C HAMPLAIN R EVISITED: POMP AND PATRIOTISM $5

HeritageVOL 4, NO.11 SEPT-OCT 2008 News

Cold Welcome Stereotypes and xenophobia in early press portrayals of Chinese immigrants ACurrentAffair Sigismund Mohr pioneered ’s hydroelectric power Odysseus in A Greek journey in the history of la Vieille Capitale QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

Quebec CONTENTS HeritageNews President’s Message 3 EDITOR TheFinePrint Kevin O’Donnell DWANE WILKIN PRODUCTION Letters 4 DAN PINESE Herd leader Daniel Parkinson Our pleasure Carol Green PUBLISHER THE QUEBEC ANGLOPHONE TimeLines 5 HERITAGE NETWORK Voices from Quebec Barbara Lavoie 400-257 QUEEN STREET What’s in a name? Barbara Lavoie (LENNOXVILLE) QUEBEC J1M 1K7 Cold Welcome 6 PHONE Early press portrayals of Chinese Quebecers Scott French 1-877-964-0409 A Current Affair 8 (819) 564-9595 Sigismund Mohr, hydro-electric pioneer Antonin Zaruba FAX The Humbler Celts 10 (819) 564-6872 The obscure legacy of Quebec’s Welsh Patrick Donovan CORRESPONDENCE Odysseus in Canada 12 [email protected] A Greek journey in the Louisa Blair WEBSITE Champlain Revisited 14 WWW.QAHN.ORG Pomp and patriotism in the confection of history Richard Virr

PRESIDENT The Forgotten Patriote 18 KEVIN O’DONNELL E.B. O’Callaghan and early democratic reform Marjorie A. Fitzpatrick EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Group Behaviour 21 DWANE WILKIN English schools and the shaping of identity Annie Pilote COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR BARBARA LAVOIE Reviews 23 OFFICE MANAGER Remember All the Way Gloria Er-Chua KATHY TEASDALE HindSight 25 Quebec Heritage Magazine is produced six Harmony Nick Fonda times yearly by the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN) with the support of The Department of Canadian Heritage Event Listings 27 and Quebec’s Ministere de la Culture et des Communications. QAHN is a 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 Number 405610004. ISSN 17707-2670

Cover: Chinese official, Mgr. Tchiou Tchu Koi, photographed outside the Ligue nationaliste headquarters on rue Côte d'Abraham, Quebec City, undated. Photo reproduced in The Anglos: The Hidden Face of Quebec City, Volume II, by Louisa Blair. (Commission de la Capitale nationale et Éditions Sylvain Harvey, 2005).

2 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE The Fine Print by Kevin O’Donnell

egular readers of Quebec Heritage News may have noticed a change R in recent issues of this magazine: Rod Macleod’s always-in- sightful column no longer graces these opening pages. After five years at the helm, Rod told his fel- low directors on the Quebec Anglo- phone Heritage Network (QAHN) board that he would be stepping down as president at the end of the 2007-08 term. Over the entreaties of the directors (especially me) he re- linquished the post during our annual general meeting last June 14. I was elected to take over. It’s a cliché to talk about “big shoes to fill,” but this is certainly a time when the cliché rings true. Rod—and before him, QAHN’s founding President Dick Evans— fessionals, all of the above ably Fighting the Flames; The Squire of had created and nurtured an organi- supported by QAHN’s volunteer the Great Kettle (about Philemon zation universally recognized as the board of directors. Wright and the founding of the set- voice of Quebec’s English-speaking I was president of the Hudson tlement that would become Hull); heritage and local-history communi- Historical Society two years ago The Gaspé Schooners, and A Home ties. This magazine is just one of when Michael Cooper asked me to in the Wilderness (recalling the real- the projects carried out by QAHN in complete his term as director repre- life adventures of a pioneer family recent years. Others that immediate- senting the Outaouais region. I in the Eastern Townships). I have ly spring to mind include the her- agreed, but didn’t read the fine lived in Quebec all my life, have itage conferences that QAHN has print—it turned out that Michael travelled to just about every region sponsored in , the history- was also vice-president of QAHN, in the province, including the North writing contests in schools, the de- and the vice-president was expected and the Lower North Shore, and al- lightfully named Heritage Aware- to step up to the plate upon the pres- ways seek out local histories to ness and Stewardship Training Ini- ident’s retirement. So, apart from round out my appreciation of the tiative (HASTI) and Cemetery Her- naïveté, what other qualities do I places I visit. itage Inventory and Restoration Ini- bring to the job? tiative (CHIRI) projects, our Her- Well, history, both local and s someone long involved in itage Trails pamphlet series, the an- global, has always fascinated me. I educational technology, I nual Marion Phelps Award recogniz- put this curiosity to work on a num- am also keen to contribute ing outstanding contributors to the ber of history projects in my days at to our Internet presence, to protection and promotion of her- A Quebec’s Ministry of Education and help make the most out of this very itage and history, our website and at the province’s public television powerful communications tool. Sup- the suite of regional heritage web- network, Télé-Québec. Many groups porting this magazine must also be on magazines. Both Rod and Dick throughout the province have seen any QAHN president’s priority list. would want me to point out that “Quebec Mosaic,” a series of video Dwane Wilkin is the editor and pub- much of the heavy lifting on these narratives based on local history lisher of Quebec Heritage News,as projects was carried out by Dwane themes. This series included titles well as carrying out his duties as ex- Wilkin, our executive director, such as The Eighth Wonder of the ecutive director, a full-time job in it- Kathy Teasdale our office manager, World—Building the Victoria Bridge; self. I hope to help the magazine and a number of keen contract pro-

