Antoine Labelle and Arthur Buies

The first meeting of Antoine Labelle and Arthur Buies, in 1879, signalled the beginning of a deep, respectful friendship between the two men. Despite the fact that Buies could wield a sharp pen, especially where the clergy was concerned, Curé Labelle appointed him a champion of his colonization efforts. Buies believed in the development of the homeland, in progress, and in science, and joined with the curé in writing books that extolled the attractions of various regions of Quebec to prospective settlers. Some time after the death of his good friend, Buies wrote Au portique des Laurentides in homage to the celebrated colonizing missionary, whom he had accompanied on many expeditions to new parishes in the North.