MONTREAL - Most Montrealers know little of Jeanne Mance other than as the name of a street or as the founder of Hotel Dieu Hospital.
When the City of Montreal celebrated its 370th anniversary last month it marked the occasion by officially recognizing Jeanne Mance as this city's co-founder.
Filmmaker Annabel Loyola created a documentary so that we could all known what an exceptional woman she was and how she made Montreal the city it is today.
"Jeanne Mance was completely out of her time, it was unthinkable for a woman of her status to cross the ocean and to go found a city," said Loyola. "She was modern."
According to Loyola, Mance arrived in the settlement near present-day Montreal one month before Paul de Chomedey and directed the men. Chomedey, better known as the Sieur de Maisonneuve, was long considered the sole founder of Montreal.
Loyola was born in Langres, the same hometown as Jeanne Mance.
For the full interview, watch the video to the right.