QAHN president Kevin O’Donnell greets the crowd during Townshippers’ Day 3 celebrations in Sutton, Sept. 20, 2008. Photo by Barbara Lavoie. QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS reach its full potential by working capitale. While English-speakers did Wilkin and I were invited to partici- with Dwane to increase the readership not scramble up the escarpment with pate in a workshop entitled “Cultural base and its potential pan-Canadian in 1608—the Heritage: Obstacles and Opportunities reach. Kirke Brothers would not show up, for Municipal Development” during uninvited, until 1629—anglophones of the annual convention of the Fédéra- ith Voices from Que- different classes and ethnic groups tion Québécoise des Municipalités. bec [see Timelines, have made Quebec City their home About fifty English-speaking mayors, current issue] we are for the last two-and-half-centuries. councillors and municipal administra- W venturing into new This Thanksgiving weekend tors attended the workshop; I believe territory this year. QAHN will be QAHN is very proud to host Roots that they came away with a better un- assisting the Blue Metropolis Foun- Quebec, an event which will highlight derstanding of new heritage legisla- dation, sponsor of Montreal’s major the rich diversity and contributions of tion that the Quebec government will international literary festival in car- these English-speaking groups. We are likely bring into law early next year. rying out a school-based oral histo- partnering with the and This is a bread-and butter issue for ry project that we expect will in- Shalom Québec in what promises to municipalities, offering them the volve nearly a dozen schools in as be a special and engaging event. promise of new powers (and access to many regions. Students will work Space is limited, so if you haven’t al- subsidies) but also saddling them with with writers and media experts to ready, please consider joining us for new responsibilities (perhaps without turn the life stories of seniors into all or part of this event. the grants.) Along with fellow panel- online audio podcasts. Reenie Marx, The following pages offer sketches in lists David Belgue, president of the whose students at Laurentian Re- the history of a few of these Quebec États généraux du paysage québécois gional High School in Lachute put City communities, narratives not al- and Joan Westland-Eby, mayor of East together truly remarkable video pro- ways heard elsewhere. My thanks Bolton, I think we were able to help grammes in their Building Bridges goes out to all of those who con- the audience understand some of the projects, has agreed to lend her ex- tributed to this issue of Quebec Her- potential benefits as well as the pit- pertise to this collaborative project. itage News and to those Roots Quebec falls of the proposed legislation. We Connecting with youth, helping conference participants who are help- emphasized that we represented them appreciate the richness of their ing us to shed more light on the evolv- QAHN’s membership and included a communities, is one of QAHN’s pri- ing character of contemporary English list of the member groups in the re- mordial goals. We have great hopes Quebec. source folders we handed out. Very that Voices from Quebec will lay the positive audience reactions, including foundation for an expanded out- he heritage network now requests to do workshops at next reach into the schools in the years counts over one hundred his- year’s convention, convinced us that ahead. torical societies and heritage we had represented our constituency The big story in Quebec history T organizations among its core well before these municipal authori- this year, of course, is the series of and affiliate members. An indication ties. It was, we felt, a harbinger of celebrations surrounding the 400th an- of the role QAHN can play took place significant accomplishments in the niversary of the founding of la Vieille recently in Quebec City. Dwane year ahead. Letters Herd leader years was a man named Walter Wright. mother, Betty Mohr Green, grew up in There is something of interest in there and her sister Grace and her hus- I enjoyed reading the short article, every issue. It is a fine magazine. band still own the Mohr family house. “Miner in History” (May-June Time- We visit them each summer. lines, 2008). Pinetree Farm, as it was Daniel Parkinson I learned of Quebec Anglophone known, was home to one of the leading Toronto, Ont. Heritage Network on the Internet and Jersey herds of its day with imported read Katharine Fletcher’s article about breeding, probably from the famous Our pleasure the Pontiac on your Outaouais Heritage Brampton herd of B.H. Bull. The herd Webmagazine. I just wanted to thank was dispersed about 1961 but had a ma- My son, Paul, who is in Grade 5, you for getting back to me so soon and jor influence on the development of Jer- has chosen as his topic for a year-long for helping me locate other historical seys in Canada with breeding stock sold school project, the history of English- publications. It is good to know your or- to leading herds from to speaking settlements in the Pontiac re- ganization, along with your other con- and bulls placed in the gion of western Quebec. We have a per- tacts, exist. earliest Artificial Insemination units. sonal connection to a heritage home in Sincerely, The herd was noted for its high butterfat the village of Quyon, and that has, in Carol Green production. The manager for many part, inspired his choice of topic. My Thornhill, Ont.

