The First Newspaper Published in Canada

"Le premier journal publié au Canada", by Beauséjour. Bulletin des recherches historiques, Vol. 6, No. 7, July 1900, P. 213-214 Copyright/Source

I have no difficulty believing that the Halifax Gazette was the first newspaper published in North America's English colonies. However, the mistake lies in asserting that it was the first Canadian publication.

At the time that the Halifax Gazette made its appearance, Nova Scotia was not yet a Canadian province. Canada only included the provinces of Quebec and Ontario.

Therefore, there is no justifiable reason why Mr. William Brown, founder of the Quebec Gazette in 1764, should be stripped of the distinguished honour of being the first Canadian journalist. Nova Scotia has every right to claim having the first published newspaper in North America, already a source of pride for Halifax. As for us, we are happy to have created the first Canadian newspaper in our very own city of Quebec.

The Nova Scotians -- and I mean no harm in admitting it -- have long seen themselves as having the first gazette published in the English colonies. They were unaware of it until 1883.

At that time, a journalist by the name of Lawzon [sic] accidentally came upon a copy of the famous Halifax Gazette while rummaging through the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, in Boston. Of course, it is understandable that this piqued his curiosity. Besides, it was quite a wonderful find. The newspaper issue that Mr. Lawzon [sic] had in hand was dated March 23, 1752, on the first page, and bore the publisher's name, Mr. John Bushnell [sic], as well as the name of the print shops, Graffton [sic] Street.

According to the column, the Halifax Gazette publisher's business did not appear to have gotten off to a great start.

English subscribers at the time were as reluctant as many of ours. The Halifax Gazette supported itself for a few months, then started to fail, and was forced to temporarily close down. It was revived in 1760 only to cease publication a few years later.

The Quebec Gazette, founded by Brown and Gilmore, had a much more lasting career. The Neilson family took possession of it after Brown's death in 1789, and assumed management of it for sixty years. It was not until 1874 that it saw its demise.

(translation)

Beauséjour