M ANY M ILESTONESAND T OO M ANY A NNIVERSARIES $5 Quebec

VOL 5, NO. 5 SEPT-OCT 2009 HeritageNews

Dorchester House Half-century home of a Montreal family The Re-enactors History’s role players plot rebellions replay More from the Quebec Family History Society The Heritage Centre QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

Quebec CONTENTS eritageNews H DITOR A Word from the Editor 3 E ROD MACLEOD Did you forget our anniversary? Rod MacLeod PRODUCTIO DAN PINESE Timelines 5 Lifetime achievers: the 2010 Marion Phelps award PUBLISHER Vital signs Robert Donnelly THE QUEBEC ANGLOPHONE Marking 40 years of the Official Languages Act Roseline Joyal HERITAGE NETWORK 400-257 QUEEN STREET Review 8 SHERBROOKE (LENNOXVILLE) Of Fishy Beaver and Jos Montferrand "ick Fonda QUEBEC J1M 1K7 PHOE Heritage Football 11 1-877-964-0409 Bishop’s Gaiters celebrate then and now Sue Pilson McGuire (819) 564-9595 The Gaiters’ Story John Pratt FAX Before there was LCC... (819) 564-6872 Dorchester House 14 CORRESPODECE Home of a Montreal family for over half a century Anne Joseph [email protected] Two of the Josephs’ neighbours on Belmont Street WEBSITE The Quebec Family History Society 18 WWW.QAHN.ORG Part II: the Heritage Centre Robert Dunn Of Redcoats and Patriotes 19 PRESIDET History’s role players plot rebellions replay Tyler Wood KEVIN O’DONNELL Gatineau prison holds secrets 21 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DWANE WILKIN New insight into internment Michael Martin HERITAGE PORTAL COORDIATOR MATTHEW FARFAN Milestones 22 OFFICE MAAGER KATHY TEASDALE Wallace Lambert, father of French Immersion Kevin Erskine-Henry Muriel Duckworth and the Outremont School Rod MacLeod Question

Quebec Heritage Magazine is produced six Hindsight 25 times yearly by the Quebec Anglophone Heritage "etwork (QAH") with the support My Revolutionary Road to Bouillabaisse Rod MacLeod of The Department of Canadian Heritage and Quebec’s Ministere de la Culture et des Communications. QAH" is a Events Listings 27 non-profit and non-partisan umbrella organization whose mission is to help advance knowledge of the history and culture of English-speaking society in Quebec. Canada Post Publication Mail Agreement "umber 405610004. ISS" 17707-2670 Cover: “Lawn at the back of Dorchester House, Dorchester Street, Montreal” Anonymous, 1907. McCord Museum of Canadian History: MP-1987.2.2 (Note the spires of St Paul’s church, which is visible on the plan on p.17.)

2 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009

AWORD FROM THE EDITOR

Did you forget our anniversary? by Rod MacLeod

t was a staple of sit-coms when I lieve me, the QAHN board of directors in Montreal alone, and to the third or was growing up. Ralph Kramden thought long and hard about whether to more of the children (depending on vari- did it all the time (well, once a year, acknowledge this milestone or not (and if ous studies around the world) who were anyway) and then had to go to great so, how) and in the end decided to go the infected. It was hoped that the new insti- lengths to make it up to his wife or even Flintstone route. (“Aw, honey, of course I tute would not only treat patients more ef- Itry lamely to convince her that he hadn’t haven’t forgotten what September 13th fectively than before, but lead the world in actually forgotten. Fred Flintstone, Kram- was!”) There is much agreement that the research so that the disease could be erad- den’s 2D Saturday morning alter ego, was legacy of the battle is considerably more icated. Over the next hundred years the also a perpetual anniversary forgetter – al- interesting than the fight itself. Above all, Royal Edward Institute, as it was named, though on one, er, memorable occasion he we should acknowledge and commemo- after the guy who pushed that button, did was actually on the ball and had a big sur- rate the creation of the Plains of Abraham fulfill expectations. prise lined up, gleefully feigning igno- Park a century ago (thanks to both the The term “high tech” does not spring rance despite his wife’s broadest hints Quebec Literary and Historical Society to mind today when contemplating the in- about the upcoming event. “Aw, stitute’s original facilities. Belmont honey, of course I haven’t forgotten House was donated for this purpose what Tuesday is. It’s Trash Day!” by Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bur- Something goes wrong, of course, land, a trained scientist and promoter and Fred finds it even harder to con- of medical reform whose father’s vince her that he hasn’t forgotten death in 1907 left him a fortune he when in fact he hasn’t than when he was ready to spend on improving the has – if you follow me. Boy, have I health of Montrealers. been there. The house lay on Belmont Park Not with anniversaries, however. (no relation to the Cartierville fun A bizarre passion for dates and mile- fair of later fame) which was how stones has always made me con- one segment of Belmont Street was scious of significant days, including known at the time, as it had been laid the candies & flowers variety. out over the grounds of a villa that (Though my spouse and I have never had once belonged to an old farm on done anything so conventional as to the mountainside. Belmont House exchange candies or flowers; in fact, we and the St Jean Baptiste Society) along was a good-sized structure that could ac- always refer to the day of our nuptials as with the Battlefields Commission and the commodate the necessary tuberculosis fa- “Trash Day” – in cheerful tribute.) Historic Sites and Monuments Board. It cilities. (For more on Belmont House’s One of the challenges of a heritage is to them that we owe our current appre- neighbours and a plan of the area, see magazine is to keep up to date with an- ciation for heritage, even if it took them a Anne Joseph’s article in this issue.) Dr niversaries, especially significant ones few years to get beyond simply putting Robert Philip, an Edinburgh doctor and that deserve special mention. It ain’t markers on battle sites. pioneer in tuberculosis research, re- easy: One hundred years of flight in Cana- Recently, I found myself involved in designed the building as a hospital and da. One hundred years of the Montreal a project to commemorate another sort of teaching centre. Thanks to the King, the Canadiens. One hundred years of Lower battle, namely the one against tuberculo- place had plenty of electricity. Canada College and Miss Edgar’s & Miss sis. In 1909, the Royal Edward Institute Cramp’s. Seventy years since the stock The Montreal Chest Institute celebrated was convenient to the centre of the city, market crashed (that other time, I mean). its centenary on October 21st, 100 years yet on high enough ground for it to profit Sixty years since the start of the Second since the day that King Edward VII from the cleaner air. By the 1920s, how- World War. Forty years since the passing pressed a button in London and sent an ever, Belmont Street was in a rapidly de- of the Official Languages Act. How does electric current shooting across the At- veloping part of downtown and in danger one keep up? lantic Ocean to light up the new hospital of expropriation for the new railway. (It is The great granddaddy of recent sig- in Montreal. now an alley behind Central Station.) In nificant anniversaries was, of course, the This high-tech stunt symbolized the 1930, the Institute found new quarters on Battle of the Plains of Abraham. You have state-of-the-art ambitions of the medical quieter St Urbain Street, just south of Hô- to admire it: two hundred and fifty, and profession with regard to the 12,000 peo- tel Dieu Hospital. Ten years later it just as fresh as the day it was fought. Be- ple who were dying every year from TB merged with the sanatorium in Ste

Belmont House (photo courtesy of the Montreal Chest In- 3 stitute Library) QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

Agathe, with which it had collaborated fairly convincing, although I was less im- flubs. since the beginning. In 1971 its name was pressed that they gave me a standard lab The irony, of course, was that we had changed to the Montreal Chest Hospital, coat and stethoscope plus green rubber all spent this past summer doing the oppo- and by 1994, after being absorbed by gloves from Home Depot which raised site: staring at dark clouds and willing McGill, it became known as the Montreal the spectre of anachronism somewhat. them to pass so the sun could provide Chest Institute. Like the rest of the They also hadn’t asked me to wear a some warmth. All in all, cinema takes McGill University Health Centre, it is tie, which clashed with my vision of how time, and it was 3pm before they released slated to be relocated to the Glen Yards a respectable doctor from the early twenti- me. superhospital site in – well, let’s say soon. eth century would have dressed. That On October 21st, the MWOS gang Appropriately, the organizers of the aside, I was very impressed by their tech- assembled at the Air Canada building in centenary commemoration decided that nological savvy and professionalism, our pseudo-Edwardian finery and provid- the October 21, 2009 celebrations should walking me through the script and making ed a colourful visual backdrop to an be held as close as possible to the Glen helpful suggestions as to tone of voice and hour’s cocktail conversation – I mean, we Yards site, namely the Air Canada build- pace of delivery. were singing our hearts out, but I don’t ing on Maisonneuve Boulevard near think it carried all that well. Then the border with Westmount. They al- they showed the film. Once I’d un- so decided to produce a short video clenched my fingers and teeth I could relating the institute’s history, and be- admit it wasn’t half bad – although gan to look around for period cos- the Burland sisters looked as if they tumes and actors both of which could were standing c.1860 and Dr Philip come very cheap. Connections being looked like he’d walked in from what they often are, MCI Foundation about 1952. The whole thing was ap- president Susan Curry found herself propriately black & white, and talking to Dael Foster of the Montre- through the magic of FX the rainy af- al West Operatic Society, which was ternoon in Montreal turned out to be itself celebrating its 70th birthday. just that: quite a downpour in fact. Dael not only offered costumes and When screen Andrew pushed the actors at no cost but a delegation of electric button in “London” we all singers to perform at the centenary broke into a chorus of Happy Birth- party. Curry and her colleagues were day, which won us more applause apparently delighted, even though the than the earlier numbers. costumes were Edwardian only by a What I had to do was walk about Later, we also received a nice letter stretch of the imagination and the actors eight feet alongside a counter talking with from Susan Curry thanking us profusely were strictly amateur. MWOS’s Andrew gravitas about the deplorable cost of TB, and praising our talents. (Hey, you need Macdougall, a retired engineer, played the then stare into the camera and speak en- diplomacy to manage a foundation.) I king, while Dael, an accountant, and Joan- thusiastically about the new institute. Al- think they will be more than happy to na Wrona, a charity organizer, were the though there was a teleprompter rigged have us back for the 200th anniversary of Burland sisters, decked out in best bib and with the camera, without my glasses I the Chest Institute. tucker. couldn’t read it and so had to memorize For my part, however, I think I’ll And that left someone to be Dr Philip the speech, which certainly cost us a few give candy and flowers a try. from Edinburgh... extra takes. In another segment, I had to I’d heard about this project some declaim my line about eradicating tuber- Sources weeks before and then nothing; I’d as- culosis while staring through a glass slide Annemarie Adams, Kevin Schwartz- sumed it had been dropped. But at 10am at some unidentified blob; between me man, and David Theodore, “Collapse and on the Thanksgiving weekend Saturday, getting the lines right and David filming Expand: Architecture and Tuberculosis the phone rang and Laura Cohen from the me from countless angles (including Therapy in Montreal, 1909, 1933, 1954.” MUHC technical crew was asking me if I through the glass slide) I must have Society for the History of Technology, could be at the Royal Victoria Hospital in growled “tuberculosis” two dozen times. 2008. an hour to begin filming. Only half Or rather “tew-bair-que-loh-sis” in the ac- Peter Keating, “Jeffrey Hale Bur- awake, for reasons I need not go into, I cent of my forefathers, the ability to sound land,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, agreed, after begging an extension to passably like an Edinburgher being part of Vol.XIV. 11:30. I made it on time and was escorted my so-called qualifications. Then, in an- “Sir Robert W Philip (1857-1939), up through the maze of the Royal Vic to other dingy room I had to say it was a Pioneer of Tuberculosis Control. Ameri- the dark upper reaches of the Ross Pavil- rainy afternoon in Montreal while gazing can Journal of Public Health, 1959. ion, where Laura and her colleague David glumly out a window. The difficulty was, http://www.muhcfoundation.com/che Bitton were all set up in a dingy room that it was a gorgeous day, and the sun st_institute did sort of suggest 1909. streamed in, its force diminished only oc- They’d added some old medical casionally by passing clouds which we books, surgical instruments and steel re- waited for breathlessly before springing ceptacles for authenticity, which looked into action for 15 seconds, praying for no