4 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008

TIMELINES Voices from Quebec Oral history project in English schools is one of a kind by Barbara Lavoie eachers and students from a dozen high schools itage. Each finished documentary will be converted to across Quebec will get the chance this winter to an electronic sound file, then posted on the QAHN and Tmake radio documentaries featuring stories and Blue Metropolis websites for sharing with other Que- voices from their local communities, as part of a bec students—and the world. unique oral-history project developed by the Blue Me- “We are very pleased to be part of this exciting tropolis Foundation in partnership with the Quebec An- project,” said Kevin O’Donnell, QAHN president. glophone Heritage Network (QAHN). “The students will gain valuable skills in conducting Voices from Quebec is an education project that local historical research, and how to conceptualize, will show teams of English-language students how to plan, write and produce for radio and for podcasts.” conduct historical research and interview seniors about O’Donnell added that he expects the material students their life stories. Students will combine writing with gather during the oral-history interviews could form digital voice recordings and modern communications the basis of a variety of future research projects, in- technology to document accounts of local historical cluding written articles or even video-documentaries. events or topics, which will be then be made available Participating students will be invited to present for download from the Internet as audio files, known their documentaries during the 11th annual Blue Me- as “podcasts.” tropolis Montreal International Literary Festival in “The project was inspired by the successful April 2009, a five-day celebration that attracts hun- Sounds Like Quebec project we offered in 2006,” said dreds of writers, literary translators, actors, journalists Florence Allegrini, educational program coordinator at and publishers, from around the world. Blue Metropolis. This year teams of participating stu- “I’m certain the process will be an eye-opener dents will work closely with a published author, a from beginning to end for everyone involved,” sound engineer and an oral-history expert to produce a O’Donnell said. radio documentary of approximately five minutes in length exploring some aspect of local or regional her- For more inf call Blue Met at (514) 932-1112. What’s in a name? Laurentians toponomy expert releases French version of best-seller ove of history and a keen eye for the housing mobilize efforts to save an historic railroad station market helped put Joe Graham’s first book on from demolition a few years ago. Eskenazi heads up LQuebec’s English-language best-seller list three the English-language communications committee at years ago. Now the 59-year-old author is betting his the Ste-Agathe Hospital, while Graham servies on the Naming the Laurentians: A history of place names up hospital board. But it was selling real estate that first North will appeal to francophones too. “The idea is to got Graham interested in penning local history. Since get people interested in their own history,” said Gra- 1985 he and Eskenazi have owned and operated Don- ham prior to launching of Nommer les Laurentides: La caster Realties, a brokerage firm specializing in lake- petite histoire des cantons du nord. “By going back in front and recreational properties. time, we get the answer to why things are the way they “I found as I was taking people around to look at are today, and these answers are often in place names.” properties I was telling them the local history,” recalls In 2005 the popular original English version of the Graham, who grew up in the region. “Then I started book became a surprise hit, enjoying a 12-week run on sending my clients newsletters with historical informa- The Gazette’s best-seller list. Fully-illustrated with tion. Before long I had a progressive history of the maps as well as antique postcards, the book traces the area, and people were asking for various issues of the region’s development from pre-historic times through newsletter. The book was an obvious end-result of this the colonial period of French and English settlement, process.” Conferences and presentations at libraries to the modern era. The French edition has been trans- and historical societies are planned over the next sever- lated by Michelle Tisseyre and features a foreword by al months in the Laurentians and Montreal. Quebec historian Pierre Anctil. Graham and his wife Sheila Eskenazi have for Find these book at www.ballyhoo.ca/history or call many years now managed to integrate their own busi- (819) 326-4963. ness with community conservation issues. Co-founders of the Ste-Agathe Historical Society, the couple helped Barbara Lavoie 5 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

COLD WELCOME Stereotypes and xenophobia in early press portrayals of Chinese Quebecers by Scott French

hristian Samson was right: er. Immigrants from China first began Chronicle-Telegraph and L’Action I’d never have found what I to establish themselves here in 1891, Catholique reveals more about the was looking for if he hadn’t when the British presence in Hong newspapers’ editorial bias and their C taken me there in person. Kong was not yet 50 years old. In readers’ perceptions than its does A neat, glass case stood in the some ways, this modest display illus- about the community itself. corner of the front entrance of what is trates Quebec City’s newfound, if wa- “There was little in-depth cover- now a new-looking cultural complex vering, commitment to formally ac- age on the Chinese,” says Samson, in the City neighbourhood knowledge the historical presence of who has analysed roughly 500 articles of St. Roch. Salvaged during the dem- cultural groups other than those of between 1885 and 1949. “The Chinese olition of Le Canton building in 1968, French or British origin. were reserved for slow news days.” the hunk of grey stone mortar inside By comparison, Samson’s interest Historical newspaper accounts tell the display case isn’t even that old; in the study of Quebec’s historic Chi- a sad tale of the hostile climate that chiselled in red Chinese characters, nese community is steadfast. When Chinese immigrants faced, both in the words read: “Made in Hong Kong, the Université Laval doctoral student Quebec City and elsewhere in Canada. Zhu Xin inc., 1965.” completes his dissertation on popular Following the completion of the But in a neighbourhood that has newspaper portrayals of immigrants in Transcontinental Railway in the late undergone significant development in Quebec City’s press, the work will 19th century, Chinese immigrants to the last 40 years, the artefact tells a stand as one of the first comprehen- Canada were pushed eastward, in part, much deeper story. The mortar recalls sive works on the history of the city’s by growing nationalist sentiment in a time when Chinese restaurants and Chinese population. But it’s already western provinces. Racist fears that the families who owned them formed apparent that past media coverage of western Canada would be overrun a genuine Chinatown on rue St. Valli- immigrants in ,theQuebec with Chinese gained widespread ex-

