Étienne Bouchard was a French surgeon who came to Ville-Marie

Fort Ville-Marie

Fort Ville-Marie was a fortress outpost of France in North America. It is the historic nucleus around which the original settlement of Montreal grew.Given its importance, the site of the fort was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1924....

 (Montreal) in 1653 under the sponsorship of the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal

Société Notre-Dame de Montréal

The Société Notre-Dame de Montréal was a religious organisation responsible for founding Ville-Marie, the original name for the settlement that would later become Montreal....

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Bouchard traveled to New France

New France

New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...

 with two other surgeons, one of whom was Louis Chartier

Louis Chartier

Louis Chartier was a surgeon sent to Canada from France in 1653. He was part of an initiative which was to strengthen Montreal. The Société Notre-Dame de Montréal , who were responsible for founding Ville-Marie, had pledged to provide free medical care for the settlers...

. He was allowed to break his contract with the "Société" in 1655 and proceeded to build an impressive practice. He married in Canada and he and his wife had seven children. He was an officer in the surgeons’ guild with Jean Martinet de Fonblanche and was a doctor for the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal

Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal

The Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal is the oldest hospital in Montreal, Quebec. Since 1996 it has been one of the three hospitals making up the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal ....

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