4 The Montreal West Operatic Society in not-so-Edwardian costume (photo: Brent McGowan) SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009

TIMELINES Lifetime achievers Call for 2010 volunteer heritage award nominees goes out

he Quebec Anglophone Her- fice no later than by March 30, 2010. itage Network (QAHN) is The annual award is named for seeking nominations for its Marion Phelps who was recognized in 2010 Marion Phelps Award, 2001 for the five decades she spent as a recognizing outstanding volunteer con- volunteer archivist with the Brome-Mis- Ttributions towards the protection and sisquoi Historical Society in Knowlton, preservation of Quebec’s anglophone in the Eastern Townships. In subsequent heritage. years the award was given to Joan Bis- Past recipients have included volun- son Dow, co-founder of the British teer archivists, a businessman, a story- Gaspesian Heritage Village in New teller and several dedicated chroniclers Richmond; the late historian Kenneth of local history. Is there a worthy candi- Annett; authors Norma Geggie of Wake- date in your organization? Someone who field and Byron Clark of the Magdalen has consistently worked towards the pro- Islands; the Irish-Quebec scholar Mari- motion and preservation of Quebec’s anna O’Gallagaher; Harry Isbrucker of heritage? the Stanstead Historical Society; Hudson Nomination forms and additional raconteur Rod Hodgson; and Richmond information about the award can be County Historical Society archivist Es- downloaded from the QAHN website at ther Healy. www.qahn.org. Just select the Marion Phelps Award webpage from the menu. For more information or to order nomi- Forms can also be requested directly nation forms, please contact Kathy Teas- from the QAHN office. dale at (819) 564-9595 or, toll-free in Nominations must concisely de- Quebec, (877) 964-0409. scribe the scope and significance of the nominee’s work in the heritage field, us- The 2010 Marion Phelps Award will be ing specific examples. And all submis- awarded during QAH"’s annual general sions must be received by the QAHN of- meeting in June 2010.

Marion Phelps (photo courtesy of townshipsher- 5 itage.com) QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

Vital Signs Marking 40 years of the official languages act by Robert Donnelly

speaking community as a minority both in Quebec and in Canada. That’s why we are pleased that the Commissioner of Official Languages Graham Fraser un- derlined our “national” standing because we consider the standing of the English- speaking community of Quebec has been ignored by many federal depart- ments. In his last Annual Report, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Lan- guages noted that Quebec’s anglophone community is one of the two official lan- guage minorities, and stressed that fed- eral institutions and key stakeholders in- terested in official languages should ac- knowledge our community’s contribu- tions to national policy-making in Cana- da. By the same token, the English- From a brief presented by Robert Don- English-speaking Quebecers, espe- speaking community requires the sup- nelly, leader of the Quebec Community cially our unilingual elderly and our less port of our brothers and sisters in the Groups "etwork (QCG") before the fortunate, require access to services in francophone majority if we are to suc- Parliamentary standing committee on their own language. Our community also cessfully influence the policies required Official Languages, March 23, 2009. needs access to job skills that will allow to develop vital and viable English- The committee is studying the Roadmap English Quebecers to integrate into the speaking minority communities which for Canada’s Linguistic Duality, the fed- job market and allow the community to will continue to contribute to Quebec so- eral government’s five-year action plan retain its youth and young families and ciety. outlining $1.1 billion in program spend- keep its communities alive and vital. English-speaking Quebec faces the ing intended to support francophone The departure of highly educated particular challenge of being a minority communities in nine provinces and three bilingual anglophones is a loss of human within a minority which, let’s face it, is territories where French has official mi- capital for both the English-speaking not always recognized as such by key nority status, and in Quebec where Eng- community of Quebec and for Quebec decision-makers and opinion-leaders. lish speakers account for around 11 per society as a whole. It also points to a After years of working though our chal- cent of the population. glaring need for a policy for French-lan- lenges and issues in Quebec, we believe guage training that recognizes the there are signs that the English-speaking ver the past 40 years, English French language as an essential job skill. community of Quebec is finally accept- institutions have weakened A successful human resources develop- ing its minority status. and access to services in our ment strategy in cooperation and with English-speaking Quebecers have a own language has dimin- support from key provincial and federal role in helping the majority community ished. Education provisions of the Char- partners is of paramount importance to feel secure enough to assume the role of ter of the French Language have had a the survival of our community. That in- supporting its minority community. It’s a O question of respect for each other and significant impact on the province’s cludes not only access to jobs in the fed- English-language public education sys- eral and provincial public services where recognition of our intersecting contribu- tem, causing a decline in enrolment that the diversity of Canada and Quebec tions to society. And to achieve mutual threatens the future of many schools, es- must be reflected, but in all sectors. respect, we have to ensure that both pecially in rural and isolated regions. The QCGN is working hard to help communities understand that support for And in spite of legislative guarantees, develop and implement policies that each other does not diminish the space access to English-language health and support and nurture the community’s or place the other occupies in Quebec. social services depends largely on the place in Quebec and Canadian society. It’s not a zero-sum game! type of service and access varies widely Among our greatest challenges has been from region to region. getting recognition of Quebec’s English-

6 Commissioner for Official Languages Graham Fraser and QCGN President Robert Donnelly (photo: Jake Wright) SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009

Marking 40 years of the Official Languages Act The Quebec Community Groups Network holds a major convention and launches new award by Roseline Joyal health-care advocate Marjorie Goodfellow (award presented by James Carter), and Jack Jedwab, researcher and Executive Director of the Association of Canadian Studies (award presented by Herbert Marx). Thanks go to our Blue Ribbon Panel of judges, which included this year John Parisella, BCP Communications President and Quebec's newly appointed delegate-general to New York City; former McGill Chancellor Gretta Cham- bers; Senator David Angus; and former editor of The Gazette, Norman Webster. We were glad that Mr Parisella and Mr Webster were able to acknowledge the winners with us that night. Throughout the convention and awards banquet, the contributions of English-speaking n September 11th and 12th, 2009, the Quebec to Quebec and Canadian society were celebrat- QCGN held its Members’ Convention and ed by a number of special guests, including provincial Annual General Meeting in conjunction Justice Minister Kathleen Weil, who was there to rep- with the festivities surrounding the 40th an- resent Premier Jean Charest and the government of niversary of the Official Languages Act, which coin- Quebec; Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MP Pierre cided with the launch of the 15th anniversary year of O Lemieux, who was on hand to represent Prime Minis- the Network. ter Stephen Harper and Official Languages Minister The two-day convention was attended by some James Moore; former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, 200 members, community partners and government who spoke on behalf of Michael Ignatieff and the Lib- stakeholders. On hand for the opening ceremony were eral Party; former Commissionner of Official Lan- the Commissioner of Official Languages Graham Fras- guages Maxwell Yalden (1977-1984); and Vice-Chair er; the Honourable Maria Chaput, Chair of the Senate of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Of- Standing Committee on Official Languages; Richard ficial Languages, Yvon Godin. Nadeau, MP for Gatineau and member of the Parlia- mentary Standing Committee on Official Languages; Roseline Joyal is Communications Officer for the Que- Marcel Proulx, MP for Hull-Aylmer; Charlotte bec Community Groups "etwork L’Écuyer, MP for Pontiac and representing Norman MacMillan, Minister responsible for the Outaouais region and MP for Pap- ineau; and Noel Burke, Dean of Con- cordia’s School of Extended Learning. A Premiere! Of course the crown- ing event of the weekend was the QCGN’s Community Celebration Evening and the ceremony to hand out the first-ever Sheila and Victor Gold- bloom Distinguished Community Serv- ice Awards. The evening, emceed by CBC Radio’s Bernard St-Laurent, in- cluded kudos for Dr and Mrs Gold- bloom as well as this year’s laureates of the award: Language activist Casper Bloom (award handed out by Mr. Nicholas Kasirer), Eastern Townships

Above: Herbert Marx, Robert Donnelly and Jack Jedwab. Below: Sheila and Victor Goldbloom 7 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

REVIEW

Of Fishy Beaver and Jos Montferrand A People’s History of Quebec by Jacques Lacoursière and Robin Philpot Baraka Books, 2009 Reviewed by Nick Fonda

People’s History of Quebec by Jacques La- us with an occasional glimpse behind the scenes, with coursière and Robin Philpot is a new book a hint of what life might have been like for Monsieur et from a new, Quebec-based, English lan- Madame Tout le Monde. For the armchair historian, guage publishing house, Baraka Books. the book is salted with little surprises. (Baraka is a word which exists in several languages— For example, how many of us knew that on Carti- noneA of them indigenous but including Hebrew and er’s third trip to Canada in 1541, he was “…second in Arabic—and which has several meanings. It refers to command to Jean-François de La Roque, sieur de a blessing in Hebrew and to spiritual wisdom in Ara- Roberval, and they [brought] hundreds of settlers with bic; in French slang it means luck.) At a trim 208 them, many of whom came straight from prison?” pages (including a tidy timeline of Quebec history and (p.11) In the half dozen pages accorded to him, the sea a useful index) and in a soft cover, it’s the kind of book captain from St. Malo cuts a less heroic figure than that’s easy to carry on a trip and easy to bring to bed. he’s normally accustomed to, and not just because he It’s also a good read which offers lots of room for re- was fooled by fool’s gold. And how things change! flection. Teenage pregnancy has a very specific connotation to- At the book’s official launch at Paragraph Books day, one which is diametrically opposite to that of sev- at the end of September, Jacques Lacoursière referred enteenth-century Quebec when hospitals had the power to the book as an adaptation rather than a translation of to fine fathers “…who failed to marry their male chil- his recently published Une histoire du Québec racontée dren by the age of 20 and their female children by the par Jacques Lacoursière. Perhaps little known to Eng- age of 16.” Nor did parents prolific in the procreation lish readers, Jacques Lacoursière is arguably as close of progeny go unrewarded. Louis XIV of France pro- as any historian has ever come to being a household claimed in 1669 that those “who have up to 10 living name in Quebec. The author of numerous titles (in- children born in wedlock, among whom none was a cluding the five-volume Histoire Populaire du Québec) priest, a nun or in a religious order will be paid…a Lacoursière has also used radio and television to tell pension of 300 pounds a year each, and those who the story of Quebec. have 12 children will receive 400 pounds.” (p.23) “A People’s History is an adaptation,” explains It’s easy to imagine that the most quoted story Robin Philpot. “There were additions made to Une from A People’s History will be that of the classifica- histoire du Québec to make it more accessible to the tion of the beaver. The new settlers, who came in the English reader.” Robin Philpot, besides co-authoring hundreds and then the thousands from France, were all the book, is also the publisher and driving force behind Catholic, as the new colony was closed to both Protes- Baraka Books. The author of titles on both the Rawan- tants and Jews. Religion bound them to abstain from dan genocide and the Oka crisis, Philpot is unusual in eating meat for 140 days of the year. Beavers were that, like Samuel Beckett, he most often writes in his trapped for their fur, but they carried a good deal of ed- adopted language of French, and is consequently better ible flesh, weighing up to 50 pounds and over. known among Francophone bibliophiles than Anglo- The question arose: is the beaver an animal and there- phone readers. All three of the titles he has published fore forbidden on days of abstinence, or is it a fish, in so far under the Baraka banner are translations or adap- which case it can be eaten on any day of the religious tations that bridge our linguistic divide. calendar? As its title suggests, A People’s History offers The question was weighty enough that Laval, the first more than the familiar names and exploits of Cartier Bishop of Quebec, referred it back to the theologians and Champlain, of Duplessis and Parizeau; it provides of the Sorbonne and the doctors of Hotel Dieu in Paris. Image courtesy of Baraka Books 8 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009

