Lafleur, Michel

Lafleur entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1849 as a middleman/labourer. The following year he was posted to Fort Victoria where was married to Marie (a.k.a. Mary) on February 15, 1850 by Father Lempfrit. In May of 1850, Finlayson wrote that Lafleur complained that his allowance for provisions was smaller than that for 'English men' and that he (Finlayson) would adjust it. Four days later Lafleur, along with six others, deserted from Fort Victoria. Nevertheless, his name appeared in Company records once again between 1851 and 1853 when he served as a blacksmith at Nanaimo. Lafleur returned to Fort Victoria in May of 1853 and in November, was the subject of the first recorded case to be heard by the Supreme Court of Civil Justice in the Colony of Vancouver Island when he was charged with attempting to murder his pregnant wife. He pleaded that he was "was drunk and didn't know what he was doing". Lafleur disappeared from HBC records after 1857.

Sources:

• Brazier, Graham. "Under the Influence." The Islander (Times-Colonist), February 27, 2000.
• Evans, Mike. "Michel Lafleur." BC Metis Mapping Project. http://ubc.bcmetis.ca/hbc_bio_profile.php?id=MTcyMw.
• Hill, Carol. "Transcription of Daybook [McKay Journal], 1852-54." Nanaimo Archives. http://www.nanaimoarchives.ca/index.php?p=1_172.
• Hudson's Bay Company Archives. "Lafleur, Michel." Biographical Sheets. http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/l/lafleur_michel.pdf.
• St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church, Cathedral Records, 1849-1934. Microfilm 1A. BCARS.
• Watson, Bruce McIntyre. Lives Lived West of the Divide. Kelowna: Centre for Social, Spatial, and Economic Justice, University of British Columbia, 2010.