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Nearly 370 years and nine generations after the first members of the Prud’homme family arrived in New France, a park was dedicated last week in the heart of a Montreal working class district to the memory of one of the area’s most revered humanitarians and residents ― Dr. Hector Prud’homme.
Political influence
Born in 1889 in Saint-Eustache just north of Montreal, Hector Prud’homme would become an influential force for more than six decades in municipal and provincial politics in the densely populated neighbourhoods of Rosemont and Petite Patrie in north-central Montreal. He’d also gain a reputation for bringing many thousands of babies into the world at the same time. Of the 12 children Hector Prud’homme had with with his wife, Lucia, Senator Marcel Prud’homme, the youngest, is the last survivor.
A dedication ceremony held on June 22 for the new park at the corner of Bellechasse and St. Hubert streets brought together a wide range of political officials eager to pay their respects. The park marks the gateway to Plaza St. Hubert, one of Montreal’s oldest and most cherished shopping districts. The guests included former Liberal MP André Ouellet, Conservative Senator Pierre-Claude Nolin, Liberal Senator Francis Fox, Liberal Senator Lucie Pépin, Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay, Park Extension city councillor Mary Deros, Papineau Liberal MP Justin Trudeau and Laurier-Dorion Liberal MNA Gerry Sklavounos.
A proud heritage
“There is a continuity dating from my ancestor, the first Prud’homme,” said Senator Prud’homme, who was the Liberal MP for Saint-Denis from 1964 into the early 1990s. “He was a Prud’homme and was the last to leave the Plains of Abraham to come to Montreal.” He recalled how that ancestor, Louis Prud’homme, who was a lieutenant-colonel in the Montreal Militia in 1760 at the end of the French regime, died of exhaustion from the military campaigns he took part in, and was posthumously awarded an honourary rifle by the king of France. It was stolen from a descendant in 1837, reportedly by English troops or Native Indians.
Apart from serving as personal secretary to Montreal mayor Mederic Martin in the early years of the 20th century, Hector Prud’homme was also a city councillor during the 1940s and 1950s. However, his political influence probably peaked starting in 1960, when he became one of the leading organizers for the Quebec Liberal Party in the provincial riding of Laurier (later merged with Dorion). In 1962 at the age of 73, he ran the campaign for René Lévesque, who was then with the Liberals, although he would later become Premier of Quebec after founding the Parti Québécois. In 1966, Prud’homme ran the campaign for another Liberal candidate, Yves Michaud, who would later also join the PQ and become embroiled in controversy.
A pioneer
“Today is an extraordinary occasion for the Prud’homme family,” said Marcel Prud’homme. “I am very grateful in the name of all the Prud’homme family to the municipal authorities and others who were involved in honouring my father, who was a pioneer of the neighbourhood, as everyone knows, and who was on hand for 10,000 births, probably 7,000 of which were done for free, the rest paid for with food from the country. And I had the pleasure as the youngest in the family to store the potatoes in March in a four-foot cellar in a house where I still live and which is gradually falling down, but which I intend to rebuild for my neighbhours who are worried about the roosting pigeons.”