6 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008 pression as the “Yellow Peril,” with guard themselves against opium and United Church. devastating social consequences. Noah prostitution. Samson noted that he believed Shakespeare, elected mayor of Victo- “They were considered dirty peo- there was possibly a greater affinity ria in 1878, formed the Anti-Chinese ple, propagators of disease and scabs between the English and Chinese com- Association in 1879. Shakespeare’s who pushed wages down,” Samson munities, as opposed to the French- politics proved so popular he was says. Trade unions clung to these Canadian population, simply because elected as a Conservative MP in 1882. stereotypes to keep Chinese labourers they shared a common language. The By that time the names of Chinese from entering their ranks. Laval scholar could not account, how- had been stripped from the Protectionist rants against the ever, why so many Chinese had gravi- province’s electoral lists by British Chinese laundries were familiar in the tated toward speaking English as op- Columbia’s provincial legislature. In first years of the last century, like this posed to French. A significant influx 1885 Canada’s parliament imposed the one which appeared in Le Soleil on of French-speaking Chinese wouldn’t first head tax on Chinese male immi- October 26, 1910: be seen until the late 1960s and 70s grants. when ethnic Chinese families emigrat- Chinese hoping to find a safe Un moment de réfléxion ouvriers ed from Vietnam. haven in Quebec found little comfort québecois, et bien vous compren- Regardless, better communication in la Vieille Capitale, and incidents of drez que c’est faire fausse route between the communities may explain violent attacks against Chinese busi- que de prendre le chemin des why the city’s English-language press ness owners were regularly reported in buanderies chinoises, au detriment was “the most sympathetic to the the local press: des autres québecois. cause of the Chinese” according to Samson. An article appearing in the Deux Chinois qui tiennent une Amidst growing nationalist senti- Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph in 1909 buanderie sur la rue St. Joeseph ment in the early 20th century Que- demonstrates these amicable relations ont été attaqués dans le noir…Les bec, the ’s daily organ, between the communities at a Sunday passants voyant la chose, entrènt et L’Action Catholique, took a paradoxi- school banquet at St. Matthew’s (se mirent) à battre les Chinois. cal editorial position, according to Church: Le Soleil, August 28, 1903 Samson. In his words, the newspaper The [Chinese] scholars had en- was “anti-immigration, anti-Jewish, deavoured to show in some way iding Wong’s father, Fred Wong, and right wing” on the one hand, but the great appreciation which the paid a $500 head tax to come to on the other, believed the immigrants’ Chinese residents of the Ancient Quebec City in 1922. In a recent souls must be saved by conversion to capital felt for the deep interest J interview, Wong said his father’s Christianity. “They had to conceal which had been taken in them by immigration stories testified to the these points of view,” Samson notes. Quebecers. city’s cold and inhospitable climate. “They wanted to convert so they did- “I asked him quite often when I n’t raise the question very often.” To his surprise, Samson has found was younger, when he was alive, what Napoleon Woo’s father was taken that the Chronicle-Telegraph even it was like, and he said: ‘We’d walk in by a French-Catholic order of nuns went so far as to take editorial posi- along and they’d just elbow us, shove when he came to Quebec City in the tions defending the Chinese in Cana- us off the sidewalk, make fun of us. 1920s. Woo considered his father da. In an article entitled, “The Chinese We were all in such heavy debt. Even lucky. “They helped him, told him Question” the author denounces the ifIweretowinafight,andthatper- what services were available, gave stereotypes and calls for the recogni- son took me to court, I’d stand a very him clothing and food. At that time tion of Chinese as citizens: good chance of being deported and I’d this place was so Catholic, it was a They are Canadians, speaking never be able to pay my debt then.” duty.” our language fairly well, and Wong said Chinese immigrants Despite the Catholic Church’s ef- they dress something like our- learned to quietly tolerate such at- forts and its camouflaged editorial po- selves…they appear to like our tacks, surmising that fighting with the sitions, the Mission Chinoise had very country and be Canadian in locals would not contribute to their limited success in converting the Chi- sentiment. dream of building a better life in nese. By Samson’s calculations the July 22, 1905 Canada. But press accounts rarely, if missionaries only managed to convert ever, sought comment from victims. 10 per cent of the local population. Another article published two “It’s almost as if their opinion is Another scholar, Louis-Jacques Do- years later dismissed the Yellow Peril external to the news story itself,” says rais, said this number never exceeded sentiment and used a number of prac- Samson “so we have little idea of 20 cent. tical arguments to show the need for a what the Chinese community thought Jiding Wong, on the other hand, more liberal immigration policy to at the time.” said that in his father’s experience meet the demand for labour. Negative press stereotypes about “the Catholic Church didn’t want to the Chinese abounded. Newspapers have anything to do with him.” In- spread the notion that the Chinese had stead, Fred Wong sought the charity of Scott French is a reporter with the many vices and that Quebecers had to the anglo-Protestant Chalmers-Wesley Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph.

7 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

ACURRENT AFFAIR Sigismund Mohr pioneered Quebec City’s hydro-electric power by Antonin Zaruba

