Champlain, mindful of the disastrous winter of…
August 1607 CE
Champlain, mindful of the disastrous winter of 1604-1605 at the Île-Saint-Croix settlement, has established l'Ordre de Bon Temps (the Order of Good Cheer) as a social club ostensibly to promote better nutrition and to get settlers through the winter of 1606-1607.
Supper every few days becomes a feast with a festive air supplemented by performances and alcohol and is primarily attended by the prominent men of the colony and their Mi'kmaq neighbors while the Mi'kmaq women, children, and poorer settlers look on and are offered scraps.
Unfortunately in July 1607, the olony receives bad news: King Henry has revoked the Sieur de Monts' royal fur monopoly, citing that the income is insufficient to justify supplying the colony further, forcing the last of the settlers to return to France in August.
The Habitation is left in the care of Membertou and the local Mi'kmaq.