Once you start to work on your French Canada you are going to find that they have very good records. Among the records are census returns from 1666, 1667 and 1681. Among the questions asked was the occupation. Drouin has listed these occupations in the wonderful Dictionnaire Genealogique des Familles du Quebec des origins a 1730.
I own a copy of this book and it is wonderful if somewhat expensive resource. While Ancestry does have the index it doesn't have the complete book. Records are of course, in French. This may lead to some confusion about what exactly the occupation of your ancestor was. Some are obvious, soldat is soldier and fermier is farmer. But what about if you see arpenteur, boucher or boulanger?
Luckily, there is a blog that offers a post to help with this. Unfortunately, I can't tell you who the blogger is, it is anonymous but it is helpful just the same.