or all his accomplishments, Sigismund Mohr City District Telegraph Company with two other asso- remains a little-known figure in Quebec’s his- ciates. Municipal authorities allowed him to install tory. Born in Prussia, this Jewish immigrant telegraph lines “provided they in no way intervene Fwas a major player in the industrial develop- with the fire alarm telegraph.” The company was dis- ment of late 19th century Quebec City. Mohr brought solved soon after and Mohr joined the larger Dominion electricity to the city and oversaw the development of a Telegraph Company. complete telephone and telegraph network. He was a The telephone was invented that same year, in technological pioneer responsible for many firsts in the 1876, and it caught on quickly. Mohr became interest- province, namely the establishment of the first com- ed in this new technological development at a time mercial hydroelectric plant. when different distributors were fighting for market Sigismund Mohr was born on October 21, 1827 in dominance. Canadians used telephone systems devel- Breslau, Poland, a major Jewish intellectual centre oped by Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and where, at age 22, he obtained a diploma in electrical local pioneers like Quebec City jeweler Cyrille Du- engineering. Mohr spent a few years in London before quet, inventor of the double-ended telephone handset. immigrating to Canada, where he married a woman Alexander Graham Bell’s company eventually won out named Blume Levi, orignally from . They in 1880, buying up all the major telegraph companies had five girls and two boys. in the country. The government then granted Bell a The family settled in Quebec in the 1870s. Their monopoly on all long-distance telephone services. early years in the city were marred a string of legal and As a result of this, Mohr became Bell’s authorized financial problems. Mohr received numerous court or- agent in Quebec City, fulfilling his task remarkably ders for unpaid bills and rent. The authorities even con- well. Within the first six months of his mandate, the fiscated furniture from his home on rue Saint-Jean. number of subscribers grew from 79 to 240. He fi- Mohr’s search for a way out of his financial woes nanced new lines by recruiting local businesses, such eventually led him to the new technologies of the age. as the ten companies who agreed to pay $100 per year The earliest mentions of Mohr’s entrepreneurship for a new line linking Quebec City to the south shore in Quebec date from 1876, when he incorporated the town of Lévis.

8 Montmorency Falls hydroelectric station, 1885, photograph by L. P. Vallée, Archives Nationales du Québec, No. P600-6/N79-12-12 and 13. SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008

When he wasn’t busy seeking new clients, Mohr cured his name as an ambitious electrical entrepreneur, fiddled with electronics. In 1875 he patented a gravity earning him numerous contracts. One of his first con- battery with L.P. Brunelle. Two years later, he filed an- tracts was lighting the newly inaugurated Parliament of other patent for improvements to telegraph alarm box- Quebec in 1886. Soon after, Mohr impressed the gov- es. ernment roads committee and obtained a lucrative five- year contract with the City of Quebec. ohr eventually tired of working as an agent for Despite all this activity, Mohr still found time to be Bell and chose to strike off on his own. First, he inventive and kept up with the latest technological de- opened an electrician’s office on Côte de la Fab- velopments. He patented a “commutator for electro- Mrique in 1883. The following year, he became magnetic motors” with two colleagues in 1886. His director of the Quebec & Lévis Electric Light Company company also introduced the production of alternating (Q&LEL Co.) and set up a small thermal power station in the current (AC) just one year after Tesla patented an alter- military warehouses near Porte Saint Jean. His contacts at the nating current generator. This switch from direct to alter- Royal Electric of Montreal provided him with the necessary nating current led to more efficient production and dis- equipment to generate electricity, distribute it, and produce light. tribution of electricity. Two Thomson-Houston dynamos fed arc lamps that could be set When the growing presence of Mohr’s company in up in “businesses, skating rinks and other areas.” These bright the local electric light industry prompted a public in- electric lamps were a revolution compared to quiry into the rates charged by the the dim gaslights of the time. Q&LEL Co. in 1891, it turned out Mohr spent most of his years in that the city’s hydroelectric power Quebec at 103, rue Saint Jean, living was in fact, less costly than available near this thermal plant. While Mohr alternatives. The inquiry, initiated by took care of his dynamos, his daughters Charles Baillairgé, looked at the 87 Amelia and Fanny managed a feminine largest North American municipali- lingerie clothing store in the neighbour- ties and concluded that electricity in ing house at 105, rue Saint Jean. Quebec City was the cheapest on the Having a power station in the heart continent. Mohr was charging the of the old city did not please everyone. city an annual fee of $80 per lamp, In 1884, 119 residents within the city whereas the continental average was walls signed a petition complaining that $139.16 because most cities relied on the station “perturbed the calm of a thermal energy. The city instantly re- neighborhood that had once been newed its five year contract with blessed with an enviable tranquility.” Mohr. Mohr felt compelled to seek a new lo- This renewed contract improved cation more suitable for generating the financial health of the company, electricity. leading to expansions in 1892. A new power station was He found the ideal spot at the base of Montmorency built using the latest technology. Sources from the time Falls, the province’s tallest waterfall, situated thirteen claim that Mohr’s three 600kw AC generators were the kilometers east of Old Quebec. The Patterson-Hall fac- first of their kind on the continent. tory complex located at the base had once produced Mohr’s tireless commitment to Quebec’s electrifica- broomsticks and mop buckets, but it was up for sale. tion led to his untimely death in December of 1893. The Mohr snapped it up, adapting the small turbine, pen- problems began when a violent winter storm damaged stock, and existing infrastructure to his own needs. the distribution line between Quebec and Montmorency The power station opened on 21 September 1885. Falls. Despite his 66 years of age, his role as general di- Other commercial power stations at the time tended to rector and the terrible weather conditions, Mohr was de- be thermal, fed by coal-powered steam engines. Mohr termined to repair it. He caught a severe flu that took his developed the first commercial hydroelectric station in life several weeks later. the province. Furthermore, the thirteen kilometers sepa- The new power station was inaugurated the follow- rating the falls from downtown Quebec marked the ing year, replacing the station at the base of Montmoren- longest distance between an energy source and its desti- cy Falls. Unfortunately Mohr could not be present for nation at the time. the event. Mohr managed to generate a considerable amount After his death, Mohr’s wife and children joined the of electricity at very little cost, which gave him a com- rest of their family in New York, where Sigismund petitive advantage over his main rival in the lighting Mohr was buried. His legacy nevertheless lived on business at the time, the Quebec Gas Company. He also through his son Eugene Philip, who managed a tele- had a knack for promotion. On September 29 1885, he phone and electricity company in . put up 34 lampposts along Dufferin Terrace and for eight nights in a row, he wowed residents and city offi- Antonin Zaruba works as an engineer with Hydro-Que- cials alike, drawing the applause of 20,000 people on the bec. Translated from the original French and adapted by first night alone. This, along with other initiatives, se- Patrick Donovan.

