Dear Carol
some thing that jumped in my mind is the date of his arrival in NewZealand. I do not know much about your Michael...but in 1837/38 there was a war sorts here, between Ontario and Quebec, it was a political thing. The outcome, some of the people were in prison, and if they were not redeemed by their families, they were deported and not allowed back into the country. I do not know the names of all these people deported, at that time, but he could be one of them.
also you must find out if he was a Courville dit deBilly or a dit St.Louis.