Aurore Gagnon

Marie-Aurore-Lucienne Gagnon, simply known as Aurore Gagnon (31 May 1909 12 February 1920), was a French Canadian girl who was a victim of severe and brutal child abuse. She died of severe abuse and blood poisoning from more than 54 wounds inflicted by her stepmother, Marie-Anne Houde, and her father, Télesphore Gagnon.

The story of Aurore Gagnon as l'enfant martyre (English translation: Martyr Child ) received great attention in the media.

Abuse of Aurore Gagnon Shortly after their mother's death and funeral, and their father's marriage to Marie-Anne Houde, Aurore Gagnon and her elder sister Marie-Jeanne and younger brother Georges-Étienne were sent to temporarily live with their maternal grandparents at their house over there, for several months in the neighbouring rural village of Leclercville, the same rural village where the five-year-old Lucina Gagnon had earlier had died on 13 November 1917, while staying with her maternal grandparents at their house over there.

Death and aftermath The autopsy was conducted in the church sacristy by Dr. Albert Marois, on 13 February, the next day after Aurore Gagnon's death, who indeed confirmed that Aurore had multiple severe wounds, was badly bruised across her entire body, and that the skin on her hands and wrists had indeed ripped down off to the bone.

Marie-Anne Houde was convicted of murder and initially was sentenced to death by hanging at the gallows almost immediately after her trials had ended, although the court shifted her death sentence because Marie-Anne Houde had turned out to be pregnant for already several months.

Following his arrest for the severe abuse and murder of his daughter Aurore Gagnon in 1920, Télesphore Gagnon was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to life in prison. However, although Télesphore Gagnon had openly admitted to having severely beaten his daughter Aurore multiple times, he reportedly said that he only severely beaten and whipped her until "she bled" as a means of controlling her "evil and vicious behavior" and that he was simply disciplining his daughter as any "good father" would do with a "unruly and misbehaving" child and he stated that he knew that his second wife Marie-Anne Houde would beat Aurore for the "exact same reasons he did" to instill "discipline" and "control" in her. However, according to Telesphore, he claimed that he never saw his second wife Marie-Anne Houde beat Aurore in front of him, not even one time.

The jury and court eventually decided not to convict Télesphore Gagnon of murder of his daughter since they believed that his second wife Marie-Anne Houde had manipulated him into severely beating and abusing his daughter Aurore Gagnon and that she constantly lied to him that Aurore was a "evil and vicious" child who needed to be "beaten as much as possible", which they believed had caused Télesphore Gagnon to have a "false and distorted" impression of his daughter Aurore's character and personality. After five years of imprisonment, Télesphore Gagnon was released from prison and given parole in 1925, on the grounds of good behaviour during his time in prison, and he seems to have never caused trouble during his imprisonment and he acted "overly obedient", compared to most other prisoners. Télesphore Gagnon reportedly suffered from throat cancer, which doctors had believed would kill him within several months. However, Télesphore Gagnon survived and fully recovered from his throat cancer and returned to his native rural village, Fortierville, and previous life. He wrote several letters to Marie-Anne Houde, who was still in prison.

On 7 December 2015, the village of Fortierville recognized Aurore Gagnon as a historical figure (French: personnage historique).