During the Biennio Rosso, Italian workers and communists alarmed the bourgeoisie by saying they aimed to "do as in Russia." Similarly, in the early 17th century, French Jesuit missionaries in North America aspired to "do as in Paraguay."

The Jesuit reductions in Paraguay gathered indigenous Christians of southern South America between the 17th and 18th centuries. This model gained popularity among Jesuits, including those working in Canada. In 1616, Pierre Biard mentioned José de Acosta, a Spanish Jesuit who theorised the reductions model. In 1632, Paul Le Jeune, the mission superior in Canada, hoped to replicate what had worked in Brazil and Paraguay.

The Sillery reduction was created in 1638, and the Conception reduction in 1641. However, replicating the Paraguayan model proved very difficult for several reasons. First, while the Jesuits in Paraguay primarily welcomed the Guaraní, a population accustomed to a sedentary lifestyle and agriculture, in Canada,they encountered populations such as the Algonquins and Montagnais, who were solely nomadic and hunting. These natives, in fact, proved disinclined to cultivate the land. As a result, the corn grown in these regions was often insufficient to feed the local population, who therefore had to supplement their diet with hunting products or food aid from the French.

One reason for the prosperity of the Paraguayan reductions was their ability to produce surpluses for sale to Spanish colonists. The reductions traded cotton, tobacco, sugar, and yerba mate for oil, wine, weapons, and other metal objects. Their agricultural products, however, were meant for domestic use only, and the sole trade with Europeans was the fur trade. The natives hunted beaver and otter, then sold the pelts to French colonists for textiles, tools, and weapons. This activity required the natives to leave the reductions for months, placing them outside the Jesuits' control.

Due to these various challenges, the Canadian reductions never matched the development attained by their Paraguayan counterparts and remained heavily dependent on supplies, trade, and protection from the French.