To discuss the life of Jean-Baptiste L'Heureux is to take every account with a grain of salt. Beyond the fact that the man himself was a notorious liar and spent much of his life making up new backstories for himself, he was also a man with many enemies. Specifically, enemies within the Canadian government and various Christian institutions, as he spent just as much time making fools of them as anything else. The most reliable source to determine facts about his life and legacy would be the Blackfoot people. The reality is that the continued genocide against Indigenous peoples in Canada has wiped away much of the histories they kept. The stories that are still known are not among the most reliable sources, generally left on the accounts of religious authorities he offended and government officials he annoyed.
Making Queer History has a vague title because it has a rather vague purpose. We are not alone in our aim to tell the queer community’s history. What defines us is our focus not only on the past, but toward the future.