“The experts earnestly discussed the issue at length ing of Quebec for the small colony to achieve gender and consulted other illustrious scientists and came equality). His dream was of “a new world as a place down with the conclusion that the beaver was a fish where people of different cultures could live together because of its tail. The decision brought joy to the in amity and concord.” (p.14) colony.” (p.37) This sentiment was shared by Louis XIV of If many names in A People’s History are familiar, France who wanted the colony to “try to civilize the some are much less so, like that of Joseph “Jos” Mont- ferrand, “…who made a name for himself working the Ottawa River Valley and who became an early incarna- tion of Maurice Richard.” (p.87) Unfortunately, squeezing 400 years into 200 pages inevitably leaves casualties on the editing room floor. A People’s Histo- ry says nothing more about Montferrand although he’s as heroic as marvellous a folk hero as you can hope to meet. He was a logger during the era of the English lumber barons, when felled trees supplanted furs as Canada’s major export. He was larger than life: at a boxing exhibition in Montreal’s Champ de Mars, the 6’4” sixteen-year old knocked out the just-crowned boxing champion of Canada. In 1829, on a bridge spanning the Ottawa River between Hull and Bytown, he is supposed to have defeated a crowd of 150 bully- ing Irishmen. Quite recently the Prime Minister of Canada de- clared Quebec to be a distinct society, but who knew that there was something different about Quebec from the very beginning? We read: “Champlain and his mentor François Gravé, sieur du Pont, had a dream of harmony with the peoples he met whom he treated as equals, never doubting their humanity as others did.” (pg 14) Champlain actively promoted intermarriage with the First Nations (although a cynic might point out that it took six and a half decades after the found-

Above: Jos Montferrand’s battle on the Bytown bridge (From B Sulte, Histoire de Jos Montferrand, l’athlete canadien, 1899) Below: Algo- 9 nquin couple, 18thC (image courtesy of City of Montreal Archives) QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

Algonquins, the Hurons and the other Savages who were given lands to settle in Upper Canada, away from have embraced Christianity to prepare them to come to the French settlements in Lower Canada. This separa- live as a community with the French and to live with tion was probably wise because the Loyalists were re- them and according to their customs.” (p.24) As often sentful of the French who, in the century and a half pri- happens, there was a considerable gap between the the- or to the War of Independence, during various Euro- ory and the practice. What the French court imagined pean conflicts, had launched attacks upon them. As was one thing; what was actually happening was an- Loyalists they were coming to Canada to live under the other. A nun stationed in the colony wrote: “It is easier British flag. They were leaving often very well estab- to make a Savage out of a Frenchman than to do the lished homes in order to be English rather than Ameri- opposite.” (p.24) can and certainly not French. Among the big three of the European colonizers, This eighteenth-century animosity, which is still the French were different. Nineteenth-century Ameri- not entirely dissipated, bubbled to the surface on the can historian Francis Parkman wrote: “Spanish civi- eve of World War I when the Orange Order argued that lization crushed the Indian; English civilization “the use of French in public schools in Ontario repre- scorned and neglected him; French civilization em- sented a serous threat to the integrity of the province as braced and cherished him.” (p.25) Another American, an English-speaking community.” (p.137) A few years philosopher Henry David Thoreau, visited Quebec in later, in the Quebec Legislative Assembly, a motion 1850 and noted: “The French, to their credit be it said, was tabled that read: “That this House is of the opinion to a certain extent respected the Indians as a separate that the Province of Quebec would be disposed to ac- and independent people, and spoke of them and con- cept the breakdown of the federal pact of 1867, if, in trasted themselves with them as the English have never the other provinces, it is believe that this province is an done.” (p.25) obstacle to the union, progress and development of It’s a century and a half since Thoreau wrote. Canada.” (p.143) We no longer use the word Indian, let alone Savage. A People’s History begins and ends on precise The term First Nations might assuage our guilt, but the dates: Cartier’s landing on July 24, 1534 and the Ref- illegal cigarette trade, the Oka crisis and the residential erendum of October 30, 1995. Between those two school revelations leave little doubt the descendants of dates, the authors’ account is lively and informative, the original inhabitants are today at the very bottom of brisk and articulate. For some it will no doubt be an our social hierarchy. appetizer, possibly for Lacoursière’s full five-volume The restrictions against Protestants and Jews of set. Of course we’re all curious about what comes seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Quebec did not next, but history has to be sifted through the sieve of survive the Plains of Abraham. Despite prejudices time, or, as Jacques Lacoursière and Robin Philpot against the latter group, it was in Quebec, in 1832, for write, “the history of the referendum and the period the first time in the British Empire, that “persons pro- that followed is still being written.” (p.192) fessing the Jewish religion [became] entitled to all the On the same evening that it launched A People’s rights and privileges of the other subjects.” (p.97) Per- History of Quebec, Baraka Books also launched two haps even more surprising is the story of Ezekiel Hart, other promising titles: America’s Gift: What the World a Jew who in 1807 was elected to the Legislative As- Owes to America and its First Inhabitants by Kathë sembly. His constituents in Three Rivers re-elected Roth and Denis Vaugeois, and William Barr’s transla- him a year later despite the fact that in 1807 he had re- tion of Joseph Elzear Bernier, 1852-1934: Champion fused to take the Christian oath of office and was de- of Canadian Sovereignty by Marjolaine Saint-Pierre. nied the right to sit in the chamber of deputies. Baraka Books will be specializing in creative and po- A People’s History does a good job of exposing litical non-fiction, history and historical fiction and fic- the roots of some of the attitudes that prevail today. tion. If future titles meet the standard set by this first Practicing Catholics declined precipitously in number volume, we can look for- following the Quiet Revolution, but anti-clerical senti- ward to some good read- ments might well be traced back to the time of the con- ing. quest when the clergy reasoned that since all authority New English-lan- stems from God, revolting against a duly established guage publishers in Que- authority was equivalent to revolting against God. bec are rare. That alone Hence, whatever their parishioners may have felt, the would be enough to make clergy stood for the government and during the Patriote me wish baraka—in all uprising in 1837, the Church sided with the British its many meanings—to military. The Church’s most potent weapon was the Baraka Books. threat of withholding sacraments and refusing the fall- en a Christian burial in consecrated ground. Similarly, the tensions between French and Eng- "ick Fonda is the current lish (compounded by the Catholic-Protestant division) president of the Rich- have a lot to do with the arrival of Loyalists after the mond County Historical War of American Independence. Most of the Loyalists Society.

10 Image courtesy of Baraka Books SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009

HERITAGE FOOTBALL Bishop’s Gaiters Celebrate Then and Now by Sue Pilson McGuire he magnetic pull of the Eastern Townships could nowhere be more evi- dent than on the weekend of October 23, 2009, when about 50 TBishop’s University alumni plus their families and friends gathered to celebrate the Gaiters football teams of 1953-54, 1954-55 and 1955-56. The teams were undefeated in their league for the three years except for one game—an unequalled record. Photos of the three teams were unveiled on the university’s RBC Wall of Distinction, located in the J. H. Price Sports Centre, during a cer- emony presided over by Tony Ad- dona, director of athletics. Guest of honour was the beloved coach for all three teams, Gordon “Beef” Ross, now 86 years old and living in Sher- brooke. A dinner for the teams was held on Saturday night by the university, dinner was said by the Rev. Canon manager—or both, and whose throw- and presiding was Eddie Pomykala, a Dave Lethbridge from Combermere, ing arm and football hand were leg- long-time member of the university’s Ontario, who was associated with all endary. In a preface to the grace, he athletic department. Grace before three winning teams as player or lamented the closure some years ago of the divinity faculty, saying that being in the centre of a small univer- sity, its venue had contributed signif- icantly to preparing clergy for com- munity life. Many of the football Gaiters of those years, and their wives, hailed from the Eastern Townships, and re- turning was a nostalgia trip, not only for university days, but for some to where their families and forebears lived. Among the 1950s alumni at- tending who have roots in the Town- ships were Cairine Gilmour, whose late husband William Warren Lynch, from Sherbrooke, was a Gaiters star in the backfield; Sam Poaps, who hailed from Stanstead; John Matthews, whose father was Bishop of Quebec, based in Lennoxville; team manager Ray Ball who was from Granby; Brad Mitchell from Massawippi; Ralph Burt, Bob Burt and Sylvia Burt Smith from Above: Guard Laurie Hart (left), running back John Pratt, and centre Brad Mitchell with his back to the camera (photo: Perry Beaton) Below: Players 11 from the three winningest Gaiters teams on the field at half time, with the newest Gaiters in the background (photo: Perry Beaton) QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

Lennoxville; Alison Perry Edwards who grew up in Drummondville; Nancy Shepard Douglas from Sutton; and Jim Fullerton, who has discov- ered one of his ancestors founded the village of Knowlton. John Pratt, star running back on the teams and now a resident of Hat- ley, served as liaison with the uni- versity; he was the genial and hard- working “face” of the event. He was assisted through numerous emails by Hugh MacDonald, one of the team captains and now a North Bay resi- dent. Among the far-away team members who attended were Andy WW Davis (Powell River, BC), Glyn Edwards (Edmonton), Dick Fletcher (Halifax), John Matthews and Jim Fullerton (Toronto), and Laurie Hart (Markham). Closer to home were To- by Rochester (Montreal & Georgeville), Dave Moore (Ste Catherine de Hatley), and Ian Warnock (Brome). second half, but the wily tactics of The attendance of members of (Bishop’s alumnus and) Gaiters ew scholarships the winningest teams in Bishops’ coach Leroy Blugh in the fourth football history evidently spurred the quarter resulted in his team’s victory The 1954-56 Championship Team current home team to victory on Sat- 21-16. Awards will help annually with re- urday afternoon, October 24. De- cruitment and retention of one or clared earlier in the day to be the Sue Pilson McGuire was Senior La- more outstanding student-athletes “underdogs” by Pat Hickey in The dy, Class of ’58. She lives part-time for the Bishop’s football teams. Gazette, the 2009 Gaiters were pitted in Knowlton. Funds were contributed entirely by against the Université de Montréal’s members of the three 1950s Gaiters Les Carabins. Bishop’s dominated teams, under the stewardship of the first half, with the score 21-0. Glyn Edwards. The Carabins came on strong in the The Rider Family Award will as- sist annually a deserving student- athlete playing football or basket- ball (men or women). It was devel- oped by Tim Rider and family to honour their father John, who was a 3-year member of the winningest Gaiters —as well as the long asso- ciation of the Rider family with Bishop’s: Hamilton Rider (who grew up in Fitch Bay where his family had lived since the 1800s) and his wife Peggy Fuller Rider were both athletes and Bishop’s graduates in the late 1920s. Their children Fred, John and Lillian are all Bishop’s graduates, as is John’s wife Sandra Currie. (Lillian is pres- ident of the Lennoxville-Ascot His- torical Society.)

