# 1797 in Canada

Events from the year 1797 in Canada.

## Incumbents

* Monarch: George III

### Federal government

* Parliament of Lower Canada: 2nd (starting January 24)
* Parliament of Upper Canada: 2nd (starting June 1)

### Governors

* Governor of the Canadas: Robert Prescott
* Governor of New Brunswick: Thomas Carleton
* Governor of Nova Scotia: John Wentworth
* Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland: John Elliot
* Governor of St. John's Island: Edmund Fanning
* Governor of Upper Canada: John Graves Simcoe

## Events

* David Thompson leaves Hudson's Bay Company to join North West Company.
* January 18 – This notice appears in the Quebec Gazette: "A mail for the upper counties, comprehending Niagara and Detroit, will be closed, at this office, on Monday, 30th instant, at four o'clock in the evening, to be forwarded, from Montreal, by the annual winter express, on Thursday, 2 February next."
* July 21 – American David McLane, being convicted of high treason, is hanged on a gibbet on the glacis of the fortifications at Quebec.

## Births

* April 2 – Joseph-François Deblois, lawyer, judge and political figure (d.1860)
* May 2 – Abraham Pineo Gesner, physician and surgeon, geologist, and inventor (d.1864)
* June 29 – Frederic Baraga, Roman Catholic priest, missionary, and bishop (d.1868)
* August 22 – Augustin-Magloire Blanchet, missionary (d.1887)
* October 4 – Charles-Séraphin Rodier, mayor of Montreal (d.1876)
* December 25 – Bernard Donald Macdonald, Roman Catholic priest, bishop, and school administrator (d.1859)

## Deaths

* January 9 – Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot, military (b. 1727)
* August 3 – Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, army officer (b. 1717)
* October 17 – Jean-François Hubert, bishop of Quebec (b. 1739)

## Historical documents

With Maine–New Brunswick border commission's arrival, writer favourably compares this way of "settling national contests to that of the Bayonet!"
Border commission member Edward Winslow writes in spirit of reconciliation to U.S. friends from before his exile at end of American Revolutionary War

### Lower Canada

Anyone accused of high treason or misprision or suspicion of high treason or "Treasonable practices" shall be jailed without bail for 1 year
David McLane is convicted of treason after 14-hour trial and sentenced to death (Note: graphic description of method of execution)
Proclamation forbids trespassing on crown land and township clergy reserve lots, and requires unauthorized settlers to vacate them
Two Royal Navy commanders are "much flattered" by masters of 16 merchant ships thanking them for convoy duty "during a long and tedious traverse"
Quebec City library just opened to public is "where books are let to read by the year, half year, quarter, month, or single volume"
Midwife Mrs. Hebert of Lying-in-Hospital London gives evidence of "her ability[,] Judgement and experience" on Montreal medical board examination

### Upper Canada

Anyone who has, over past 7 years, lived or been subject in any country now at war with Britain can be forced to leave U.C. on 24 hours' notice
"Principal Chiefs, Warriors and People of the Mississague Nation" sell 3,450 acres at western end of Lake Ontario to British for £75 2/6 in goods
Joseph Brant and John Deserontyon negotiate compensation of $1,000 (plus $600 expenses) from New York for Kanien’kéhà:ka lands lost there
Woman's land grants based on her wartime service carrying dispatches between British army units, including "three times thro [sic] the Rebel army"
Militia major's son and daughters, "bred up on a better line of Life," want land grant because only that can make "them Independent & Respectable"
Council president Peter Russell is against idea of granting land to wives of Assembly members because it might appear to be bribery by government
New Law Society of Upper Canada is to maintain order among lawyers and create "learned and honorable body to assist their fellow subjects"
Joseph Brant complains that inability to sell or rent out Grand River lands granted his people makes their future insecure

### Nova Scotia

Wet, cold weather has made growing "Indian corn" not practical, so farmer advises growers to plant buckwheat on sandy soil for almost as good profit
Lt. Gov. John Wentworth reports on "extremely distress'd and perishing State of the Indians," who have lost both potato crop and hunting grounds
Wentworth reports Maroons in Nova Scotia are undisciplined complainers, but can be taught to be productive and successful
After many years on land not granted them, 8 Acadians petition for "Lands + small Marshes" in Guysborough; move is allowed "until further orders"
German language religious books for sale, including hymns used by Protestant Lutheran congregations and psalms used by Reformed Protestants
Lightning from widespread and powerful thunderstorm strikes Granville barn, blowing boards 100 feet upwind and forcing many 1 foot into the ground

### New Brunswick

Letter-to-the-editor warns of sickness and death caused by quackery of practitioners without least knowledge of medicine
Advertisement promotes Saint John dancing school, instruction in fencing and broadsword and lessons on fortepiano, harpsichord and spinet

### Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company traders reach Assiniboine River via York Factory and Swan River 1 month before North West Company traders can arrive
Fur trader Donald Mackay reports seeing 93 North West Company canoes headed for Grand Portage with more than 125,000 "made beaver"
Joseph Colen describes low stock of food at Fort Severn from "scarcity of game," which necessitates rationing and threatens "Natives" with starvation

### Elsewhere

As epidemic causes many Labrador Inuit deaths, Moravian missionaries find both their converts and "wild heathen" turning to "sorcerers" for relief
After 2 weeks on Lake Winnipeg (paddling 40+ miles some days), waves swamp Donald Mackay's canoe, but he saves his wife, baby and her sister
"[N]otwithstanding the appearances of peace, almost all the Powers of Europe make preparations for war with the greatest celerity"
Chatham Dockyard is to build 98-gun ship wholly of English oak and with "newest improvements of naval architecture"