Montreal Gazette

Image from wikipedia 

The Montreal Gazette, formerly titled simply The Gazette, began publication in 1778 and is the oldest daily paper in the province of Quebec.

At first, it was in French, but the publisher, Fleury Mesplet, ran into trouble when his paper was deemed an organ for pro-American propaganda. It was shut down when the Revolutionary Americans occupied Montreal in 1779, and  Mesplet and an associate were jailed for sedition.

In 1785, Mesplet began a second paper in a French-English bilingual format. Topics covered education and religion, as well as foreign and local news, and later, advertising and announcements.

Politically, the stance of this new Montreal Gazette was anti-clerical; it supported the principles propounded by the French Revolution, and pressed for Quebec to have its own legislature.

After the death of its founder, and then his wife who had published it after him, the paper changed hands a few times. It was bought by the Southam chain in 1968. Today Quebec's only major English language daily is a survivor: after being taken over by Postmedia, it was stopped briefly in 2014, and then relaunched as part of a project called Postmedia Reimagined.

Le Devoir

Image from Le Devoir

Established in 1910 by Henri Bourassa, it'ss described in the Canadian Encyclopedia as "pan-Canadian nationalist, pro-French Canadian, pro-Catholic, anti-British [and] independent." 

To mark its hundredth anniversary in 2010, the paper chronicled milestones in the life of "an independent newspaper," one that has become a Quebec institution, and a Canadian one as well.

During both world wars, Le Devoir campaigned against conscription, and opposed the political patronage system espoused by long-time Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis.

In the 1980s, Lise Bissonnette gave the paper a sovereigntist orientation. This was an important moment in Canadian history when Quebeckers were preparing to vote in the first referendum on whether Quebec should leave the Canadian federation.

Beneath the banner headline of Le Devoir, the words still appear: Libre de penser may be roughly translated as free to think.

Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph

Image from fruitrootleaf

The Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph, an English language paper published in the venerable city of francophones claims on its banner to be the continent's oldest, and arguably, it is. The Halifax Gazette (1752) was really just a gazette.

Established in 1764, The Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph is over 250 years old, and describes itself as the "descendant of several newspapers published in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries." During the crisis that followed the 1765 Stamp Act, and again in 1775-6 when the Revolutionary war began and the city was besieged by American troops, there were interruptions to service. Besides these historic disruptions, the newspaper has operated continuously since.

In its early days, the paper was a weekly, with separate editions in English and French. Later, it became a daily, and French and English editions came out on alternate days. In 1874, the Quebec Gazette was joined to the Morning Chronicle.

When the Daily Telegraph appeared in 1875, it offered a more liberal perspective to the city's newspaper readers. However, as the English-speaking population of Quebec City declined in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the two papers joined forces due to economic pressures. The paper returned to its original weekly format in 1971.

Bald eagle moves house as White Rock fells beachside trees

As I walked along the beach, I saw some people craning their heads upward. They were gazing at this eagle on West Beach, watching out to sea. Someone said the eagles had been forced to find new trees when they were driven from their old haunts on East Beach. 

With permission from the City of White Rock, BNSF Rail has finished cutting down the lovely stand of mature trees that used to flank the railroad on East Beach. This is what it looks like now.

Early New Brunswick newspapers

Image of Miramichi Leader from flickr

When Canada was still a group of colonies, the main purpose of the early newspapers, called gazettes, was to inform colonists about government appointments and new legislation. These also carried some marriage and death notices, but only those of "important" people.

The Saint John Gazette was published between 1784 and 1807 and the New Brunswick Courier from 1811-1865. Between 1829 and 1880, the Gleaner served Miramichi and Northumberland County. Many other newspapers came and went during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Royal Gazette, first seen in 1785, continues to be published in Fredericton by the Queen's Printer.

The Daily Gleaner, a Fredericton paper, dates back to 1889. I have been unable to learn when the first issue of the Miracmichi Leader was published. Perhaps it goes back to the days of the Loyalists.

The Guardian, Charlottetown PEI

Image of a 1922 edition  from pei archives

The Guardian began publishing as a daily in 1887 as the Morning Guardian. Over the years, this paper has also been known as the Guardian of the Gulf and the Charlottetown Guardian.

I'm sure this paper was read by Lucy Maud Montgomery, and probably by her fictional creations, Matthew, Marilla and Anne of Green Gables as well. In 2014 Mark Leggott, a Librarian at the University of PEI, put the Guardian archive online, making it possible to search back through issues from 1890 to 1957.

Acadie-Nouvelle, Caraquet NB

Image from cbc

The French language Acadie-Nouvelle, in Caraquet NB, is a recently established paper *available online since 2003).

It caters to francophone Maritimers, and its name (meaning the Acadia News in English) refers back to the Acadians. These French pioneers settled in the Maritimes, arriving as early as 1604. They were deported from Nova Scotia in 1713, after France ceded Nova Scotia to England in the Treaty of Utrecht. Still a strong ethnic group, they enjoy this French language paper.