Name ____________________________________ Date_______________________________ Act 3.6 Key
Title: Meet New France
Author: Rees, Anderson Gerrits, Allaire
Source: Our Canada, Origins, Peoples, Perspectives
Pages 88-103
I can statement: I can describe the role people played in the social structure of New France.
What Was the Social Structure of New France?
Instructions: Read and summarize page 88 of your text in the box below.
Retell: Highlight information that helps you understand New France’s social structure. Try combining
these highlighted ideas using transitions that show how the ideas are related. Ex. Given that, With the
New France had a hierarchical structure, that is, some people were considered to more important than
others. The King was the most important and powerful person followed by land owning nobility. In fact,
respect was even given to wealthy merchants despite them not being noble. The vast majority of New
France’s population had neither wealth nor nobility and farmed the land. In addition to New France’s
hierarchical structure, the Catholic Church had an important role in French society by providing moral
direction and in the founding of hospitals, orphanages and schools.
Key Vocabulary/Concepts
The Sovereign Council
Instructions: Identify and define
important words as you read the text.
Instructions: Read page 91 and in your own words, explain
the purpose of the following people in the New France:
Hierarchical Structure: Organized in
order of importance and power.
Governor
Nobility: An upper class in a
hierarchical society.
Merchants: People who buy and sell
goods or products.
Moral: Having to do with what is right
and wrong.
Dependent: Needing to rely on
somebody for help and support.
Spiritual: relating to the soul often in
contrast to material things.
Seigneury (ies): large land holding in
France and New France.
Corvée: the labour habitant owed the
seigneurs.
He was in charge of the colony’s defense and trade or
external relations.
Intendant
He was responsible for keeping the colony in good working
order and for making it less dependent on France and looked
to find ways in which it could benefit France.
Bishop of Québec
As the head of the Catholic Church in New France, he was
responsible for the spiritual and moral direction of the
colony. Catholics in the colony sought the clergy’s advice
before making important decisions and their social status
depended on their standing in the Church.
Soldiers
They came to defend New France against the
Haudenosaunee and the British. The Crown offered the
officers seigneuries in effort to encourage permanent
settlement.
Name ____________________________________ Date_______________________________ Act 3.6 Key
Instructions: Read page 94’s, “New France Who’s Who”; explain the relationship that existed
between the Habitants and Seigneurs of New France.
The seigneurial landholding system of
New France was made up of a
landlord or seigneur and farmers or
habitants. The king of France gave
seigneurs, mostly made up of noble
men, their land. The seigneurs were
expected to recruit settlers, build
their home, a flour mill and a church
for the habitants. The habitants in
order to have a small farm had to
clear the land, plant crops and build a
house. Moreover, they had to pay the
seigneur’s miller and provide corvée.
Self-Reflection on My Understanding
Green Light
Yellow Light
Red Light
What’s a Coureur de Bois? Why did they have this name? Page 96
The English translation is “runners of the woods”. They were independent fur traders that would go into
the forests seeking First Nations in which to trade.
Define the word merchant. Give several examples of merchants from New France. Page 98
Merchants are people that buy and sell products and goods. In New France, for example, blacksmiths,
shoemakers, masons, bakers and butchers were all considered merchants. Moreover, many merchants
made their fortunes in the fur trade.
What’s a Voyageur? Page 100
The English translation means “traveller”. They were men that travelled between the fur merchants of
Montreal and the posts of the Great Lakes and eventually further west.
Name ____________________________________ Date_______________________________ Act 3.6 Key
Read page 102, “New France’s Who’s Who” and complete the following study guide.
The Catholic Church and Clergy
Key Terms
Summary – Figurative or Narrative
Missions: priests sent by the Church to spread
their faith.
The Catholic Church had a major influence on
the lives of those living in New France. Initially,
First Nation societies were affected by the
setting up of missions to further France’s
conversion policies. Next, the Church
influenced colonists’ lives. They play a major
role in government decisions and established
hospitals, schools, and orphanages. Finally,
parishioners sought out the Church for its
guidance on important person decisions.
Parishioners: a church’s followers.
5 Key Facts
In Europe, Catholics and Protestants had a bitter
relationship and often discriminated against each
other.
The Jesuit order was an important part in the
spreading of the Catholic presence in New France.
They established missions to convert the Mi’kmaq,
the Kichesiprini, the Haudenosaunee and the
Ouendat.
Maid Idea
The Catholic Church had a major influence on
the lives of those living in New France.
Two Questions You Have
How were missions perceived by First Nations?
The Jesuits prepared an annual report, from a
European perspective, about life in New France’s
missions that contained a wealth of information
about the life of First Nation’s people in the 1600s
and 1700s.
Besides conversion, what was the effect of missions
on the economic and social structure of First
Nations?
The church built schools, hospitals and
orphanages.
The Church found itself playing a central role in
the social organization of New France. It
influenced government and parishioner
decisions. It converted First Nations and
established the colony’s social structure with
its building of hospitals, schools and
orphanages.
They played a major role in the colony’s
government and were often sought by their
parishioners for the advice.
Self-Reflection on My Understanding
Green Light
Yellow Light
Red Light
Relate – Explain the role of the Catholic Church
in New France.