I Recently Came Across A Poem Called “The Coureur-de-Bois” And I Thought It’d Be Fun To Write About

I recently came across a poem called “The Coureur-de-Bois” and I thought it’d be fun to write about Canada’s relationship with the voyageurs and coureurs de bois of the fur trade! Includes headcanons about the impact of geography on a nation’s sense of self, and how Canada deals with being “invisible”… Details on fashion at the end as well.

Cw for references to colonialism.

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Canada is imagining himself as a voyageur roughing it in 17th century New France. The voyageur represented a freespirited, hardworking, courageous contributor to Canada’s conception as New France, a colony whose exports fuelled the fur trend in 17th century European fashion. Because Matthew saw himself as needed yet neglected by his closest friends and allies, since around the mid-19th century Matthew had come to identify with the voyageur, a pioneer settler of unknown, hostile terrains, and loosed from national affiliations.  

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