Nancy Miller Chenier
Originally built in 1907-1908 for Arthur Charbonneau, his wife Amanda Beaulieu, their seven children and live-in domestic servant, 487 Rideau witnessed one of Lowertown’s dramatic political stories. Arthur Charbonneau, born in 1870 as the youngest child of Honore, a blacksmith on St. Patrick Street, is inextricably linked to the Regulation 17 controversy that first rocked our community in 1912.Charbonneau was obviously a talented man. By 1891, Arthur was a clerk at Ottawa’s La Banque Nationale and moved steadily up in the financial sector to become manager of La Banque Jacques-Cartier in 1898. By 1901, he was Vice-President of the Ottawa Wine Vault Company and recognized as one of Ottawa’s successful businessmen.
But in 1915, the story of the Charbonneau family and the house changed. Arthur Charbonneau accepted a provincial appointment as the sole francophone on a small 3-person commission (the other two members were prominent Irish Catholics) set up to replace the elected Roman Catholic Separate School Board. The appointed Ottawa Separate School Commission was expected to resolve the conflict created by the 1912 Ontario directive known as Regulation 17. This government directive severely curtailed instruction in French beyond the first two years of elementary schooling. From its emergence in 1912, the directive set French Catholics against Irish Catholics and Conservatives against Liberals. In 1915, teachers at École Guigues, a French elementary school for boys on Murray Street, openly opposed the directive. In response, funds were withheld and the elected board was replaced by the government-appointed small commission.
In October 1915, shortly after his appointment, Arthur Charbonneau felt compelled to explain his reasons for accepting the position with the government’s commission. In an impassioned speech to a packed audience at the Monument Francais on Dalhousie Street, he claimed that, as a French-Canadian and as a supporter of separate schools, he saw a duty to try to reduce the strife. He argued that the Ontario government was well disposed to separate schools and willing to make concessions. He pointed out that he had sought church help to put an end to the imbroglio.
Charbonneau’s last appeal to his francophone neighbours was to the hundreds of angry women and men gathered at École Guigues on January 7, 1916. A group of women reportedly armed with hatpins mounted guard over the students to prevent interference from any member of the government-appointed commission. Although Charbonneau attempted to explain his personal efforts to seek a resolution, he finally admitted failure and resigned his appointed position that day.
Politics, ethnicity, and religion were factors in Arthur Charbonneau’s decision to eventually leave 487 Rideau Street and move his family to Montreal. This successful middle-class Ottawa entrepreneur from an established Lowertown family chose a side of the Regulation 17 issue unpopular with the majority of local francophones.
Although he left Ottawa to start over in another city and another province, his architectural contribution, as well as his historical legacy live on in the unusual two-storey red brick building that stands on Rideau Street at the corner of Augusta.