Joseph Guibord

[1] However, Guibord's notability is based on events after his death: as a member of the Institut Canadien de Montréal, he was denied ecclesiastical burial by the Roman Catholic Church in the Montreal cemetery of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges.

Finally, five years after his death, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, at that time the court of last resort for the British Empire, allowed his widow's appeal in the Guibord Case and ordered the Church to provide a burial in the portion of the burial ground reserved for Roman Catholics.

[2] Religious and political passions were highly aroused by the Judicial Committee's decision and a military escort was needed to carry out the order for burial.

Given their political views, they came into conflict with the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church, at that time a very powerful conservative force in Quebec society, being heavily influenced by ultramontane thought.

Eventually, the Annuaire de l’Institut Canadien pour 1868 was placed on the Church's Index of Prohibited Books.

Doutre was prepared to forego funeral rites, provided Guibord was buried in the portion of the burial ground for Roman Catholics.

On 21 November 1874, five years after the attempted burial, the Judicial Committee issued its decision granting the appeal and ordering the church to bury Guibord in the Roman Catholic portion of the cemetery.

On the second, successful, attempt, on 16 November 1875, the burial party was accompanied by an armed police and military escort, numbering approximately 2,500 men.