Guibord Case - Background

Background

The case centred on a man named Joseph Guibord, a member of the Institut Canadien. The Institut was a liberal association with a public library and debating room for literary and scientific discusions. The views of its members, who tended to support the Rouges in Quebec politics, brought them into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church, which at that time had significant influence in Quebec society and with the Quebec government. Eventually, the Bishop of Montreal, Ignace Bourget, issued a pastoral letter forbidding membership in the Institut, and stating that no absolution was possible for member, "même à l'article de la mort."

Guibord died suddenly in 1869. His widow, Henriette Brown, sought to have him buried in the Côte des Neiges Cemetery, at that time the only cemetery for Roman Catholics in Montréal. The Church refused to permit the burial, except in the portion of the cemetery reserved for non-Roman Catholics and unbaptised infants, and without religious rites. Brown was willing to forego the religious ceremony, but insisted that her husband be buried in the Roman Catholic portion of the cemetery. The church officials refused. Brown and her supporters argued that the Church's decision contradicted its role under the civil law to give burial, but the Church argued it would permit the civil burial, and that Guibord not being buried in holy ground was a question of religious freedom.

After two attempts to have Guibord buried in the Côte-des-Neiges Cemetery, his remains were temporarily lodged in the neighbouring Mount Royal cemetery, a Protestant cemetery.