Above: Beef Ross (age 86) and Hugh MacDonald at the Wall of 12 Distinction (photo: Perry Beaton) Below: Gaiters from the 1950s at the Wall of Distinction (photo: Perry Beaton) SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009

The "Gaiters" Story

n 1947 a competition was sponsored by the Committee on Athletics and The Campus news- paper to find a nickname for theI University's Football team that would fire up the enthusiasm of the fans. The contest was won by George B. McClintock, '49, who originally suggested "Gators" after the alligator which is a "tough and formidable foe when aroused, capable of swift and decisive action in an emergency." Howev- er, by using a play on words, the name spelled "Gaiters" Before there was LCC… seemed more appro- priate for an Anglican dmund Wood, an ambitious 28-year-old An- College. Gaiters were glican deacon arrived in Montreal in late an article of ecclesias- 1858 eager to work among the city’s poor, tical clothing which and was allowed to use the mortuary chapel covered part of the in the middle of the old Protestant Burial Ground, wearer's shoes and Enorth of Lagauchetière Street. His preaching there lower legs. These proved so successful in drawing crowds that in 1860 a were worn by Bishops Deans and Archdeacons as part site was found just to the east of the cemetery on St- of the clerical dress when not robed. Urbain Street for a new church, to be known as St John The official University Badge was presented by the Evangelist. The following year, Wood, now an An- the Governor General together with the Coat of Arms glican priest, opened a school in his home where he in 1993. In the tradition of the heraldic pun, the 'gator taught both boys and girls from the neighbourhood. is wearing his "gaiters". After several moves, “St John’s School” found a per- manent home adjacent to the new, larger St John the Evangelist Church, built 1878 on the corner of St-Ur- bain and Ontario streets. By this time it had become a school for boys, and although the fees were often waived for charitable reasons, it began to advertise it- self as a school for the “sons of gentlemen,” many of whom came from out of town and boarded. The photograph shows the present day church hall, which contains many of the features (notably the win- dows and the columns) found in the 1880s school room. By the early twentieth century the school had outgrown its available space and in 1909 it moved to more extensive quarters in the developing western community of Notre-Dame-de-Grace. In this location it took on a more secular character and was renamed Lower Canada College – which a century later remains one of the city’s most prestigious private schools.

Sources:

Parish of St John the Evangelist, Centenary Book of the Parish of St John the Evangelist, Montreal, 1861-1961. (Montreal: 1961.) Frank Dawson Adams, A History of Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal. (Montreal: Burton’s, 1941.)

Above left: Gaiters’ Badge and Coat of Arms (image courtesy of Bishops University. Above right: Church of St John the Evangelist, 13 Montreal (photo: Rod MacLeod) Below: Jane Fletcher, Class of 2029, with granddad Dick Fletcher (photo: Perry Beaton) QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

DORCHESTER HOUSE Home of a Montreal Family for Over Half a Century by Anne Joseph orchester House was built in relatives. Their maternal grandparents, personal life. In the fullness of time, Ja- the late 1850s to the personal Levy and Rebekah (Franks) Solomons, cob gained prominence as a business- specifications of a Montreal were Montrealers, as was Rebekah’s man, soldier and back-room politician, businessman, Jacob Henry own father, Abraham Franks. Grand- as well as being one of the largest land Joseph, for use as his family home. By mother Rebekah Solomons was still owners in Quebec. 1860,D Jacob and his family were in resi- alive for the births of the first six of her In April 1848, Jacob Henry Joseph dence. Jacob himself died there in 1907, grandchildren through Henry and married Sara Gratz Moses in Philadel- after which his elder son continued to Rachel. There were also a lot of phia, Pennsylvania. The mother figure in live there with his family until 1913, at Solomons and Franks relatives within Sara’s life was her maternal aunt, Rebec- which time the house was torn down to reasonable distance of Berthier, mainly ca Gratz, who had raised her after the accommodate development of the rail- in Montreal, and there is ample evidence death of her mother when Sara was only way into downtown Montreal. of Rachel (Solomons) Joseph keeping in five years old. In the years before his close touch with those of her ten siblings marriage, Jacob had been living at No.8 who lived to maturity. Près-de-Ville with his mother and sib- Jacob Henry Joseph: his back- Being both financially secure and lings. However, when he returned to ground and early life well placed socially, the Joseph family Montreal with his bride, the newly-weds lived in style in a very nice house in needed a home of their own, and while Jacob’s father, Henry, arrived in Berthier. Jacob was about 11 when his they waited for No.7 Près-de-Ville to be Quebec in 1790 as an adventurous father embarked on further expansion of made ready for them, they lived in pri- teenager. He and his two older brothers, his property ownership in the mid 1820s vate apartments in a Montreal Hotel. Judah and Abraham, crossed the Atlantic in Montreal. Henry started to hand over They moved in to No.7 around the time from England at the behest of their more responsibility for the business in their first child was born early in 1849. mother’s brother, Aaron Hart, who had Berthier to his eldest son, Samuel, and As more children arrived and Jacob’s arrived in 1760 and fully recognized the spent more time himself in a home he business enterprises continued to flour- potential for bright young men to make had bought in Montreal on Près-de- ish, they knew it was time to consider interesting and successful lives for them- Ville, Lagauchetière Street. With the ex- more suitable housing. selves in the rapidly developing territo- ception of eldest son, Samuel, the entire ry. Aaron Hart rightly concluded that his family was primarily resident in Montre- nephews would do well. al by 1830. The move to Dorchester House Henry Joseph married Rachel Solomons in 1803, by which time he had Jacob had bought a large tract of established his business and residential An earth-shattering summer: land encompassing most of the district centre in Berthier on the north shore of the family grows up in a hurry bounded on the north by Cathcart, on the the St. Lawrence River about half way east by St Monique, on the south by La- between Montreal and Three Rivers. In June 1832, both Henry Joseph gauchetière, and on the west by Mans- Henry’s brother Judah was already mar- and his eldest son, Samuel, died in the field, with Dorchester intersecting east ried to Catherine Lazare, and his brother cholera epidemic. This, on top of the to west, for a reported £4,800. Thinking Abraham had married Hannah Lipman. earliest deaths of three other older broth- of that in today’s terms is truly mind- All four of them signed Henry and ers – and a sister - of Jacob, meant that boggling. St Monique Street has disap- Rachel’s wedding certificate as witness- this fifth son of his now dead father be- peared, and been replaced – roughly – es. came the eldest surviving son. Just sev- by University Street. Jacob then selec- Jacob was born in Berthier on 14 enteen years old, Jacob declared that tively sold about half of this land to var- September 1814, the eighth child of from then on, he wished to be known as ious people for the Bath Hotel, the This- Henry and Rachel. As the years went by Jacob Henry Joseph. To his family, tle Curling Club and for residential pur- five more children joined the family. though, he remained Jacob. poses. Then, on a huge chunk of the While it is true that the paternal The Joseph siblings grew up in a large plot south of Dorchester, Jacob had grandparents of the Berthier Joseph chil- hurry. Each of the surviving brothers – Dorchester House built for them. (1) (2) dren were in England, and there is no Jacob, Abraham, Jesse and Gershom – (3) record of them ever meeting, this in no became a powerhouse in his chosen In 1860, or possibly a few months way meant that they were lacking local business, professional, philanthropic and earlier in 1859, the family moved into their new home, which was set in beauti- 14 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009

which was used by Kathleen Moore in her sewing room, and then sent back to Philadelphia by Kathleen in 1973. In what they called the little parlour, family portraits filled the wall space. Some are unfamiliar, but included among them are well-known portraits of Solomon Moses and Rachel Gratz Moses, Rebecca Gratz, Miriam Simon Gratz, Joseph Gratz and others. Kathleen Moore remained alert throughout her life, speaking often of Dorchester House and her many rela- tives right up to the time of her death in 1976.

Dorchester House: the end of an era, the end of a home

It is possible to look upon the tim- ing of Jacob Henry Joseph’s death at Dorchester House on 28 February 1907, after the death of his wife in that same home three years earlier on 26 February fully landscaped gardens. By now Jacob three-quarters of it, was secluded behind 1904, as something bordering on lucky. and Sara had two sons, four daughters the house. Scattered throughout were Lucky only insofar as it was soon after and a suitably large household to care many majestic trees, as well as fruit his death that the gigantic real estate for them all. And now there was plenty trees, including apple, pear and plum. deal that culminated in the destruction of of room for the animals, both cats and But that was not all. There was a vinery, his beloved home took place. dogs. The irregularly shaped house a vegetable garden with every known There were probably rumbles in the stood, for the most part, three stories and many then unknown vegetables, a grapevine before the news got out, par- high over a basement, with a wing two paddock for a cow, a tennis court and ticularly among those well-placed in the stories high jutting out westward. Set plenty of flowers to pick and to give business and social communities. And back from Dorchester Street, the front away. And one of Kathleen’s aunts, Car- remembering that both of Jacob’s sons garden was bordered by a grilled iron rie Serra, remembered riding on the were well-entrenched in the real estate fence set in stone, with two impressive wagons when the hay was cut in their business community, they must have stone pillars on either side of the front fields. There were croquet parties in the caught a sense of what was to follow. By gates. early years, and then tennis, all of which 1911, the Canadian Northern Railway The elegant grounds must have made this garden a most enjoyable place was planning to bring its tracks into the been a joy for the family, and their love in which to spend summer. very heart of the city. The idea was to of animals is further emphasized by their Kathleen remembered that pet cemetery sheltered amidst shrubs Sara called her husband Harry, and small bushes. and that he was generally known Kathleen Moore, daughter of Henry in public as JH Joseph. Nonethe- Bennett and Matilda (Joseph) Moore, less, his original name of Jacob was Jacob and Sara’s granddaughter. also remained in use throughout Kathleen was just 29 days old when her his life. mother died in 1886, and her father, al- Interior photographs of though he remained an integral part of Dorchester House show the kind her life, felt it would be better for her to of cluttered furnishings that were be raised in her grandparents’ home. typical of the era. There are And so it happened that Dorchester some obviously magnificent House became Kathleen’s home for the pieces of furniture, a lot of them first 27 years of her life. In her own from the Gratz family and some words, she described some fine trees and probably from the Moses family. two flower beds close to the house that After the family moved out, could be seen from Dorchester Street much of the furniture went with through the railings. them, including Rebecca Gratz’s But most of the garden, more than wardrobe from Philadelphia

