Aurore Gagnon
| Aurore Gagnon | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Marie-Aurore-Lucienne Gagnon May 31, 1909 Sainte-Philomène-de-Fortierville, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | February 12, 1920 (aged 10) Sainte-Philomène-de-Fortierville, Quebec, Canada |
| Cause of death |
Septicemia (blood poisoning) Exhaustion |
| Resting place | Fortierville Cemetery |
| Known for | Child abuse victim |
| Parent(s) | Télesphore Gagnon Marie-Anne Caron |
| Relatives | Marie-Jeanne Gagnon (sister) Georges-Etienne Gagnon (brother) Joseph Gagnon (brother) Lucina Gagnon (sister) |
Marie-Aurore-Lucienne Gagnon, simply known as Aurore Gagnon (31 May 1909 – 12 February 1920), was a Canadian girl who was a victim of child abuse. She died of exhaustion and blood poisoning from some 52 wounds inflicted by her stepmother, Marie-Anne Houde, and her father, Télesphore Gagnon. The story of l'enfant martyre (English translation: The Child Martyr) received great attention in the media and Aurore became an icon of Quebec sociological and popular culture.
Aurore was born into and raised in a Roman Catholic family as the second of five children of farmer Télesphore Gagnon and his first wife Marie-Anne Caron, whom he married in September 1906. They lived in Fortierville, Quebec, a small village on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, a hundred kilometers southwest of Quebec. The Gagnons' first child Marie-Jeanne was born in August 1907. Aurore's birth was quickly followed by that of Lucina then Georges in 1910 and Joseph in 1915.
In 1916, not long after Joseph's birth, Marie-Anne Caron was hospitalized for tuberculosis. Marie-Anne Houde, the widow of a cousin of Télesphore, soon moved into the Gagnon home, claiming she wanted to "take care of the house and children." She was a 30-something-year-old mother of two sons, Gerard and Henri-Georges. She was born in Sainte-Sophie-de-Lévrard, a neighboring municipality of Fortierville, Quebec. On 6 November 1917, 2-year-old Joseph was found dead in his bed. A coroner's inquest revealed that it had been a natural death, although some villagers suspected that Marie-Anne Houde might have had something to do with it.
On 23 January 1918, Marie-Anne Caron died of tuberculosis at the Beauport Asylum. The following week, Télesphore married Marie-Anne Houde. Although villagers were suspicious when two of her children subsequently died, there was no investigation. Meanwhile, Télesphore was beating Aurore with an axe handle. At age 10 in September 1919, Aurore was hospitalized for more than a month at the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec with a severe leg infection caused by a beating. Upon her release, the beatings resumed.
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