Mathieu de Costa

Who was Mathieu de Costa?

Mathieu da Costa is the first recorded free black person in Canada. He was a member of the exploring party of Pierre Dugua, the Sieur de Monts and Samuel de Champlain in the early 17th century.

There is little documentation about da Costa, but he is known to have been a freeman favoured by explorers for his multilingual talents. His portfolio of languages - thought to include Dutch, English, French, Portuguese and pidgin Basque, the dialect many Aboriginals used for trading purposes - led him into the employ of Sieur de Monts in the role of interpreter.

An interpreter, translator, and general go-between such as da Costa was known as un grumete in the Portuguese-speaking world. While Mathieu da Costa was hired for three years by Pierre Du Gua de Monts in 1608, he was in Amsterdam, Holland, in February 1607. He had been apparently caught up in a dispute over the seizure by the Dutch of Du Gua's trading ships near Tadoussac. His abduction strongly suggests that his talents helped bridge the gap between the Europeans and the First Nations of Canada.

It is thought that he came to Canada at some time before 1603, using his visit to learn the Mi'kmaq dialect.