Above: Section of Charles Goad’s 1880 Atlas of Montreal. Below: 15 Dorchester House hole in the ground (image courtesy of Anne Joseph) QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

at 115,385 square feet. right of payments at any time the whole The uncertainty sur- balance of price or any portion, not less rounding this estimate is than in sums of $25,000.00, as given the that the reports do not vendor at least 30 days previous notice specify how the value of in writing with interest on the said bal- the house entered the ance at 5 ½ pc per annum – payable half picture. Remember, the yearly.” house itself was sched- The family moved out of Dorch- uled for demolition. (3) ester House in 1913. It is worth thinking (4) about whether Henry Joseph would have A handwritten note been, on some level, content to sell. The headed “True copy - Sale bustle of the city around Dorchester Dorchester St. Property” House in 1911 was vastly different from reads: the relatively serene atmosphere of half “Price $300,000.00 a century earlier, and moving to an ele- on account of which gant house further up the mountain may $50,000.00 has been have held quite an appeal. But these paid. The balance of comments are speculative. $25,000.00 (hole in pa- A postscript to this story is that the bring railway tracks into Montreal from per) to be paid as fol- grandiose plans of the Canadian North- the north, through a tunnel under Mount lows. $25,000.00 July 8th 1912, ern sank into insolvency. In time the Royal, emerging into a terminal at the $25,000.00 March 8th 1913. Balance railroad company disappeared into heart of the downtown district. The plan $200,000.00 within five years, with the Canadian National Railways. The site was feasible from an engineering view- point, but acquisition of the necessary properties was another matter. Explosion of news of the venture would lead to a comparable explosion of costs. Property prices would skyrocket. The acquisition of land north of Mount Royal was completed before the developers turned their attention to the matter of buying property in the heart of the city. Initially the plan was to buy the block just north of Ste Catherine Street, but news leaked out with the inevitable result that speculators drove property prices sky high. This glitch led the planners at the Canadian Northern Railway to turn their attention towards another site extending southward from Cathcart Street down to Lagauchetière Street between Mansfield and St Monique Streets. A number of re- al estate agents had been handed the task of buying up the requisite property, without being told either who their client really was or why the acquisition was desired. The first big deal was the Joseph property, Dorchester House, by then the home of Jacob’s elder son, Henry. He sold the property to the Mackenzie and Mann syndicate. There are two reports of the selling price, one at $2.60 per square foot, and another at a total of $300,000. Melding these two reports, and assuming they are both accurate, would put the size of the plot – maybe -

16 Dorchester House (image courtesy of Anne Joseph). SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009

filled with a variety of volunteer proj- ects, and for the last dozen or so years Two of the Josephs’ neighbours on most of her spare time has been fo- Belmont Street cused on researching and writing about the earliest Canadian Jewish elair Villa was the home of John families who arrived in Quebec in the Easton Mills, his wife Hannah Ly- 18th and 19th centuries. man, and their many children – at least, until things began to go wrong. At the beginning of May, 1841, sons Sources: BGeorge (5 years old), Edwin (nearly 3), and Albert (10 months) contracted scarlet fever and died within a week. Five years later 1. Borthwick, Rev. J. Douglas, Mills, a banker, was elected Mayor of Mon- LL.D., History and Biographical treal on a reformist ticket, and within months Gazetteer of Montreal to the Year his populist sympathies were put to the test 1892. Montreal: John Lovell & Son, as ships began to arrive crowded with immi- 1892. grants suffering from typhus. Mills set up 2. Goad, Chas. E., Atlas of the relief camps in Point St-Charles, protected City of Montreal from Special Survey the sufferers from hysterical mobs, and – an and Official Plans showing all build- action that must surely have been influenced known locally as “the big hole” re- ings and names of owners. Montreal, by the recent loss of three children to disease mained throughout the Depression, 1881. – rolled up his sleeves and nursed the sick. crossed by the Dorchester Street 3. Montreal Star, 11 November Before the end of the year, the “martyr may- bridge. Decades passed before a revi- 1911. or” was dead of “ship fever.” Hannah’s two sion of the initial project took shape. 4. Collard, Edgar Andrew. Mon- elder daughters married and moved away, Work on the Central Station complex treal Yesterdays. Toronto: Longman’s but she continued to live in Belair Villa until began in 1943, and in time the Queen Canada, 1962. the late 1860s when the estate was subdivid- Elizabeth Hotel was added in 1958, 5. Montreal Star. 8 October ed and both Ada and Alice found husbands – and the central building of Place Ville 1977. Marie was first occupied in 1961. (4) both gentlemen being Redpaths. Hannah went to live her last years with Alice in Eng- (5) Plus general, ongoing sources: land. Ada, who married John James Red- Joseph, Anne. Data binders of pa- path, was murdered in a bizarre double Anne Joseph was born in England in pers of family interest culled from shooting, never properly explained, in 1901. 1935, arrived in Montreal in February family members, libraries and Belair Villa was acquired by potash inspec- 1959, settled here and married William archives. tor Edwin Atwater, and was eventually K. Joseph, a 7th generation Quebecer, Joseph, Anne. Heritage of a Patri- bought by lawyer HO Andrews who donated in 1974. Her 30-year working life al- arch. 1995. Quebec: Editions du it to the Anglican Diocese as the Andrews ways seemed to include research and Septentrion. writing. Retirement years have been Home for destitute immigrants. The Normal School just east of Belair Villa had been built in 1846 as the High School of Montreal, but within a few years the school was taken over by McGill Col- lege and was relocated further up the hill (to a building some may remember as the origi- nal home of the Fraser Institute Library). When McGill established Normal School in 1856, the abandoned school on Belmont Street was an obvious place to install it. For half a century, the McGill Normal School operated out of the Belmont Street building until the new Macdonald College campus provided more feasible facilities for the training of teachers. Montreal’s Protestant school board leased the building in 1907 and opened Belmont School, which served the inner city non-Catholic population until it was closed in 1932.

Above: John Easton Mills (image: Ville de Montreal archives, VM6, S10, 17 DO26.5). Below: McGill Normal School on Belmont Street (image: BNQ, Mas- sicotte collection) QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

QUEBEC FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Quebec’s Anglophone Genealogy Society, Part Two:Heritage Centre by Robert Dunn ur Heritage Centre is bec non-Catholic churches and synagogues, some where researchers Montreal Irish Catholic parishes and the 1851 Canadi- have at their disposal an census are available to view. Scanning and printing virtually all the tools of records is possible. Similarly, microfiche of early necessary for finding answers to IGI records, British BMD records, Quebec Loiselle whoO your ancestors were, where records and many others are available. they lived and worked, where they came from and when they ar- Computer Resources rived in Canada . The internet is now one of the most powerful tools Our Heritage Centre is locat- used by genealogists. QFHS subscribes to many web- ed at 173 Cartier Avenue, Pointe Claire, Quebec. sites and we have access to several billion records. Re- sources in Ireland, Scotland, England, and the United Library Resources States are accessible. We have four computers with ac- Our library contains over 8000 titles. The titles are cess to Ancestry. searchable on our library catalogue computer. Subjects We also have many CD collections including Irish include Personal Family Histories, Quebec History, wills index, Canadian built ships, English burial index, Military History, English, Scottish and Irish Resources. Newfoundland records, British 1851 and 1881 census, We also have a large collection of United Empire Loy- and LDS IGI records. Interestingly, the CD version of alist books, several special library collections and a IGI has millions of records not available on the LDS large collection of maps, cemetery headstone transcrip- website. tions and periodicals published by other genealogy so- Come and see us or visit our website. Guests are cieties in the US, England, Scotland and Ireland. always welcome We have collections dealing with Native Quebecers and Huguenots. Robert Dunn is an active member of the Quebec Fami- ly History Society, manages the QFHS bookstore, has Special Collections written or co-authored several church repertoires and Over the years QFHS has been the beneficiary or is part of the team working to make all QFHS databas- several very interesting collections. Of note is the es available on the QFHS website. David McDougal collection of ships, shipbuilding and people of the Atlantic Provinces, particularly the Quebec Family History Society Gaspé, involved in the ship building industry, or ship 173 Cartier Avenue transportation in the 19th century. Pointe Claire, Quebec The Norma Lee collection has everything you www.qfhs.ca want to know about the history of Quebec City concen- 514-695-1502 trating on people and building. There is interesting in- email: [email protected] formation about the people and architecture of Quebec hospitals, public buildings and private homes, and in- cludes building plans, permits, and notary records. Be prepared to spend a lot of time looking through a huge amount of very interesting information in the two spe- cial collections.

Maps We have a very good collection of maps of early Quebec up to modern day as well as maps of the Unit- ed States, England, Ireland and Scotland, identifying parishes.

Microfilm and Microfiche Resources Microfilms of a large number of registers for Que-

18 The Heritage Centre (photo: Derek Hopkins) SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009

OF REDCAOTS AND PATRIOTES History’s role players plot rebellions replay by Tyler Wood t first glance they appear to come alive, to share a visceral apprecia- discussed openly because most people be like any other large group tion of what life was like for our ances- think they already know what happened. in the trendy brewpub, enjoy- tors. Unconsciously, they are afraid that, in ing each other’s company Yet, in Quebec, re-enacting is virtu- taking a serious look at our past, they one evening in Old Montreal. Except ally unknown, and is often grouped in might find out they are wrong in their they’reA taking notes, and they seem less with LARPing (Live-Action Role-Play- beliefs. When a commemoration threat- interested in the beer and grub than with ing). In L’age des ténèbres, Denys Ar- ens to disrupt the rhetorical cease-fire, to the balmoral one of them has started cand’s 2007 film, the protagonist finds promote remembrance and debate, and passing around. Then another member escape in a world of fantasy, where one perhaps to encourage a meeting of whips out a 19th century drill manual can pretend to be a troll or a knight. minds, then the tension smouldering for and then the pieces come together. These Even when a film grasps the fundamen- years can flare up, unleashing a stagger- seemingly normal people are part of that tal difference between the two pastimes ing diversity of passionate opinion. strange breed: the Thus, during the historical re-enactor. Plains debates early It is a tough in 2009, when a re- time to be a re-enac- enactment was at- tor in Québec. Last tached to what some January, threats of in the media inter- violence derailed preted as a federally plans to commemo- organized “celebra- rate the 250th an- tion” of the English niversary of the Bat- triumphing of the tle of the Plains of French, people were Abraham in Quebec uneasy and distrust- City, the centrepiece ful of the plans, and, of which was a re- at best, confused creation of the battle about the partici- itself. For re-enac- pants’ motivations. tors, some of whom Some newspaper had spent years or- columnists made ganising the event, half-informed as- this negative reac- sumptions about the tion was baffling. hobby, comparing In recent years, them, in one case, to scores of new drag queens. The po- books, museum exhibits and even – a serious regard for historical authen- litically radical promised to forcefully movies have all cropped up, taking ad- ticity – re-enactors come across as dan- disrupt the event. It was cancelled, la- vantage of a renewed interest in the gerously delusional about what century belled a bad idea, and soon the whole 250th anniversary of the Seven Years’ they live in: Demain dès l’aube, a 2009 notion of re-enacting seemed equally as War. Some re-enactment groups note French film, portrays re-enactors as se- foolish. that curious history buffs are joining cretive about their double lives, ready to their ranks in unprecedented numbers. In fight real duels over matters of honour. ack in Old Montreal, as the the United States, other commemorative In the media, re-enactment’s role in pub- men and women chat about battles of the Seven Years’ War have lic education is completely disregarded. uniforms and battles, it be- been held to the enjoyment of fascinated At the same time, the Seven Years’ comes clear that they aren’t crowds. These enthusiasts often seem War takes on more significance here. new to the hobby. They have all been ac- too serious about history and warfare to Jacques Godbout’s 1996 faux-documen- Btive for years, most with experience in want to make light of it, too politically tary Le sort de l’Amérique raises an in- more than one era. They all were sad- heterogeneous to want to convey any teresting paradox: in Quebec, “the Con- dened by the cancellation of the Plains partisan interpretation of it. If they have quest” – what many consider to be the event, and worry about the public per- one common goal, it is to make history linchpin in our collective history – isn’t ception of re-enactment in Quebec. But

