A Posthumous Honour for a Conspicuous Life : Dr. Gaspard in Quebec

The American-born Dominique François Gaspard (1884-1938) came to Quebec in 1905 to study at the Séminaire de Saint-Hyacinthe, and in 1912 entered the medical school at Université Laval de Montréal. In 1915, following the outbreak of the First World War, Gaspard joined the Canadian Medical Army Corps and served overseas until 1917. On his return to Montreal, he completed his medical studies and graduaded in 1918. Shortly after, Gaspard became involved with the city's English-speaking Black community, attending the Universal Negro Improvement Association of Montreal. In 1921, he married Ethel May Lyons at the Calvary Congregational Church on Greene Avenue, at the corner of Dorchester. He was also one of the founders of the Coloured War Veterans (Quebec no. 50) Legion Branch, established in 1935. He died in Verdun General Hospital on February 6, 1938, after a four-week bout of illness. The author points out that her biography "is an attempt to understand an unknown individual whose life was significant but has now been forgotten. He was American-born, yet his mother tongue was French. He served Canada in French [-speaking military] units but embraced the English-speaking Black community once in Montreal. His life speaks of a complexity of language not often explored in narratives of Quebec’s English-speaking community, particularly in those histories about Blacks in the province."

[QUESCREN Working Paper no. 3]

Montreal

Concordia University - Quebec English-Speaking Communities Research Network

April 2020

11p.

en