This article examines different factors which may have influenced the decision of 37 men and women to leave the parish of St. Martin in the Island of Ré to go to Canada during the XVII th century. For the majority of them, the emigrants and their families originated from St. Martin, if not from the Island of Ré, and lived in a specific social, economic, and religious environment, influenced in particular by the proximity of La Rochelle. Many factors may have played in favor of emigration. Firstly, St. Martin lived from wine cultivation. The average family wineyard being small but still profitable, it was important not to diminish its size through a strict equalitarian sharing among the heirs. Some compensatory strategies were used in order to preserve the integrity of the land, and these strateges may have encouraged children to emigrate. Secondly, many among the future emigrants may have been familiar with transoceanic voyages, since St. Martin was an important harbour. And lastly the religious influence of La Rochelle must be taken into consideration. This strong hold of the Reform spread many Protestant ideas to which part of the population from St. Martin adhered, including some emigrants to the New World.

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