The Mauricie’s First Women Columnists (1928-1940)

Black and white photograph of the women’s page in the April 7, 1928, edition of Le Nouvelliste. The right-hand columns contain advertisements and the left-hand columns contain articles.

Example of an article published for women in Le Nouvelliste at the turn of the 20th century

In October 1928, Hélène B.-Beauséjour replaced Onésime Héroux and became the newspaper’s first female columnist. She did her writing at home in the evening, after putting the youngest of her 10 children to bed. On several occasions in the late 1920s, she accepted contributions from Françoise Godet-Smet, the creator of a rural women’s magazine called Paysanna.

B.-Beauséjour spent very little time at the office. A desk was only established for the women’s page in 1939, with the arrival of Françoise Godin. After B.-Beauséjour’s death, her daughter Margot shared the following tribute: “I can still picture her sitting at the kitchen table as night falls, filling page after page of free space in our old school notebooks with her refined and elegant writing.”

Despite the financial challenges associated with the Great Depression, B.-Beauséjour pursued her passion for writing into the 1930s.

Like the sky above us, like the land under our feet, a woman’s responsibilities are immense. Through the many hidden tasks she accomplishes each day, she must find the energy needed to give her loved ones as good a life as possible.

– Hélène B.-Beauséjour, 1950

Hélène B.-Bauséjour, 1934

Black and white photograph of Hélène B.-Beauséjour, her husband and her 10 children. B.-Beauséjour and her husband are in the middle of the photograph. One of their sons is sitting on their immediate left, and three others are posing on their right. Three daughters and one son are behind them. Two more of their children, a son and a daughter, are sitting on the floor in front of them.

Hélène B.-Beauséjour with her family

This charming woman arrived at the newspaper in 1928. She taught me a lot about being a columnist. Also, a few years later, I found myself being inspired by Adrienne Choquette, whose career ambitions mirrored my own. Born in Shawinigan in 1915, Choquette was drawn to journalism from the age of 18.

I came across her early columns in the women’s page of Le Bien Public, a newspaper published in Trois-Rivières. The page was titled “Madame, mademoiselle… et monsieur” (Dear Madam, Dear Miss… and Dear Sir). She went on to write short stories. Over the course of her career, she contributed to some 15 other newspapers and magazines, including Le Nouvelliste. She also authored several collections and books, including posthumously published stories like Le temps des villages.

I greatly enjoyed following her development as a writer at a time when I was slowly gaining a foothold in the world of journalism.

In my case, it was my village—my childhood, you could say—that taught me not to disconnect from the human heart. […] Our fences not only surrounded our modest gardens, but stood in the way of mutual trust. They may well explain why I came to fear the cruelty of rejection.

– Adrienne Choquette

Adrienne Choquette and Claire Roy (April 30, 1963)

Black and white image of the sports page from the November 15, 1934, edition of Le Bien Public. A pink-framed text box on the right contains an enlarged view of the byline for Adrienne Choquette, as it appears at the bottom of one of the articles.

Article by Adrienne Choquette

Journalism at the Turn of the 20th Century Letter from Henriette in La Tuque to Brigitte (September 2, 1945)