The first “re-enactment” of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham: Benjamin 19 West, “Death of General Wolfe,” 1770 (National Gallery of Canada) QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS while others hesitate to organise new men around the table reads a diary that events here, the resolve of this group has notes their tuques were usually blue, not not waned. In fact, if anything, they are the red one tends to see in later images. more committed to their hobby than The excitement is palpable. And yet, ever, more convinced of the need for there is a moment of caution: “We have Hometown public education. Undeterred, they now to be prepared for the public reaction. talk of portraying an even more unset- And we can’t spout gibberish,” one of tling chapter of our past: the Rebellions the leaders states. There is agreement; Heritage of 1837-38. more than a year will go by before any If the Conquest is an uncomfortable activities are organised for the public. subject, then the rebellions are nearly This gives the party time to research, to Student taboo. While Victoria Day is celebrated be sure of what, and whom, they are in Quebec as Journée nationale des pa- portraying. There are those at the meet- triotes since 2003, only the most radical ing who will be donning the redcoat of Writing seem comfortable waving the green, the 24th Regiment, while others are pas- white and red flag of that 19th century sionately committed to the Patriote side. political party. There still is an uncom- The division loosely reflects the mem- Contest fortable dissonance here over the mean- bers’ modern political leanings, so even What’s ing of it all. While museums and gov- among friends, differences in their inter- ernments like to gloss over the exact pretations of events could create friction. your story? events of 1837-38, emphasising the im- One member suggests creating a pam- The Quebec portance of the Patriotes in fighting for phlet, to be eventually distributed to the democratic ideals like responsible gov- public, stating why they are re-enacting Anglophone Heritage ernment, few delve into the dirty details the period. That way, before the group Network is offering of what essentially was a civil war. Un- tries to bring a sober, even-handed view like the Seven Years’ War, which had its of the conflict to others, they will have Elementary students cash share of cruelty and destruction, the ene- at least settled one potentially con- prizes for true stories from mies weren’t just an unwelcome imperi- tentious issue among themselves. The local history. al power; they lived next door, and were motion is approved. The meeting is ad- often blood relations. This was a conflict journed and the members head back to between social classes, motivated large- their homes across the province. ly by political self-interest and providing These are only the beginnings of a For complete contest an excuse to settle long-standing new re-enactment group, and the partici- details, visit our grudges. It was a war of libel, of street pants are still wary of creating a prema- website, brawls between gangs of Tories and Re- ture stir, so they wish to remain anony- formers, of partisan bands intimidating mous. Still, a sympathetic observer can- www.qahn.org families and burning down villages. not help admire their ambition, willing and click on News While the Conquest can sometimes be to spend thousands of dollars and hours viewed as an outcome of superpowers to potentially get heckled by crowds. vying for empire, one cannot as easily During the meeting, the man who sug- First prize $150. dissociate what happened in St Denis gested the pamphlet notes that many of Second prize $100 and St Eustache from the individual ac- the Patriote leaders, including Wolfred tions of our ancestors. It is, in a word, Nelson, had their headquarters only a Third prize $50 messy. few buildings away. “What would they Send your entries to: And yet this is part of the appeal for think of us here tonight, a bunch of their this band of re-enactors, gathered at the descendants, organising a group to re- pub; here is an important, neglected and enact their deeds?” Separated by 170- Quebec Anglophone misunderstood chapter of our heritage, odd years, the circumstances surround- Heritage Network too often co-opted for political argu- ing historic combatants and their con- 400-257 Queen ments, begging to be brought once more temporary interpreters stand in sharp to life, to encourage new understanding. contrast to each other. And yet, it seems, Street, Academics have done incredibly little the re-enactors, too, are bound to strug- Lennoxville, Quebec analysing of the Rebellions (the most re- gle for what they believe in. cent English books on the topic are more J1M 1K7 than twenty years old), and many pri- Tyler Wood is a recent graduate from mary sources have never seriously been Queen's University's School of Urban looked at, but the challenge of research- and Regional Planning. He is passionate Deadline for ing in a vacuum is part of the fun. Try- about heritage preservation and has submissions is ing to figure out what the Patriotes wore been a historical re-enactor for more April 30, 2010 is already yielding new finds. One of the than ten years.

20 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009

GATINEAU PRISON HOLDS SECRETS New insight into internment by Michael Martin he provincial prison in Gatineau on St- immigrants from Europe were many radical anarcho- François Street in the Val-Tétreau neighbour- syndicalists who did not appreciate the oppressive con- hood hides a story unknown to most, includ- ditions and racism in Canada. In 1914, in reaction to ing historians in the region. The prison served their militancy, the Borden government adopted the as an internment camp during World War II for Canadi- War Measures Act (the same one used by Pierre Tan communists and German POWs. Trudeau during the FLQ crisis in Quebec in 1970) to Constructed in 1938 by the first Duplessis govern- install social discipline among workers. The legislation ment, the original Hull prison was a white elephant became extremely useful to the government after the that didn't meet provincial standards. In 1941, howev- Russian Revolution of 1917. er, the federal government asked Quebec if it could use A severe recession occurred early in the 1920s, the prison. Since March 1938, the Liberal government during which a small communist party formed called of Mackenzie King had developed internal security the Workers' Party of Canada. It was eventually re- measures called “Regulations for the Defence of Cana- named the Communist Party of Canada and was at da” in anticipation of the brewing world conflict. once recognized by Moscow. During the depression of There was, however, a pecu- the 1930s, the Party grew in liarity: these measures were strength, partly owing to the aimed at controlling Cana- severe social repression or- da's communists. At the be- ganized by Canadian Prime ginning of the war, Canadian Minister R.B. Bennettt – communists opposed Cana- who was the former owner da's participation, arguing of the EB Eddy Company in that it was an imperialist war Hull. During the 1930s, the similar in nature to World government arrested about War I. This stance provided a 10,000 workers and deported convenient cover for intern- another 30,000 to Europe at ing leaders of the Canadian a time when the Party had, at left in Kananaskis, Alberta, most, 5000 members in all near Banff, and in Petawawa, of Canada. The Bennet re- Ontario, in the Ottawa Valley. After the prisoners re- pression backfired as support for the Party increased, volted in Petawawa, they were transferred to the Hull also owing to the growing threat of fascism in Canada prison on August 20, 1941, where 89 communists, and elsewhere. sympathizers, and trade unionists were held for fifteen The Gatineau internees did win their freedom after months. a broad national campaign which had the effect, once In June of 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet again, of increasing support for the communists, espe- Union, and Canadian communists began wholehearted- cially in English-speaking Canada. The whole episode ly to support the war effort. The Hull prisoners were provoked considerable class division but also national not released, however, making Canada the only allied division, as the French-Canadian ruling class in Que- country to pursue a policy of repressing communists – bec insisted that the communists be repressed. This a policy in effect in the fascist countries against whom took place at the same time that about 180,000 young Canada was at war. French-Canadians from across Canada volunteered to Why were these people interned? In spite of offi- fight the forces of fascism during WWII. cial explanations at the time for the internment, in ac- tuality communists were imprisoned because they pre- German POWs sented a real danger to the capitalist system and the ven as the Canadians were being freed from Canadian ruling class. Nor was this a new policy; the Hull prison, a new type of prisoner entered. practice had started at the end of the 19th century dur- Canada played the role of jailer for Great ing the period of the great European immigration to Britain during WWII. The British did not Canada, immigration encouraged as part of the Nation- want to maintain all the Axis prisoners it held at home al Policy of development espoused by Macdonald and Esince it would have presented security risks, and would later confirmed by the Laurier Liberals. Among the have demanded a considerable expenditure of man- Jewish, Ukrainian, Finnish, German, Russian and other power. In total, including Canada's own POWs, The door of the Montreal communist newspaper La Clarté, pad- locked under the Duplessis government’s infamous law. (Biblio- 21 thèque Nationale du Québec, P48 S1, P1536) QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

34,000 men were held captive in Canada, among them to farmers in the Outaouais and in Carleton County in the 300 assigned to the Gatineau prison – by then Ontario, south of Ottawa, and only report to the prison known as camp '32' or 'H'. for medical or administrative purposes. This farming Many of the German POWs in Gatineau were out of prisoners was done over the objections of the themselves leftists, communists or trade unionists. RCMP, who were still fighting communists in spite of The Canadian army used a simple system to organize the change in the war. and observe prisoners, who were interrogated and clas- Working conditions on the farms were often diffi- sified according to their political views. “Black” pris- cult, as farmers extracted their pound of flesh from the oners were Nazis or Nazi sympathizers. “Grey” prison- prisoners. There were many racist incidents and in- ers were neutral, soldiers or sailors simply doing their juries among the German POWs, who were often city patriotic duty. “White” prisoners supported the Allied people not used to the hard work on a farm. Hardly cause. surprisingly, there were about 20 escapes from these These prisoners renounced the support of the farms. Normally, the POWs would report to the prison 'protecting' power, Switzerland, which supervised the or would be quickly captured; however, in five cases Allies’ treatment of Axis prisoners. (Portugal played a the records are incomplete, and we can't say for certain similar role vis-à-vis Allied prisoners held by the Axis that the POWs were recaptured. Might they have es- powers.) caped to melt away into the country? Or are there sim- After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, ply holes in the records? The answer is not clear. tensions grew between “white” and “black” POWs. The former asked for the protection of Canadian au- Michael Martin is a freelance journalist and historian thorities, and even agreed to work for the Allied cause. in Gatineau. His book about the Gatineau internment, So, as the Canadian leftists were being freed, German The Red Patch, is available free-of-charge at his web- “white” prisoners were transferred to Gatineau, where site: http://web.ncf.ca/fn871/. only 100 inmates could sleep. The rest were assigned

