Mance honoured as Montreal rewrites history

The City of Montreal can’t go back in time, but it is rewriting history pages by recognizing Jeanne Mance as co-founder of the city.

Officials have announced that Mance will be credited with the title along with Paul Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve.

In 1642, Mance built the city’s first hospital upon arriving, with deMaisonneuve and a group of French settlers.

Montreal has mandated a historian to conduct detailed research to illustrate Mance’s historical importance, paving the way to her finally being recognized as a co-founder.

The city says this will set precedent for future International Women’s Days, which fall on March 8th.

The 375th anniversary of the day will fall in 2017.

The announcement came on Monday, the same day that a Quebec government women’s group emphasized the continued inequalities between men and women.

With files from the Canadian Press