''La Minerve'' (French for "The Minerva") was a newspaper founded in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec ...

(present-day

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

) by

Augustin-Norbert Morin Augustin-Norbert Morin (October 13, 1803 – July 27, 1865) was a Canadien lawyer and judge. Born in Saint-Michel-de-Bellechasse, Lower Canada, into a large Roman Catholic farming family, Morin was identified by the parish priest at a young ...

to promote the political goals of

Louis-Joseph Papineau Louis-Joseph Papineau (October 7, 1786 – September 23, 1871), born in Montreal, Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the ''seigneurie de la Petite-Nation''. He was the leader of the reformist Patriote movement before the Low ...

Parti patriote The Parti canadien () or Parti patriote () was a primarily francophone political party in what is now Quebec founded by members of the liberal elite of Lower Canada at the beginning of the 19th century. Its members were made up of liberal prof ...

. It was notably directed by

Ludger Duvernay Ludger Duvernay (January 22, 1799 – November 28, 1852), born in Verchères, Quebec, was a printer by profession and published a number of newspapers including the '' Gazette des Trois-Rivières,'' the first newspaper in Lower Canada outs ...

in its earlier years. It existed from 1826 to 1837, and again from 1842 to May 27, 1899.{{cite web , url=http://www.toponymie.gouv.qc.ca/ct/topos/carto.asp?Speci=33839&Latitude=46,25&Longitude=-74,93333&Zoom=1700 , title=La Minerve (canton) , accessdate=2009-04-01 , publisher=Commission de toponymie du Québec , language=French Throughout the years, it went from being a radical paper to a conservative one.

History

''La Minerve'' was first published on November 9, 1826 and was soon bought by journalist and future

Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society The Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society (french: Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste) is an institution in Quebec dedicated to the protection of Quebec francophone interests and to the promotion of Quebec sovereignism. It is known as the oldest patriotic asso ...

founder Ludger Duvernay in 1827. It was banned in 1837 during the events surrounding the Patriotes Rebellion, which sought to establish an independent

republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

for Lower Canada. Back from exile in the United States (he had been forbidden to return by

Lord Durham Earl of Durham is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1833 for the Whig politician and colonial official John Lambton, 1st Baron Durham. Known as "Radical Jack", he played a leading role in the passing of the Gre ...

because of his role in the Rebellion), Duvernay restarted publication in 1842. ''La Minerve'' then defended the idea of

responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive br ...

and, after the death of Duvernay in 1852, the paper passed through various hands before becoming the organ of the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Co ...

. It became a daily in 1864 and defended the

Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation (french: Confédération canadienne, link=no) was the process by which three British North American provinces, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, were united into one federation called the Dominio ...

project which had been denounced by Papineau but was realized in 1867. The paper lost its governmental support when the Conservatives lost power in 1896 to the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia' ...

. Funding became scarce and the last edition was published on May 27, 1899.

Trivia

*From June 14, 1830 to September 7, 1848, its namesake

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the R ...

appeared upon the first page. *The town of

La Minerve, Quebec La Minerve is a village and municipality in the Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada, part of the Les Laurentides Regional County Municipality. Located in the Laurentian Mountains, La Minerve is still fairly forested and covered with many lakes, ...

, and Lake La Minerve within this town are named after the newspaper. *The title of the paper is apparently based on the French newspaper '' La Minerve''. Titles of things such as newspapers and organizations inspired from France were common at the time.

References

"La Minerve (journal)"
in ''

La Mémoire du Québec LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

''
"Duvernay (Ludger)"
in ''

''
"La Minerve (municipalité de canton)"
in ''

External links

Digitized issues of ''La Minerve''
at the

Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec The Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec ( 'National Library and Archives of Quebec') or BAnQ is a Quebec government agency which manages the province's legal deposit system, national archives, and national library. Located at the ...

Minerve, La Minerve, La Minerve, La Minerve, La Minerve, La Minerve, La Minerve, La Minerve, La 1826 establishments in Lower Canada 1837 disestablishments in Lower Canada 1842 establishments in Canada 1899 disestablishments in Canada

History

Trivia

See also

References

External links