MILESTONES Wallace Lambert (1922-2009) Father of French Immersion passes away at 86 by Kevin Erskine-Henry allace Lambert was one of Canada's qui- "He was really ahead of his time. These were real- et heroes. The former McGill University ly landmark studies. People still cite them all the time," Psychology professor died 23 August said Fred Genesee, a McGill psychologist mentored by 2009 at St Mary's Hospital in Montreal, Lambert in the 1970s. Lambert later consulted on of compli-cations from pneumonia. He was 86. Mo¬hawk, Cree, Hebrew and Spanish immersion pro- WWalter Lambert was known grams in Canada and the Unit- as the Father of second-lan- ed States, beginning a process guage immersion instruction. that would see the "Canadian In 1965, Wallace Lambert model" of immersion school- helped a group of parents dis- ing exported to places like satisfied with their kids' French Japan and Estonia. instruction at a South Shore ele- The French immersion mentary school in St Lambert program that had its roots on launch the first French immer- Montreal’s South Shore at St sion program in Canada. Over Lambert Elementary is now thirty years later, French im- taught in schools across Cana- mersion is the most popular ed- da and around the world. As ucational program in English the father of second-language schools across Quebec. immersion, Wallace Lambert’s Lambert's groundbreaking gentle influence changed the studies on identity and language fuelled the wave of re- lives of countless young people and shaped the bilin- forms that took place during the Quiet Revolution in gual Canada we know today. Quebec and, under Former Prime Minister Pierre Merci and Thank You, Wallace Lambert! Trudeau, lead to the passing of the Official Languages Act and the institution of French immersion programs Kevin Erskine-Henry is chair of the South Shore Com- in every province and territory in Canada. munity Partners "etwork

Wallace Lambert (photo courtesy of the 22 Canadian Psychological Association) SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009

Muriel Duckworth (1908-2009) and the Outremont School Question An overlooked moment in the history of human rights in Quebec by Rod MacLeod uriel Duckworth, who died on August 22, 2009, bec Federation of Home and School Associations in at the age of one hundred, is well-known 1944 and became active in its leadership. Because of nationally and internationally as a crusader her background in education and religious issues she for peace and women’s rights. Despite was asked to chair a special QFHSA committee struck having spent most of her career in Nova Scotia, she in May 1946 to inquire into the so-called Outremont Mhailed from the Eastern Townships (Austin) and re- School Question. turned there at the end of her life. One of her most inter- A controversy had arisen within the Montreal mu- esting accomplishments, which has unfortunately gone nicipality of Outremont over the decision by its Protes- under the radar of accounts of her life, is to have spear- tant board of School Trustees to cease accepting Jewish headed a critique of the inherent students from outside the munici- injustices of Quebec’s educational pality, or at the very least to segre- system, which provided no place gate them into a separate school. for religious minorities. Duck- As a result of an agreement signed worth’s activism in the years im- before the war – Montreal’s mediately following World War II Protestant board had signed a sim- helped set the tone for the fledg- ilar agreement – a large number of ling Quebec Federation of Home Jewish families from the upper and School Associations’ long- part of The Main sent their chil- standing commitment to human dren to nearby Outremont’s three rights. Protestant elementary schools and Duckworth (nee Muriel Ball) the secondary Strathcona Acade- received a BA and a teaching my. Strapped for cash in the last diploma at McGill University in years of the war, however, the 1929, followed by a year at the Outremont trustees felt they could Union Theological Seminary in no longer afford to accommodate New York City with her husband “outsiders” – non-property owners Jack Duckworth, who was train- who paid no school taxes. Trustees ing to be a United Church minis- also expressed concern that the ter. “Christian” character of Protestant The couple settled in Montreal education was suffering in the and became involved in the Stu- midst of so many students of a dif- dent Christian Movement, an or- ferent faith. ganization dedicated to the Social Gospel and the more Their decision left Jewish parents outraged and humanitarian and activist aspects of the Christian mes- their children distressed. One parent declared that the sage; in the 1930s there was much overlap with the trustees’ action was reprehensible in the light of “the fledgling League for Social Reconstruction and the new present conflict” (the war). Another, a woman whose left-wing political party, the Co-operative Common- husband was fighting overseas, asked the Board what wealth Federation (whose successor, the NDP, would they would suggest she say to her daughter when the later have Muriel Duckworth as a candidate). Although teacher informed her she and the other Jewish children an overtly Protestant group, the SCM believed in cross- would not be able to return the following September. ing religious boundaries for the sake of philosophical in- The trustees believed they were acting in the best inter- quiry and improving social justice, and worked particu- ests of Outremont’s Protestant parents and pupils who larly with Jewish groups to overcome anti-semitism at shared their “displeasure” at the great numbers of Jews McGill and elsewhere. in their schools. However, a great number of parents The Duckworths raised three children in Notre- felt no such concern and decided the appropriate course Dame-de-Grace and Muriel became active in the Home of action was to form a Home and School association. and School association at Kensington School. Muriel The new Outremont association, composed of both took an interest in the formation of the provincial Que- Protestant and Jewish parents, sought the help of the

Muriel Duckworth (photo: Janet Munson) 23 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

QFHSA to resolve the issue. subsequently a newspaper article appeared alleging that Muriel Duckworth and her committee, also made the Report’s insistence on democracy and equality con- up of both Jews and Protestants, set out to review the ed- stituted a form of communist infiltration of the Home ucation laws, examine the terms of the agreements be- and School movement. It seemed obvious to many that tween the trustees and the Jewish community, assess the Union Nationale government, which was not in the public opinion, and consider the potential costs of the slightest degree interested in school reform, resented the Outremont situation both to the community and to the committee’s somewhat radical stance and was taking a psychological well-being of its children. In this they re- kind of revenge by calling for police screening of ceived no help from the trustees, who argued that the prospective candidates for executive office within the matter was a local one and that the Federation had no Federation. Although some argued that the call should business interfering. be heeded, the prevailing view was that the govern- Duckworth presented the committee's findings to ment’s tactics were reprehensible: “If we have to accept the QFHSA directors in March 1947. While it did not a screening as to our thoughts, our politics, our morals, outright accuse the trustees of anti-semitism, the Report our attitudes,” one member argued, “we are defeating argued that their actions were inconsistent with the post- one of the main purposes of Home & School.” war world and its climate of cooperation and breaking Later in 1947 Muriel Duckworth moved to Halifax down old prejudices. The Report was especially critical where her husband had been appointed executive direc- of the religious segregation that was going on within tor of the city's YMCA. Muriel became an advisor to Outremont Protestant schools, a policy implemented the provincial Department of Education, a founding with the excuse that the Protestant children’s work member of the local branch of the Canadian Mental would otherwise be interrupted because of Jewish holi- Health Association (an issue that had been of great con- days. Duckworth had interviewed teachers who felt the cern to the QFHSA), and by 1954 President of the Nova trustees' argument was entirely unjus- Scotia Federation of Home and tified, especially in a world that had School Associations. By the end seen the kind of horror the war had of the decade she was one of the provoked. At least 80% of Out- founders of the Voice of Women remont’s Protestant parents shared in Halifax and became a tireless this view, and had no fear their champion of women's rights for schools were losing their “Christian” the rest of her long life. Equally character. Moreover, two leading crucial was her commitment to Protestant ministers assured Duck- peace, which sprang naturally worth that moral and religious educa- from her belief in religious toler- tion, including Bible study, could be ance and the Student Christian taught to both Protestant and Jewish Movement's dedication to paci- pupils by both Protestant and Jewish fism. Many of these values were teachers in a way that was mutually shared by the QFHSA, which be- beneficial. The QFHSA report called came an advocate for peace, toler- for the immediate admission of Jew- ance, and an end to ethnic divi- ish students into regular classrooms, sions. An organization whose but in the longer term sweeping re- rank and file – and eventually forms were necessary to the school whose management – was com- board structure: trustees, they argued, posed principally of women, the should be elected by universal adult Home and School movement fol- franchise rather than by property holders of one faith, lowed in the remarkable footsteps of Muriel Duckworth. and that the concept of “Protestant” education should be broadened to make it suitable to all denominations. Rod MacLeod is co-author of Meeting of the People: Faced with this evidence and a rising tide of opposition School Boards and Protestant Communities in Quebec, from within the wider Anglo-Protestant community – 1801-1998 (McGill-Queen’s Press, 2004) the Canadian Legion even stepped in to criticize the board’s actions – the trustees finally acquiesced in the Sources: summer of 1947 and agreed to sign a 5-year contract Marion Douglas Kerans, Muriel Duckworth: A Very with the Jewish community allowing its children into Active Pacifist (Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 1996): Outremont schools. 185. The wide circulation of the Outremont School com- QFHSA Archives: Minutes, Outremont Report mittee’s Report caused much embarrassment to the Out- EMSBA, Minute Books of the Outremont School remont trustees and was a particular source of annoy- Trustees ance for the provincial government. On one rather sinis- Harold Ross, The Jew in the Educational System of ter occasion the Report’s impact came back to haunt the the Province of Quebec. M.A. Thesis, McGill Universi- committee. In May 1947, Muriel Duckworth was nomi- ty, 1947. nated as Executive Vice-President of the QFHSA, and

24 Poster, 1978 (image: Quebec Federation of Home and School News) SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009

Hindsight MY REVOLUTIONARY ROAD TO BOUILLABAISSE by Rod MacLeod

finally got around to renting the Grade Nine at Montreal West High My mother and a handful of co-workers DVD of Revolutionary Road, the had been a so-so year, and the prospect (all women, a couple of whom I still see belated cinematic take on Richard of two more long so-so years before on occasion though they are close to Yates’ seminal 1961 novel high- anything new would happen was not ex- ninety) were determined to bring this lighting post-war suburban conformity. hilarating. I had spent a great deal of guy down. Unfortunately, efforts to I thought the film was brilliant on many time failing to get up the nerve to ask blow the whistle came to naught. Ac- levels, though probably least so as a out the older girl who played the tuba cording to one of their contacts, the di- searing indictment of said suburbs, a with me at the back of the band. Over rector was a political appointee and had theme that is by now pretty old hat. the months we had worked out a some- friends high up in the provincial Liberal What struck me most was the film’s what zany banter, as two people will do party – a claim that seemed to be borne presentation of the tremendous yearning who are forced to sit side by side for out by the reluctance of any government that ordinary people have to become long periods with large pieces of plumb- person they approached to listen to something exciting, preferably in an in- ing in their laps, but it was platonic. My them. Finally, my mother and one of her spiring locale (in the case of Kate & efforts to put a double meaning into con- colleagues arranged a meeting with The Leo, it was Paris), before the rocking versations about valves and em- Enemy: the Parti Québecois House chair gets them. At the same time, it bouchures came to predictable naught. Leader, Robert Burns. This meeting shows the deadening pull that rocking The summer promised the Olympics proved to be one of my mother’s great chair has on all of us. and my first real job – Day Camp coun- triumphs in life – even simply that it It took me back to a moment in my cillor, of course. One morning of “train- happened at all, that this man agreed to own life when my family found itself ing” and then the full charge of a dozen meet with two unilingual Anglo ladies, flirting with the kind of project the cou- eight-year-olds who wanted to hurl balls listened to them, and promised to do ple in the film flirted with – with much when it was time for arts & crafts and what he could. As they parted, Burns happier results. And yes, this is one of dig in the ground when it was time to try made sure he had my mother’s name those coming-of-age stories, but before out the fun games that all children love, down correctly: “MacLeod.” “It’s Scot- your eyes glaze over let me emphasize according to the library book I’d taken tish,” she coyly added to this souver- that it contains political corruption, sex- out on the subject. Nearly as disillusion- eigniste. “Just like yours!” ual harassment and French cuisine. ing were the promises made by our Some months later, after a famous Much of this I didn’t understand at the politicians regarding the profits to be change of government, the clinic direc- time, but looking back from a third of a made from holding the Games. My fa- tor was transferred to somewhere in the century on I recognize a watershed. ther bought tickets to two events, which United States. My mother became a de- The summer of 1976 was one of proved disappointing. We missed the voted PQ supporter for at least a decade, discontent in a lot of places, but espe- Rowing on Ile Notre Dame after taking although she remained unilingual and cially in my world. I was ploughing too long finding a place to park. The hated the idea of Quebec independence. through my adolescence, frustrated to Athletics event in the “Big O” seemed She did not vote in the November 1976 have missed the turning-on and drop- more promising – in point of fact, I’d election at all, however – thanks to my ping-out of the late 60s which had made been vaguely looking forward to it, hav- father’s actions that summer. my older cousins and parents’ friends’ ing developed something of a crush on I only heard his story years later, children seem so cool and which had Diane Jones, a leggy pentathlete who and not from him. The most private of been replaced by post-Watergate disillu- was occasionally seen dancing with the people, my father tossed and turned at sionment, wide-collar shirts, and Abba. Prime Minister – but our seats were so night with worry without letting on to I tried to grow my hair long, but it just far up the side of the stadium that it was his family that anything was wrong – al- poofed out. To make matters worse, I hard to tell if it was steeplechase or high though he did eventually tell my mother. found I needed glasses and my first pair jump unfolding before us. Like her, he had a boss that was giving were strictly Robert Bourassa. Like On the fringe of my vision, my par- him trouble, someone whose actions most people’s parents, mine hadn’t a ents had been going through crises of were clearly immoral although not nec- clue – indeed, they had less of a clue their own. My mother’s I was familiar essarily illegal. In this case, it was a than most because they were older than with, since she talked about it openly. woman, a career administrator in an age average and operated from a Depres- The clinic where she worked was being that still did not look kindly on female sion-era conviction that saving a buck mismanaged by its director, to the point executives. Unfortunately, she fit the was as much of a fashion statement as where accusations of corruption and worst stereotype. My father was not the you needed. even embezzlement were being flung. sort to be intimidated by having a female

