Courtesy BAnQ

By Shawn MacWha

Local Journalism Initiative

During the past two decades our country has seen a drastic decline in the number of local newspapers. In 2023 alone over 100 daily and weekly papers across the country ceased circulation, taking with them the voices of entire communities. In many ways this sad trend marks the closing of a door that was first opened roughly 250 years ago when a nascent publishing industry first brought word of the outside world to a growing population hungry for knowledge.

In 1752 the Halifax Gazette became the first newspaper in Canada. It was soon followed by daily publications in other major centres such as Montréal, Québec City, and Kingston. During the early years of Canadian media the price and complexity of printing presses limited the number of newspapers being published but by the 1850s costs had come down to the point that a newspaper could generally be viable in almost any small town or city. Much like today’s oft-partisan publications, most early Canadian journals assumed an overtly political viewpoint, telling their readers at the outset if they supported liberal, conservative, national or regional viewpoints. As such, many larger towns boasted two or three newspapers in order to address the varying religious or ideological perspectives of their readers.

In the Eastern Townships there were several small privately-owned newspapers published around the middle of the nineteenth century such as the The Canadian Patriot which was produced in Stanstead, the Waterloo Advertiser and Eastern Townships Advocate and The Sherbrooke Gazette. One of the lesser known of these long-lost newspapers was The Canadian Times which was a weekly bulletin published in Sherbrooke between 1855 and 1858. Billed as a political, agricultural, commercial and literary journal its first issue was published just over 170 years ago, on Jan. 4, 1855. The editors of the paper proclaimed at the outset that “While avowing ourselves the strenuous advocates of religious as well as civil liberty, in its most liberal sense, nothing sectarian will be admitted into our columns.” Instead, the paper sought to provide its readers with a wide range of reporting on matters of general intelligence, literature and farming.

The newspaper’s inaugural edition led with the first chapter of a serialized novel entitled “Maretimo” by then famous British travel writer Bayle St. John. It offered readers a tale of mystery and adventure set against the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea, something that must have been a very welcome distraction from the cold January evenings of 1850s Canada. Other subjects covered in that first issue included a story on the progress of the Crimean War, a (one would hope) useful article “On making and saving manure,” and a short note advising people that the little town of Bytown had just been renamed as “The City of Ottawa.”

Printed by John Edwards in the Beckett Building in downtown Sherbrooke, the newspaper was owned by Ritchie and Company and its first editor was P.W. Ritchie. Its business model was typical of that of most newspapers then and now; income was derived primarily from advertising revenue supplemented by paid subscriptions. To that effect advertisers were charged $1.00 per square of 16 lines for the first instance, and 25 cents for all subsequent publications while readers paid an annual subscription rate of $2.00, which was reduced to a very modest $1.50 if the amount was given in advance. Incomes must have been modest though, given that Sherbrooke’s population at this time was only about 3,000 people.

Nonetheless The Canadian Times operated under these arrangements for most of the next four years, until October 1858 it was purchased by H. Jewitt and Company and George Bottom assumed its editorship. Wanting the re-brand his new newspaper Jewitt ceased publishing it under the name of The Canadian Times at the end of 1858, with the final edition being released on December 30, 1858 after a run of 209 issues. True to its literary roots the last front page featured a story by famed American abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe.

The following week, on Jan.6, 1859 the paper re-emerged with very little fanfare as The Sherbrooke Times although beyond a changed name little differed from the original format. Indeed, even the volume and issue numbers of The Sherbrooke Times picked up where The Canadian Times had left off, with the first issue of the former being counted as issue number 210. A new name, however, could not alter the economics of the publication and on June 30, 1859 The Sherbrooke Times shut down following the resignation of its editor. The cause of the paper’s closure would be sadly familiar to the publishers and editors of today, with George Bottom rhetorically asking “Surely if a man devotes his talents which his Maker has given him to their legitimate use, he has the right to expect recompense for his labors.” He goes on to add that the demands of the business, and the time which it took away from his family and his general interests, were not justified by the “scant remuneration” that he received for his efforts. Thus ended the idea of The Canadian and Sherbrooke Times. Plus ça change.

Journalism has sometimes been credited with producing the rough draft of history, and it is often local newspapers that capture the first sparks of what may someday be great events. And as this newspaper has repeatedly shown, even small and relatively out of the way places like the Eastern Townships have been responsible for their share of historical achievements. That is why it is so important for local voices to have a place to be heard. It was important in the 1850s, just as this country was just starting to coalesce around an idea of unity, and it is important in the 2020s when we are faced with threats of disinformation, the erosion of our social cohesion, and the rise of artificial intelligence. It is important so that we know where we came from, who we are, and where we collectively need to be going.