Daily Life in New France Student Activities

Draw a map of New France indicating the pattern of the seigneuries.

Get the recipe for French Canadian pea soup and make enough for the entire class. You might want to further authenticate the snack by providing bread and cheese. (But make sure they're suitable to the time period.)

If the time of year is right, visit and participate in "sugaring off.

Reconstruct a scale model of a habitant's house.

Research how habitant families made candles. Do you think you could do it?

Compare the nutritional value of a typical habitant meal and one of your own today. Which is more nutritious? Why?

Find out what constituted a typical habitant meal. Obtain the ingredients, cook it, and then serve it to the class. You might divide up the tasks by having different groups within the class prepare different portions of the meal.

Imagine that you are a sixteen-year-old boy, very respectful of his father. You've met a fifteen-year-old girl you want to marry. Write a letter to your father making that request.

Imagine that you are living in a typical early eighteenth century habitant family. Describe the ways in which your life would different from the one you are currently experiencing.

Make a chart listing all the obligations under the seigneurial system owed by the seigneur and those owed by the habitant. Whose duties were more burdensome? Why? Do you think that it was an equitable system for both? Explain your reasons.

Make a small pièce-sur-pièce constructed house.

Prepare a PowerPoint presentation on "The Transportation of New France."

Research Canada's first money.

Whose life, that of a typical son or daughter of New France was harder? Suggest reasons for your choice.

Would you have preferred to have been part of the 75-80% of the settlers of New France who lived in the countryside or rather, would you have liked it better in town. Why?

Analyze the reasons why the seigneurial system of New France was less burdensome than the old European feudal system for most people who lived under it.

Either write an essay or make a PowerPoint presentation entitled "The Self-Reliant Habitant of New France."

Which of the habitant's obligations would you find the most difficult to meet? Why?

Working in groups of three, write the dialogue and then role-play a dispute between a seigneur and his habitant. They both are arguing that the other has not lived up fully to his responsibilities. The third member of the group is the intendant who will ask questions and render a final decision.

Write five diary entries, spaced apart in time, as a fourteen-year-old son or daughter of a habitant family.

Explain the impact that the aboriginal peoples had on daily life in New France.

Louis Hébert was a many of many firsts. Do an HCO search for him and then present a "personality profile and list of accomplishments and legacy" to the class.

Provide evidence for the central role played by the Roman Catholic Church in the daily lives of the people. Why would you immediately know, whether you were in the countryside or in a town, that the Church was the center of the people's lives?

Research the practise of giving a dowry.

Where do you think women had better lives, in France or in New France? Make sure to provide supporting historical evidence.

Whose recreation, your own today or that of the typical habitant, was better? Explain why.

Why were fires such an ever-present danger in early towns of New France? What steps were taken to reduce their risk?

Analyze the seasonal rhythm of the habitant's life.

C. W. Jefferys painted a famous scene of a habitant paying his seigneur his taxes. Find the painting and then analyze the facial expressions and body language of the main participants in the scene. What is the mood in the painting? What might have just been said?

Cornelius Kreigoff is renown for his depiction of habitant life. Search HCO and find as many of his habitant scenes as you can. From what you know, how accurate are his paintings? Why?

From an agricultural perspective, what was the main drawback to the pattern of land holding under the seigneurial system? Explain.

List the obligations owed by the habitant. Make a list of the taxes paid by your parents. To what extent are they similar or different? Explain.

Write a feature newspaper article entitled "The Impact of Climate and Location on Everyday Life in New France." Be sure to import appropriate pictures.