Sigismund Mohr, date unknown. 9 Photograph from Bell Canada Archives. QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

THE HUMBLER CELTS In praise of the Welsh, whose impressive Quebec legacy belies their obscurity by Patrick Donovan

ince there’s nobody around British rule? First of all, Wales was Wales in 1767 to avoid a lawsuit for for- to represent Quebec City’s never as populous as Ireland or gery. Despite this, he rose to the highest Welsh heritage, I’ve decided , leading to a smaller pool positions in Quebec’s colonial govern- S to step up and declare my- of potential immigrants. Secondly, ment. He was known as a progressive self an honorary Welshman. Having Wales did not suffer events like the who criticized the seigneurial system lived and worked in Cardiff longer Irish famine or the Scottish high- and deplored the attitude of imperialists than the Prince of Wales himself, I land clearances that spurred mass who demanded a return to English law consider myself fit for the title. Ire- emigration. In the 2001 census, only after the . land may be the land of my ances- one-tenth of per cent of the popula- Moving beyond Quebec City, tors but I only spent two rainy tion of Quebec province claimed Wales’ impact during the age of dis- weeks there. Besides, the Irish and Welsh ethnic origins, whereas 4.1 coveries is greater than many as- the Scots get enough airplay. So let’s per cent claimed Irish origins, 3.1 sume. Folklore tells of a Welsh switch channels, look at Wales, and per cent claimed English origins, prince Madoc who came to America its little-known impact on Quebec. and 2.2 per cent claimed Scottish in the 1170. The continent of Ameri- By the end of the article, you’ll all origins. Many people are unaware ca itself, long thought to be named want to be Welsh like me. of their origins, so real percentages after Amerigo Vespucci, may be Let’s start off with a quick ge- are probably higher, especially named after Welsh explorer Richard ography and history lesson for those when you consider the prevalence of Amerike—a case that has neither who are already lost. Wales is a Welsh surnames like Jones, Davies, been proved nor refuted. The first small mountainous country to the Griffith, Evans, and Meredith. Nev- known Welshman to have definitely west of England. Nearly three mil- ertheless, other sources also indi- set foot in the province was Thomas lion people live there today. It was cate a lower proportion of Welsh Button in 1612. Button was seeking absorbed under the English crown in immigrants. The Dictionary of the Northwest Passage and explored 1282, a relationship that had its ups Canadian Biography includes 727 Hudson Bay, giving his name to a and downs. Around the time of the immigrants born in England, 542 few islands in Quebec’s extreme Durham report in Canada, which born in Scotland, 328 born in Ire- north. David Thompson was a better adopted a patronizing view of fran- land, and only 17 born in Wales. known Welsh explorer, mapping 3.9 cophones and recommended angli- million square kilometers of North cization as a solution, a similar re- espite this, the Welsh still had America in the 1700s. Thompson is port in Wales noted that the lazy, an impact on Quebec City. In still regarded as the greatest map- immoral, and ignorant Welsh-speak- fact, the tallest building in the maker that ever lived. ers could only be freed from their Dold city, the Price Building, The story of Welsh immigration depravity by the introduction of has a Welsh name. The name Price is also that of thousands of working- English. This spurred the rise of comes from “ap Rhys,” meaning “son of class people who carried their tradi- Welsh nationalism, which also had Rhys” in Welsh. The Price dynasty in tions across the Atlantic. Alongside ups and downs over the years. Al- Canada was founded by Welshman the Irish, Welsh immigrants worked though the country is traditionally William Price, who came to Quebec and on Montreal’s Victoria Bridge in the associated with coal mining and flourished as a lumber merchant, later 1850s and organized a traditional slate quarrying, these industries owning much of the Saguenay. The Welsh Male Choir called Côr have largely died out. Wales is now company expanded into newsprint, Meibion Cymraeg, performing at the as prosperous as the rest of the UK. building the largest pulp and paper mill opening ceremonies. This group lat- As in Scotland, devolution in recent in the world. The family’s descendants er fostered the Saint David’s Socie- years led to a Welsh National As- still live in Quebec City today-the ty of Montreal, named after the pa- sembly and considerable autonomy Auberge Saint-Antoine, considered by tron saint of Wales. Both the Socie- within Great Britain. some to be Canada’s finest hotel, was ty and the choir continue to be ac- So why do we so rarely hear developed by Martha, Evan, Llewellyn tive. about the Welsh in Quebec, two and Lucy Price. Such strong Welsh community states with a shared history of strug- Earlier Welsh immigrants to Quebec organizations did not exist in Que- gle for self-preservation under City include Jenkin Williams, who fled bec City. The Scots, English, Irish

