Career
A prominent lawyer in France, in 1613 Lauzon was appointed a counsellor in the Parliament. He served in several government positions, including president of the Grand Conseil, intendant of Provence, then of Guyenne, and of Dauphiné. He had been developing interests in the colony of New France.
He was a founding member and became the director of the Compagnie des Cent-Associéson
By 1640, the Lauzons had become the biggest landowners in the colony. Their properties included the Island of Montreal and Île d"Orléans.
Lauzon was appointed as Governor in 1651. All three sons married into other founding families of the colony after having been set up with various lands and positions within the area.
The establishment of Lauzon"s family in the colony was probably intended to inspire confidence amongst the settlers and encourage agriculture in addition to the fur trade.
He was the first governor to pursue this type of policy. In 1653, Lauzon negotiated a peace treaty with the Mohawk, an Iroquois nation based in what is now New New York lieutenant ended their attacks on French settlers and reduced the threat to the colony for some years.
Afterward, he accorded to himself the monopoly on the fur trade.
Settlers sought to open the trade by petitioning King Louis XIV. The king responded by ordering the fur trade to be reopened to all colonists. Lauzon returned to France, where he continued his business and political career.
He died in 1666 at the age of 83, in Paris. One of his descendents, Marie-Catherine-Antoinette de Lauson, married Roland-Michel Barrin de Louisiana Galissonière (1747-1749), who also served as Governor of Canada.
Lauzon, Quebec was named in his honour in 1867.