1763 in Canada

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See also:	History of Canada Timeline of Canadian history List of years in Canada

Events from the year 1763 in Canada.

Incumbents

• French Monarch: Louis XV (abdicated February 10) ^[1]
• British and Irish Monarch: George III ^[2]

Governors

• Governor of the Province of Quebec: Jeffery Amherst
• Colonial Governor of Louisiana: Louis Billouart
• Governor of Nova Scotia: Jonathan Belcher
• Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland: Richard Edwards

Events

With the Royal Proclamation of 1763 Lower Canada was renamed the "Province of Quebec".

• 1763–1820 The Conquest: French defeated. British take over and successfully expand fur trade from Montreal (North West Company). Much money is invested in Montreal.
• 1763–64 – Pontiac's Rebellion threatens British control of the Great Lakes region before being suppressed.
• 1763–1766: Pontiac's Rebellion, an American Indian revolt, is suppressed by the English in Canada. Ottawa Chief Pontiac (c. 1720–1769) leads an Indian uprising but the British defeat the Indians.
• Thursday February 10 – By the treaty of Paris, France cedes to Britain, Canada and all the Laurentian Islands, except St. Pierre and Miquelon.
• April 11 – Britain allows Canadians the free exercise of their religion.
• April 18 – The folk hero Marie-Josephte Corriveau was sentenced to death by a British court martial for murdering her second husband, and was hanged in Quebec City.
• December 7 – Canadians are required to swear fealty.
• Proclamation by King George III bans settlements west of the Appalachians and establishes a protected Indian Country there. White settlers ignore the boundary line – Indian raids in Pennsylvania lead to the Paxton Riots – Peaceful Conestoga Mission Indians are massacred by settlers.
• Pontiac fails to take Detroit, because of informers alerting the English to his plans; as winter approaches, his army of Indians lost faith in victory, and returned to their homes. Aware that England and France had ended both their European and American wars, Pontiac tried to start a second uprising, later counseled peace, and was killed in 1769 in Illinois by a Peoria Indian who was probably an assassin hired by the English.
• The prophetic say that the acquisition of Canada will cost England her colonies. "No longer requiring protection, they will be asked to support burdens, which their necessities have brought upon the mother country, and will answer by striking off all dependence."

Births

• December 23 – John Kinzie, Fur trader from Quebec City who was responsible for the "first murder in Chicago" (d. June 6, 1828)

Deaths

• April 18 – Marie-Josephte Corriveau, criminal (born 1733)

Historical documents

Treaty of Paris 1763 confirms Canada, Cape Breton and Nova Scotia for Britain, and limited Newfoundland and Gulf fishing rights for France ^[3]

British ambassador ordered to discover how French intend to disrupt British rule in North American cessions and encroach on Newfoundland fishery ^[4]

Province of Quebec established with limits to settlement on Indigenous lands beyond its borders, and on settlers buying such land within province ^[5]

"Various Conjectures" - Benjamin Franklin summarizes reasons people are giving for attacks made on British by Indigenous people west of Lake Huron ^[6]

Despite Ojibwe chief Wawatam's warning, Alexander Henry witnesses massacre of British at Michilimackinac but is saved by enslaved Pawnee woman ^[7]

Teenager recounts being taken, enslaved, adopted, sold and rescued among Ojibwe, Odawa and French (Note: gruesome details; "savage" used) ^[8]

Character traits needed by North American commander-in-chief to deal well with Indigenous people (Note: racial stereotypes) ^[9]

Prospectus for weekly bilingual newspaper in Montreal, to aid anglophones and francophones learning each other's language, as well as deliver news ^[10]

"Correspondence increases Commerce" - Quebec merchants want postal service, but will have postmaster and military express handle their mail ^[11]

Maple sugaring near Sault Ste. Marie involves sugar shack with 20-foot-long fireplace, birchbark sap ducts and 100 gallon moosehide vats ^[12]

Nova Scotia Lt. Gov. Wilmot warns against letting dangerous Acadian group "bigotted to France and the Church of Rome" settle on Miramichi ^[13]

Acadians are not to be persuaded to move to France; instead "settle them in some distant District of Canada" ^[14]

