Louis-François Laflèche (September 4, 1818 – July 14, 1898) was a Catholic bishop of the diocese of Trois-Rivières, in the province of Quebec, Canada.

[1] His family held the secondary surname of Laflèche because their ancestor, Jean Richer, was from an area in France called La Flèche, near Anjou.

As a missionary Oblate Laflèche educated himself in three Native American languages spoken in the North-Western Territory: Cree, Chipewyan,[2] and Anishinaabe.

In 1845, Chief Factor Roderick McKenzie wrote to Bishop Joseph-Norbert Provencher, of the Diocese of the North West, to request the establishment of a mission at Île-à-la-Crosse.

In 1851 he accompanied the Métis buffalo hunters of the parish of St. François Xavier located 25 km west of St. Boniface.

The hunting party was made up of 67 Métis men, a number of women who came to prepare the meat, some small children and 200 carts.

Lafleche, dressed in his black cassock, white surplice, and stole, directed with the camp commander, Jean Baptiste Falcon, a defence against about 2,000 Sioux combatants, at the Battle of Grand Coteau (North Dakota).

Laflèche authored five volumes of pastoral letters and two works concerning religion in the family and a discussion of the encyclical Humanum genus.

As bishop of Trois-Rivières, Laflèche gave weekly sermons at the cathedral, often touching upon subjects dealing with political and religious questions of his day.