Georges-Antoine Belcourt

Georges-Antoine Belcourt
Belcourt c. 1860, approx. age 57
Born	(1803-04-22)April 22, 1803 Baie-du-Febvre, Quebec
Died	May 31, 1874(1874-05-31) (aged 71) Shediac, New Brunswick
Nationality	Canadian
Other names	George Antoine Bellecourt
Occupation	Priest and missionary
Known for	Bring the first car to British North America

Georges-Antoine Belcourt (April 22, 1803 – May 31, 1874), also George Antoine Bellecourt, was a Canadian Jesuit missionary and priest. Born in Baie-du-Febvre, Quebec, Belcourt was ordained in 1827. He established missions in areas of Quebec and Manitoba. On the frontier, he became involved in a political dispute between the local First Nations population and the Hudson's Bay Company, the monopoly fur trading company.

At the urging of the Company's Governor, Belcourt was recalled to Montreal. He was next assigned to Pembina, North Dakota. He established two missions in the 1840s to convert the local Ojibwe (also called Chippewa) and Métis to Catholicism. In 1859, Belcourt left Pembina for Quebec, but was quickly redeployed to North Rustico, Prince Edward Island. He established the Farmers' Bank of Rustico (the first community-based bank in Canada).

Belcourt retired from his post in 1869 to live out his life in New Brunswick, but was recalled in 1871, this time to the Magdalen Islands. In May 1874, Belcourt was forced to retire due to ill health. He died in Shediac, New Brunswick on May 31, 1874. He was designated a National Historic Person by the Government of Canada in 1959.

Georges-Antoine Belcourt was born on April 22, 1803 at Baie-du-Febvre, Quebec to Antoine Belcourt and Josephte Lemire, who had married on February 23, 1802. His parents, devout Roman Catholics, brought their son up in the same faith, and the young Belcourt received his first Holy Communion in 1814. At age 13, Belcourt enrolled in Le Petit Séminaire de Québec to undertake a philosophical course of study, which he completed in 1823. Belcourt studied to become a priest, and on March 10, 1827, Bernard-Claude Panet, the Archbishop of Quebec, performed Belcourt's ordination in the chapel at the Seminary.