Georges-Antoine Belcourt

Georges-Antoine Belcourt
A man is pictured sitting down, facing the camera. His right hand is holding a pen to paper which sits on a table to the man's right, and his left hand rests on that table. The man is dressed in the clothes of a Christian religious leader.
Belcourt c. 1860, approx. age 57
Born(1803-04-22)April 22, 1803
Baie-du-Febvre, Quebec
DiedMay 31, 1874(1874-05-31) (aged 71)
Shediac, New Brunswick
NationalityCanadian
Other namesGeorge Antoine Bellecourt
Occupation(s)Priest and missionary
Known forBring the first car to British North America

Georges-Antoine Belcourt (April 22, 1803 – May 31, 1874), also George Antoine Bellecourt,[1] was a French Canadian Roman Catholic diocesan priest and missionary.[2] Born in Baie-du-Febvre, Quebec, Belcourt was ordained in 1827. He established missions in areas of Quebec and Manitoba. On the frontier, he became involved in a political dispute between the local First Nations population and the Hudson's Bay Company, the monopoly fur trading company.

At the urging of the Company's Governor, Belcourt was recalled to Montreal. He was next assigned to Pembina, North Dakota. He established two missions in the 1840s to convert the local Ojibwe (also called Chippewa) and Métis to Catholicism. In 1859, Belcourt left Pembina for Quebec, but was quickly redeployed to North Rustico, Prince Edward Island. He established the Farmers' Bank of Rustico (the first community-based bank in Canada).

Belcourt retired from his post in 1869 to live out his life in New Brunswick, but was recalled in 1871, this time to the Magdalen Islands. In May 1874, Belcourt was forced to retire due to ill health. He died in Shediac, New Brunswick, on May 31, 1874. He was designated a National Historic Person by the Government of Canada in 1959.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference biographica was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Reardon, James Michael (1955). George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest, 1803-1874: His Life and Times. St. Paul, Minnesota: North Central Publishing Company. p. 6.