10 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008

Catholics, and Irish Protestants all ic language spoken by over a fifth of the had their own benevolent groups, but population. And we’re not just talking not the Welsh. However, they fit in about elderly folk in distant hamlets who obliquely under the Saint George’s sing in male choirs. Young people from Society and its mission to help set- Wales are bringing their culture into the tlers from “England, Wales, and the 21st century. Take the Super Furry Ani- Channel Islands.” Needless to say, a mals, an electro-rock band whose excel- Society named after Saint George, the lent Welsh-language album Mwng was de- patron saint of England, suggests that scribed by critics as “a vital antidote to Wales was not their primary focus the preservative-pumped junk that curdles (let’s not forget that Saint George is music’s bloodflow.” best known for slaying a dragon, na- My time in Cardiff fed an apprecia- tional symbol of Wales). tion for a nation of underdogs that has lots to show for its small size. And they don’t he Welsh aren’t bombastic, but make a vulgar show of it, or of them- perhaps that’s part of their ap- selves, which I appreciate even more. So peal. Recent years have seen I’ll just sit here and remain quietly happy Tbooks entitled How the Scots In- as the self-proclaimed honorary Welsh- vented the Modern World and How the man that I am. At least until I visit the Isle Irish Saved Civilization. The Welsh don’t of Man-I hear they’re even more wonder- claim to have saved or invented much, but fully obscure. they’re too humble for their own good. Let’s take language, for instance. Few people in Scotland and Ireland speak the Patrick Donovan is an historian with country’s traditional Celtic language, and the Morrin Centre in Quebec City its cultural use rarely extends beyond and vice-president of the Quebec An- folklore. Welsh, however, is still a dynam- glophone Heritage Network.

Detail from a pencil drawing entitled, David Thompson Taking an Observa- 11 tionby Charles William Jefferys. Library and Archives Canada, C-073573 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

ODYSSEUS IN CANADA Castaway, refugee, anguished traditionalist: A Greek journey in la Vieille Capitale by Louisa Blair

n 1950 there were at least 13 Greek restaurants in Quebec, but today, other than the Diana on Rue Saint- IJean and the Greek Orthodox church on René Levesque Boulevard, visible signs of Quebec’s Greek popula- tion are few and far between. Unless, of course, you go for a wander in , where so many un- told migration stories cry out from the grave. There are still stories of the Greek migration to Quebec waiting to be heard, however, from the living. “Sometimes would have the door slammed in their faces,” recalls Koula Aaron, owner of the Diana. “Or they were asked to change their names when they worked for French or English bosses: a French boss would ask some- one called Christopoulos to change his name because it sounded like swearing, and an English boss might ask a Mr. All we know about this man is that he was not being a truly loyal French citi- Fakkas to change his name, for the same had ended up in Quebec due to a ship- zen by giving in to Kirke so easily. reason. It was hard to get a job in any wreck. Champlain was furious at the insinu- other business except the restaurant busi- The Kirke brothers, English priva- ation and told them, through his trusty ness.” teers working for the king, returned to Greek, to shut up and come home to Once in Quebec, however, Greek take Quebec definitively the following France. They would starve otherwise, he immigrants were not necessarily trusted year. Champlain and the few dozen peo- said, and he was only looking out for in Greece anymore either. Greeks from ple then living in Quebec did not have their best interests. The soldiers submit- Quebec were known as grikas, Aaron ex- enough supplies left for another winter, ted, and went home with nothing to show plains, whereas Greeks from Greece were and when Thomas Kirke offered Cham- for their suffering in the Land of Cain. called hellenas. “My husband met me in plain £1,000 if he surrendered, he agreed What happened to the adaptable, depend- Greece, and when he asked me to marry without a fight. able and multilingual Greek? We don’t him my mother was worried, because he know—perhaps he made it back home, was a grikas and not a hellenas.” hamplain’s soldiers, however, like Odysseus, courtesy of the Kirkes. While there were about 300 people didn’t think it was such a great Over the 19th century various other of Greek origin in Quebec in the 1980s, deal. They had just procured Greek sailors abandoned life on the sea the 2001 census counted 30 people in the Cvaluable pelts from the Huron, and stayed in Quebec, but in the 1880s a downtown area (la Cité) who spoke with which they were hoping to make wave of Greek farmers began to head for Greek as their mother tongue. One long- their fortunes. But the deal with the Eng- from the southern part of time member of the Greek community lish stipulated that they could only take Greece, the Peloponnees. claims there are only ten families left. one beaver pelt each back to France. Us- The first community of Greeks to The first recorded Greek in Quebec ing “the Greek” as their emissary, the settle in Quebec City was a group of fam- is mentioned in Champlain’s writings in soldiers sent a message to Champlain ilies from a single village, Anavriti, in the 1628, when was in danger of that while he might be satisfied with his Laconia region of southern Greece, once being captured by the English. Cham- £1,000, they themselves would rather known as Sparta. Legend has it that it plain dressed up someone he refers to as fight than go home without their beaver- was Jews fleeing Turkish and Venetian “the Greek” as a Huron and sent him as a fur fortunes, for the sake of which they invasions who founded the village of spy to see how far the English had made had probably been frozen, starved, sun- Anavriti and later converted to the Greek it up the river. To his alarm, the Greek re- burned and mosquito-bitten half to Orthodox faith. (The Orthodox Church ported they had reached Cap Tourmente. death. They even hinted that Champlain split from Roman Church in 1054 over

