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L’habitant | The Habitant 

According to the most frequently consulted online French dictionaries, the word habitant has several meanings:

1. A living being that inhabits a place.

2. A person who resides, inhabits, or ordinarily lives in a place and has their residence there.

3. A person who inhabits a house or building.

4. In Canada and the West Indies, a peasant or farmer.   

The meaning of habitant has evolved over time in Canada. In the early 17th century, during the era of New France, the term referred to anyone living in the territory, whether French or Indigenous.

Under the Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France, founded in 1627 to oversee the colony’s settlement, the term habitant took on a more precise meaning. It came to refer specifically to those who settled permanently, cultivated land, and contributed to the colony’s development, distinguishing them from explorers and transient merchants. 

In 1645, the creation of the Compagnie des Habitants in Quebec further formalized the term. It no longer referred exclusively to settlers working the land but also included those engaged in trade and local administration.

"Se faire habitant"

In an ordinance dated November 4, 1662, Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve, used the expression se faire habitants to describe the process of taking possession of land to clear and cultivate it:

A few years later, the term habittant appeared in the colony's first census in 1666. At the time, a habitant was defined as someone accustomed to living in the country—a permanently established settler with a dwelling and a granted plot of land that he had cleared and on which he lived. The word habitation referred specifically to the land grant itself.

In 1675, a proclamation by the Sovereign Council provided a legal definition of the term habitant. From that point forward, it referred to a person who owned land and maintained “fire and place” there for at least a year, thereby excluding vagabonds and seasonal workers.

Historian Benjamin Sulte explains that in New France, the term habitant originally referred to settlers who established themselves permanently on a piece of land, practicing agriculture and contributing to the colony’s development. In contrast, hivernants—or wintering settlers—were men engaged in the fur trade, living nomadically in remote regions without settling there permanently.

In his 1891 article Habitants versus Hivernants, Benjamin Sulte highlights the distinction between these two groups. A habitant was someone who built a permanent settlement, whereas a hivernant was a voyageur or trapper who spent the winter in trading territories without establishing permanent roots. Over time, the word habitant took on an identity-based meaning, coming to refer more broadly to French Canadians living in rural areas.

Sulte emphasizes that in North America, the term habitant extends beyond its generic definition of "resident." It carries historical significance, shaped by colonization and the contrast between a sedentary, agriculture-based society and a nomadic fur trade economy.

The Evolution of the Term in the 18th Century and Beyond

At the beginning of the 18th century, the term habitant began to be restricted to farmers and cultivators living in rural areas. It was commonly used to describe people living on the côtes, as opposed to merchants and craftsmen residing in towns. 

After 1720, the distinction between habitant and cultivateur became more pronounced. Whereas in the 17th century, a habitant could also be an entrepreneur or trader, by the 18th century, the term increasingly referred to farmers living in the countryside. Over time, it became closely associated with the peasantry, a meaning that would largely endure throughout Quebec’s history.

In the 20th century, the term habitant took on a pejorative connotation, referring to someone with rustic manners and a poor grasp of social conventions. This shift in meaning gave rise to the expression s'habiller en habitant, which evokes a simple, old-fashioned appearance.

The Habitant in Art

The image of the Canadian habitant is deeply embedded in the collective imagination, thanks to the works of painters such as Cornelius Krieghoff, Horatio Walker, and later, Clarence Gagnon. Through their canvases, these artists immortalized rural life in Quebec, capturing snow-covered landscapes, scenes of farm work, and traditional customs. Their paintings not only depict everyday life but also contribute to shaping the enduring visual representation of the habitant in Canadian art history.

Sources:

• Konrad Fillion, "Essai sur l’évolution du mot habitant (XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles)," Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française, volume 24, number 3, 3 Dec 1970, 375-401, digitized by Érudit (https://doi.org/10.7202/302989ar : accessed 24 Feb 2025)

• P. Rousseau, Histoire de la vie de M. Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve fondateur et premier gouverneur de Villemarie (Montréal : Librairie Saint-Joseph, 1886), 206, digitized by Archive.org (https://ia800209.us.archive.org/13/items/cihm_13502/cihm_13502.pdf : accessed 24 Feb 2025).

• Benjamin Sulte, "HABITANTS versus HIVERNANTS," Echo de l’Ouest, 10 Sep 1891, digitized by Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/593808726/ : accessed 24 Feb 2025).  

• Tom Wien and Suzanne Gousse, "Habitant," The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada (https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/habitant : accessed 24 Feb 2025), article published 7 Feb 2006; last updated 12 Dec 2024.

• "Habitant, habitante," definition, Larousse (https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/habitant/38776 : accessed 24 Feb 2025).  

• "Habitant," definition, Le Robert (https://dictionnaire.lerobert.com/definition/habitant : accessed 24 Feb 2025).  

• La Société du parler français au Canada, Glossaire du parler français au Canada (Québec : Les Presses de l'Université Laval, 1968), 389.