ABSTRACT
In recent years, scholars have increasingly discussed the involvement of French women religious in the New World colonies of Canada during the seventeenth century. Historians have examined the efforts of missionary women, their pedagogical aims and methods and their attitudes to both race mixing and to the immigration of European women to the New World colonies. However, there has been little analysis of the experiences of indigenous women who engaged in the reverse journey and travelled to France, or of their role in shaping European perceptions about race and religion at home. Examining the presence of a Mi’kmaq woman in a provincial French convent, this chapter argues that exchange of ideas and perceptions was possible between French and First Nations populations. Moreover, it examines how her inclusion in the religious community allowed the convent to position itself as a participating member in the Catholic missionary outreach programmes in Canada.