Each Nova Scotia county quarter session is to make rules about river obstructions (weirs, fish garths, seines etc.) that may affect fish spawning ^[15]

At annual Nova Scotia township meetings, freeholders will appoint board of 12 residents to decide who should receive funds voted for poor relief ^[16]

"In order to prevent the increase of Billiard Tables and Shuffle Boards" in Nova Scotia, owners must get annual £10 licence, or risk £20 fine ^[17]

"Over populous[...]in the Island they at present inhabit," Nantucket mariners want to relocate to St. John's Island to take cod and whales ^[18]

To evade violently anti-British Indigenous people, Alexander Henry dons variety of Ojibwe clothing and ornaments ^[19]

Though injured by snowshoeing from Michilimackinac to Sault Ste. Marie, Alexander Henry refuses local remedy for "snow-shoe evil" ^[20]

References

1. Guéganic (2008), p. 13.
2. "George III". Official website of the British monarchy. Royal Household. 31 December 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
3. "The definitive Treaty of Peace and Friendship between his Britannick Majesty, the Most Christian King, and the King of Spain" (February 10, 1763), Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School. (See also Treaty of Paris 1763 in French and English) Accessed 4 April 2022
4. Instructions 11, 13 and 14, "Separate and Private Instructions for.....Francis Seymour, Earl of Hertford....." (September 29, 1763), British Diplomatic Instructions, 1689-1789; Volume VII, France, Part IV, 1745-1789 (1934), pgs. 89, 90. Accessed 4 April 2022
5. "By the King, A Proclamation; George R." (October 7, 1763). Accessed 5 April 2022
6. Letter of Benjamin Franklin (June 28, 1763), U.S. National Archives. Accessed 8 April 2022
7. Alexander Henry, Chapter VIII and IX, Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories[....] (1809), pgs. 71-84. Accessed 6 April 2022
8. "Journal of Mr Rutherford of his Captivity Among the Indians in 1763, during the Pontiac war" Accessed 7 April 2022
9. "His Connexion with the Indians" Some Hints to People in Power, on the Present Melancholy Situation of our Colonies in North America (1763), pgs. 27-9. Accessed 5 April 2022
10. "Quebeck, To the Publick / Au Public" (1763?). Accessed 5 April 2022
11. "Benjamin Franklin to Anthony Todd" (April 14, 1763), U.S. National Archives. Accessed 7 April 2022
12. Alexander Henry, "The season for making maple-sugar" Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories[....] (1809), pgs. 68-70. Accessed 6 April 2022
13. "Governor Wilmot to Board of Trade" (December 10, 1763), Nova Scotia Documents; Acadian French, pgs. 340-1. Accessed 5 April 2022
14. "Extract from a Letter of the Earl of Halifax to Montague Wilmot, Governor of Nova Scotia" (November 26, 1763), Nova Scotia Documents; Acadian French, pgs. 338-9. Accessed 5 April 2022
15. "An Act to prevent Nusances, by Hedges, Wears, and other Incumbrances, Obstructing the Passage of Fish in the Rivers in this Province" (November 28, 1763), 3 George III - Chapter 2 (Session 2), British North American Legislative Database, 1758-1867. Accessed 4 April 2022
16. "An Act to enable the Inhabitants of the several Townships within this Province, to Maintain their Poor" (November 28, 1763), 3 George III - Chapter 7 (Session 2), British North American Legislative Database, 1758-1867. (See also act for poor relief in Halifax) Accessed 4 April 2022
17. "An Act For Laying a Duty on Billiard Tables, and Shuffle Boards" (November 28, 1763), 3 George III - Chapter 11 (Session 2), British North American Legislative Database, 1758-1867. Accessed 4 April 2022
18. (Benjamin Franklin), "Timothy Folger: Petition to Sir Jeffery Amherst" (1763), U.S. National Archives. Accessed 7 April 2022
19. Alexander Henry, "My hair was cut off" Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories[....] (1809), pg. 115. Accessed 6 April 2022
20. Alexander Henry, "snow-shoe evil" Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories[....] (1809), pg. 68. Accessed 6 April 2022