Cantley's 1889 Articles in The Echo of Cantley

Cantley 1889, 2010-2025 — fifteen years, and before ...

Margaret Phillips

“Does Cantley have a history?” is a question often asked nowadays, just as it was 40 years ago. During the 1980s, as citizens rallied to fight for autonomy from Gatineau, establishing Cantley’s rural identity was of utmost importance. Believing a community’s unique identity grows from the roots of its past, Cantley’s “Centennial Committee” was formed. It decided to write a much-needed booklet which “would quickly give to Cantley citizens some sense of the past they had inherited.” In 1989, L’Historie de Cantley – The History of Cantley was published and distributed to every household in Cantley to mark the birth of Cantley’s independence from Gatineau.

By 2009, awareness of Cantley’s early history was lost when the municipality celebrated the 20th birthday of its 1989 independence. Cantley’s 120th birthday was not acknowledged. It’s no wonder many people are unaware that we elected our first mayor Alexandre Prud’homme in the year 1889 when Cantley was incorporated as the independent Municipality of East Hull. The name of Cantley has always been used, likely before 1857 when our first “Cantley Post Office” was established.

Cantley does have a history! Cantley’s farming and mining era began when its first settlers arrived here in1829 and as logging began on the Gatineau River. Indigenous peoples were in the area at least 6000 years before then. Today, Cantley still occupies unceded Algonquin Anishnabeg territory. Cantley’s geological heritage is also of importance. Its rocky hills are part of the Canadian Shield, formed in the Pre-Cambrian era, the planet’s oldest rock. Parc des Glaciations’ geological formations shaped by the last ice age are internationally recognized. Cantley’s significant natural heritage – its old forests, agricultural grasslands and the historic Gatineau River, are becoming increasingly important and vulnerable.

Cantley 1889, 2010: Concerned about our forgotten history and our disappearing heritage, Mayor Steve Harris invited 12 local history buffs and heritage advocates to a meeting on April 29, 2010. Each of us defined Cantley’s heritage from a different perspective explaining why it and our local history were important. We decided to meet again to form a citizens’ group with the goals “to discover, document, protect and promote Cantley’s history and heritage.” We soon came up with our logo symbolizing Cantley’s culture during the 19th and 20th centuries – a pitchfork (farming), a peavey pole (river logging) and a miner’s pickaxe. We hoped our short bilingual name would remind people that Cantley does, indeed, have a history.

Today: Cantley 1889 has six board members. Our 75 family memberships and a small amount of funding from the municipality help support our expenses. Our existence depends on dedicated volunteers. We are very fortunate we can depend on specially skilled volunteers like Erik Rask, webmaster, and Valérie Crevier, designer and creator of our Virtual Museum with co-creator Pierre Bélisle, now-retired photographer.

Since 2015, Cantley 1889’s work has received six regional and provincial awards for “its contributions to preserving and making known the history of our region” and, importantly, recognition for our Echo articles.

We are deeply grateful to the Echo. For 15 years it has generously provided Cantley 1889 two pages a month and the excellent help of its translators, editors and talented layout designer.

Our work: Cantley 1889’s volunteers are constantly researching, collecting photos, information and stories, searching for sources and interviewing. We respond to many inquiries, including those from the municipality. The group created a comprehensive list of Cantley’s heritage buildings and sites. We have organized public events, guided tours (cemeteries, forest walks, sculpted rocks), and collaborated on regional projects and exhibitions. Cantley 1889 advocates for the sustainable protection of heritage buildings and sites and is deeply concerned that Cantley’s significant natural heritage is in jeopardy.

Since 2011, Cantley 1889 created major projects like the ones shown on these pages.

To explore Cantley’s history and its heritage places, browse our website’s 158 Echo articles: Cantley's 1889 Articles in The Echo of Cantley or past editions of L’Écho de Cantley

If you are interested in volunteering or becoming a board member, please contact info.cantley1889@gmail.com