14, 1844 – May 17, 1919) was a Canadian educator and journalist of Acadian descent. His name also appears as Valentin Augustus Landry and Valentin-A. Landry. The son of Joseph-Auguste Landry and Olive Robichaud, he ...

eventually bowed to social pressure and stopped publishing Marichette's letters. Leblanc married Jos Honoré Carrier, an accountant. She taught school in Weymouth for a number of years before returning to New Brunswick. She died in

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...

and was buried in Memramcook.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leblanc, Emilie 1863 births 1935 deaths Acadian people Canadian schoolteachers