April 20, 1534 鈥揓acques Cartier, Explorer/Mariner set sail from St. Malo, Bretagne, France with 2 ships and 61 men. He was commissioned by King Francis to go explore the east coast of the new world looking for a passage聽 to the Orient. He did some exploration of what is now New Foundland, Prince Edward Island, and then on to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. At a place he called Baie de Chaleur, he met a group of Micmac with whom he did some trading. He erected a cross at Gasp茅 Bay and claimed the new land for France. On his second voyage in 1535, he had 3 ships and 110 men. He sailed up the St. Lawrence and spent time at various sites: where Qu茅bec City and Montreal are聽 and as far as Lachine. He and his crew spent the winter 鈥� a miserable one with a break-out of scurvy. It is on this voyage that Cartier records the name CANADA for the first time.
Over the centuries of the French regime, the inhabitants of the French Province of Canada called themselves 鈥淐anadiens鈥� and 鈥淐anadiennes.鈥� Even in decades after the Conquest and the Treaty of Paris in 1763, new immigrants from England continued to call themselves 鈥淓nglish鈥� leaving the noun 鈥淐anadiens鈥� to refer to the French-speaking inhabitants. The noun 鈥淐anadien鈥� would not be translated to an Anglicized version of 鈥淐anadian鈥� until about the mid-1800s. We were all considered 鈥淏ritish Subjects鈥� 鈥� those born on Canadian soil and those who became 鈥渘aturalized鈥� until the Canadian Citizenship Act of 1946 when finally we had true citizenship. 聽
Qu茅bec celebrated 450 years of Canada鈥檚 birth with a great rendez-vous of tall sailing ships at the old Port of Qu茅bec in 1984.