25 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS supervisor, but he was completely taken ing it up. But spend a year in Bouilla- would converse in sign language with aback by one who got her way through baisse country? In a flash. the elderly nudists. An even more what we now call harassment, including My parents did have friends with bizarre task she undertook was to collect sexual overtures. My mother was the sabbatical experience, but still I marvel bagfuls of the enormous pine cones that most secure of marriage partners, but at their success in getting my father en- fell in the nearby park which we would could offer him no solution to his un- rolled at the University of Nice in a burn in our fireplace. Alas, the house comfortable situation other than flight. French-for-foreigners program and a was not centrally heated, and although My father’s exit strategy took the house rented for nine months in the re- outdoor temperatures rarely went below form of a scheme to improve his work- sort town of Juan-les-Pins. It cost us 10° it was often not much more inside ing French – which was of course a about $350 per month, $150 less than and my mother was probably colder for growing source of anxiety for many what the people who moved into our more of the time than she would have West-End Anglos. He been in Chicoutimi. discovered that the “Ma femme était froide school board where he pendant tout l’hiver,” worked offered a my father famously re- year’s leave of absence marked in his French – without pay but with conversation class – a job guaranteed at the much to the teacher’s other end – to any em- (and later my mother’s) ployee who would un- amusement. dertake to devote the But the whole ex- time to learning perience blew our French, ideally away minds. It was an ad- from the usual sources venture that brought of linguistic apostasy. the three of us closer My mother, in the together, and although I midst of her own pro- had always felt tremen- fessional frustrations, dous affection for both really liked the idea. my parents I knew now They calculated that if that they were the they could rent our coolest people around. house for more than I’m not sure how much what our new lodgings French my father would cost, there was picked up in Nice, but enough in the savings the next summer he account to keep us in went back to work in a clothes and food for the winter. home would pay us. From this location new office far away from the school The question remained: where? my father drove our leased Renault 5 board which brought him into closer Chicoutimi seemed the obvious choice, along the shore of the Mediterranean in- contact with the students he enjoyed but my mother quickly ruled that out. to Nice every day, about 20 minutes helping. My mother took a job teaching Too cold. OK, then, how about Mar- each way. The house was also a conven- Social Work at Dawson College, a high- tinique? Upper Volta? The South of ient distance from the local Lycée to light of which was the proud day one France? which I’d been admitted shortly after student told her: “You’re head’s where I imagine the crazy idea settling our arrival – a ten minute walk, but al- it’s at!” quietly over their late-night kitchen table most all the other students arrived by I wish I could say that I was a much conversation. Before I was born – be- mo-ped. They seemed quite a sophisti- more sophisticated young gentleman af- fore they were actually married, I later cated bunch and took great interest in ter my time among the French, but no: realized – my parents had spent several me, constantly asking if I lived above indeed, I probably made some of my summers tootling around Europe in my the Arctic Circle and whether I preferred life’s greatest... let’s call them social father’s VW Beetle, camping much of handball or “le footing.” Hadn’t it been faux pas...during the year following our the time and on occasion staying at those terribly exciting to have the Olympics in return, but at least I had the confidence $2 hotels Frommer used to brag about. your own city? Well, I supposed so – but to make them. I had to take extra class- On one memorable occasion they had it was also bankrupting, I pointed out to es to make up for the credits I hadn’t re- enjoyed a romantic dinner in Ville- their dismay. ceived the previous year, so there was no franche-sur-Mer just east of Nice – al- For the first time since I’d been lit- time for tuba or for the drama club I had though my father’s jaundiced view of tle my mother enjoyed simply keeping a dearly wanted to join. Never mind the seafood might qualify the notion of en- home: shopping at the local supermarché road not taken; it is the ones we take that joyment; he described Bouillabaisse as (her lack of French was no obstacle), count. the result of dredging a shovelful of the cooking unusual food and taking daily Oh, and I changed my glasses. muck at the bottom of the sea and heat- walks down to the beach where she

26 The Revolutionary Road Taken (photo: Rod MacLeod) SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2009

EVENTS LISTINGS

Eastern Townships Murray & Williams: Steam Navigation searcher and photographer Steam navigation ventures by Georgeville summer residents Exporail, Canadian Railway Museum Société d’histoire de Sherbrooke 110, rue Saint-Pierre, Saint-Constant 275 Dufferin, Sherbrooke General Information: 450-632-2410 Info: 819-821-5406 Montreal Email : [email protected] Quebec Family History Society Till: January 10 Website : Info: 514-695-1502 Railway Christmas www.shs.ville.sherbrooke.qc.ca Website: www.qfhs.ca Tea room, craft and storytelling for chil- dren, model train layout and rides on Permanent Exhibition December 12, 10:30 a.m. miniature train Sherbrooke 1802-2002, Two centuries St. Andrew’s United Church, 75-15th of history Ave., Lachine Permanent Collection Lectures Series 160 Unique railway vehicles on display Uplands Cultural & Heritage Center Speaker: Heather McNabb 9 Speid St.(Lennoxville) Tartan Weave: Patterns of Scottish Im- Info: 819-564-0409 Outaouais migration and Settlement in Quebec be- fore the 20th Century. Gatineau Valley Historical Society Wednesday to Sunday, 1 a.m. to 4:30 80 ch Summer, Cantley p.m. McCord Museum Info: 819-827-3164 Fall opening hours Info: 514-398-7100 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Saturdays and Sundays 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. December 14, 7:30 p.m. Weekend Afternoon Tea Permanent Exhibition Christmas Traditions at La Grange de la Reservations are preferred Simply Montreal Glimpses of a Unique Gatineau City Members of the Gatineau Valley Histor- Till December 19, Wednesday-Sunday Over 800 objects from McCord’s fa- ical Society and Family and friends are from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. mous collection invited to an evening of carol singing, Exhibition: Bonheur d’hiver music in the historic ambience of The Artists: Jean Charvin Dumas, Denis Westmount Historical Association Grange in Cantley all ages welcome. Courche, Josée Desjardins, Lucy Dohe- Westmount Public Library, 4574 Sher- ny, Debbie Everett, Anne Johnston, Car- brooke St. West olyn Jones, Lucie Levasseur and Gil Quebec City Info: 514-925-1404 or 514-932-6688 Email: [email protected] Stanstead Historical Society/Colby-Cur- Morrin Center tis Museum 44, Chaussée des Écossais Quebec December 17, 2009, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. 535 Dufferin, Stanstead Info: 418-694-9147 or 0754 Lecture Series Info: 819-876-7322 Email: [email protected] The Robert Harvie Photographic Album Email: [email protected] Website: www.morrin.org Harvie’s family album photographs from the 1800’s that were reproduced Till December 19, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. December 12, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and donated by Henrietta Harvie to Exhibition Literary Groups Westmount Historical Association will Shipping Families on Lake Memphrem- Free Kids Readings be the subject of this informative lecture agog Specially selected books, based on an explaining how contact prints were interesting theme, will be read out loud made from glass plate negatives. Till December 19, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in English followed by a fun craft Speaker: Doreen Lindsay, WHA re- Exhibition

27 CULTURAL CALENDAR A New Highly Visual Exhibition About the Children of the Outaouais in the 20th Century

Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), the Centre régional d’archives de l’Outaouais and the City of Gatineau have joined forces to present the exhibition Images d’enfants. This exhibition offers visitors a glimpse of the children of the Outaouais. It will bring back memories for older people and, for the young, the childhood of their elders. A selection of photographs, personal letters, toys, books and clothing left as testimony by the families of the Outaouais will immediately transport visitors to memories of childhood. In the Vitrines du Centre d’archives, de généalogie et d’histoire Ground floor of the Maison de la culture de Gatineau October 5, 2009 to April 25, 2010 Free admission

Exhibition Le braille, c’est normal!

To celebrate the bicentennial of Louis Braille’s birth, BAnQ is presenting a new exhibi- tion, Le braille c’est normal!, from November 10, 2009 to November 7, 2010, at the Es- pace Jeunes of the Grande Bibliothèque. The exhibition will give young people and adults alike the opportunity to learn about Louis Braille, the man who invented the code made up of raised dots that carries his name. His code would revolutionize the lives of millions of blind people by giving them the chance to read and write.

To complement the exhibition, you are invited to attend Contes de l’aveugle, a family- friendly performance presented at the Auditorium of the Grande Bibliothèque on Sunday, November 22, from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm.

Guided Tour of the Exhibition Les éditeurs québécois et l’effort de guerre, 1940-1948

Jacques Michon, the exhibition’s curator, leads a guided tour of the fascinating editorial adventure of Québec writers and publishers during World War II. Mr. Michon, a professor at Sherbrooke University, was director of the Groupe de recherche sur l’édition littéraire au Québec (GRELQ) from 1982 to 2006 and held the Canada Research Chair in Book and Publishing History 2002 to 2008. The tour leaves from: room M.465, level M of the Grande Bibliothèque Thursday, November 26, 7 to 8:30 pm Limited number of places: 20 Reservations required. By phone, 514 873-1100, option 2, or in various BAnQ buildings: • Grande Bibliothèque: information and orientation desk (ground floor) • Montréal archives centre: reading room • Preservation centre (Centre de conservation): reading room