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Curé Labelle Speaking at Chute-aux-Iroquois

Black & white photograph of a crowd outdoors, surrounding an imposing figure, Curé Antoine Labelle. Several men are seen, along with a few women and children, all well dressed. Labelle wears a black cassock and black hat and is giving a speech; his mouth is open and his right arm is raised beside his head. His left art rests on his hip.

Photographer : Unknown
Date : Around 1889
Source : Société d’histoire Chute aux Iroquois

Though he sometimes claimed he was not a skilled orator, Antoine Labelle knew how to captivate an audience. With passion and conviction, he gathered crowds around him to speak about subjects that he held dear. He took pains to visit the parishes of the Northern Townships, especially those that he had helped to found. Chute-aux-Iroquois, the site of this photograph, was the first of some twenty such communities, which began in the mid-1870s. Today, the municipality is named Labelle in his honour.