Joseph-Elzéar Bernier

This article is about the Canadian mariner. For the Canadian politician, see Joseph Bernier. For the Canadian musician, see Joseph-Arthur Bernier.

Joseph-Elzéar Bernier (French pronunciation: [ʒozɛf ɛlzeaʁ bɛʁnje]; January 1, 1852 – December 26, 1934) was a mariner from Quebec who led expeditions into the Canadian Arctic in the early 20th century.

Joseph-Elzéar Bernier

He was born in L'Islet, Canada East, the son of Captain Thomas Bernier and Célinas Paradis.^[1] At the age of 14, he became a cabin boy on his father's ship. Three years later, he became captain of his own ship and commanded sailing ships for the next 25 years. Bernier was named governor for the jail at Quebec City in 1895. From 1904 to 1911, he explored the Arctic Archipelago on annual voyages in his ship the CGS Arctic and officially claimed the islands for Canada. Bernier retrieved documents that had been stored in caches by earlier Arctic explorers. He also established Royal Canadian Mounted Police posts in the Canadian Arctic.

During World War I, Bernier commanded a ship which transported mail along the eastern coast and carried goods in convoys across the Atlantic Ocean. He returned to patrolling the arctic after the war's end, continuing until his retirement in 1925, when he was awarded the Royal Geographical Society's Back Award.

Historian and expert on northern sovereignty, Michael Byers noted that Bernier placed a plaque on Melville Island in 1909 that claimed Canadian sovereignty over not only the entire Arctic Archipelago but also a wedge of the Arctic Ocean "from longitude 60°W to 141°W up to latitude 90°N," all the way to the North Pole.^[2] Byers characterized the claim as an articulation of sector theory and noted how diplomats had widely rejected Russia's claims to a wedge of the Arctic extending to the North Pole.

Bernier died of a heart attack in Lévis at the age of 82.

He published Master Mariner and Explorer: A Narrative of Sixty Years at Sea ... in 1939.

Joseph Idlout's daughter, Leah Idlout, said that her father was the son of Bernier. It is thought that Idlout may have been the only son of Bernier.^[3]

Bernier and his northern expeditions are featured on pages 12 and 13 of the 36-page Canadian passport.

In popular culture

Québécois actor Rémy Girard portrays Bernier in "The Big Chill" (January 18, 2016), episode 10 of season 9, of the CBC Television period drama Murdoch Mysteries.^[4]

Archives

There is a Joseph-Elzéar Bernier fonds at Library and Archives Canada.^[5] Archival reference number is R7896.