12 The Greek Orthodox Church on René Levesque Boulevard in Quebec City SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008 doctrinal differences, and its practice of never come home.” (it’s now called the Auberge du Trésor, Christianity is culturally as well as litur- Not speaking English or French, and and is owned by another Greek family, gically distinct from other branches of with a limited education, her parents’ the Xudous). Students and Christianity such as the Protestant and generation took any jobs they could find, from Laval University, before it was rel- Roman churches.) but were determined to educate their chil- egated to the suburbs, judges and By the 1900s the village of Anavriti dren well, pass on their own language, lawyers from the nearby courthouse and numbered several thousand inhabitants. keep their Greek Orthodox faith, and politicians staying at the Château Fron- They had large families but no access to make sure their children married Greeks. tenac were all wined and dined by the modern farming technology or trans- None of this was easy to achieve, but ne- Trakas family as they debated the great portation (the first road only reached the cessity being the mother of adaptability, questions, trials and policies of the day. Anavriti in the 1980s). Early victims of their children ended up with an education Grandson George Trakas emigrated to globalization, the Anavritans could not that was multilingual and multiconfes- New York and became a successful compete on the world market, and after a sional. sculptor who now works in Italy, Den- series of bad harvests were failing to feed Mary Kormazos recalls the daily 45- mark and the US as well as Canada, their families. They began to leave for minute Bible study at Victoria Primary where he is currently working on a the New World. School. The theology may not have been sculpture on Cap Trinité, Baie in line with Greek Ortho- d’Éternité, in the Saguenay. In 1996, doxy, “but I learned every- Trakas established a student bursary at thing I know about the Université Laval in memory of his Bible from those classes,” grandparents to promote relations be- she says. Later she was tween Athens and Quebec. taught by English-speaking sisters at Notre Dame de Greek souche shows through Bellevue School on Ste- in several areas of Quebec lit- Foy Road, run by les erature. The play Le Cerf- Dames de la Congrégation, Avolant by Pan Bouyoucas, for where learning the Roman example, conveys the dilemmas and an- Catholic catechism was guishes of the Greek diaspora in Mon- obligatory. In addition to treal. Two brothers talk about how they her Protestant and Catholic feel invisible to the Québécois, while ac- education, twice a week af- knowledging that they have preferred to ter school she went to stay in their close-knit Greek community Greek classes taught by rather than integrate with the francopho- Mrs. Domnas. Then on ne majority. When one admits he feels By 1915 there were 25 Greek fami- Sundays it was the Greek church, with its guilty about forcing his daughter to mar- lies in Quebec City. Not generally accept- beautiful Orthodox liturgy and Byzantine ry a Greek who abused her, his sister-in- ed in the French Catholic schools, they music, and Sunday School at St. law replies that at least he doesn’t need sent their children to the Protestant Matthew’s Anglican Church! an interpreter to talk to his grandchil- schools (St. George’s and Victoria pri- In addition to working in the restau- dren. mary schools; Quebec High School) and rant business she had learned from her The quickest cultural integration, of thus became anglophones. Unable to parents, Kormazos later founded a course, takes place through marriage, or bury their dead in the Catholic cemeter- women’s group, the Philoptokos Club, sur l’oreiller (“pillow talk”), and third- ies, in the 1920s they bought a section lot to help Greek immigrant families still generation Greeks have married into the of Mount Hermon Cemetery for $2,500. arriving in the port of Quebec. The Sec- majority community. “You know, The first Greeks to be buried there were ond World War (1939-45), the Civil War though,” says Karmazos ruefully, “it’s two babies, children of the first Greek (1946-49) and then the “Regime of the amazing how many of those arranged settler, Thanassi Adamakis, who had a Colonels” (1967-74) ensured a steady marriages worked out well.” fruit and vegetable store at 74 Rue Saint- stream of Greek refugees into Quebec Mixed families have integrated, but Jean named Olympia. well into the 1970s. “We met them at have drifted away from the Greek lan- The Greeks of Quebec brought many Immigration and helped them get set- guage, faith and traditions. There’s no traditions over from Greece, such as tled. Philoptokos,” she explains, “means more Greek school. The community arranged marriages, as well as bringing ‘friend of the poor.’” She married a used to congregate every Sunday at the over their grandparents, who provided Greek man, chosen for her by her par- church, but now an Orthodox priest only childcare while they worked. Others sent ents, in an Orthodox ceremony per- comes every other week, and he’s not children back to Greece for the summer. formed at Holy Trinity Anglican Cathe- Greek. And even though the congrega- “But this led to a lot of heartbreak,” says dral. tion now includes Orthodox Christians Mary Kormazos, retired restaurant owner One of the most celebrated Greek from Russia, Romania and the former herself and Quebec daughter of Greek institutions in Quebec was George and Yugoslavia as well as Greece, you’ll be immigrant parents. “The girls would fall Theodora Trakas’ Old Homestead lucky to find more than 25 people in at- in love with local boys, get married and restaurant and hotel on Place d’Armes tendance.

The Auberge du Tresor Restaurant on Place des Armes was known 13 as the Old Homestead, when it was owned by the Trakas family. QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

CHAMPLAIN REVISITED Pomp and patriotism in the confection of a national history by Richard Virr

To celebrate the 400th anniversary of the arrival Lawrence, the exploration and description of the in- of the French explorer Samuel de Champlain, terior regions towards the Great Lakes, the upper Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill Uni- part of the state of New York and the shores of Lake versity Library arranged an exhibition that fea- Champlain. tured early and later editions of Champlain’s ac- Champlain’s voyages are recounted through counts of his voyages as well as materials from his own published works containing some of the Quebec City’s 300th anniversary celebrations most valuable iconography and cartography of and the 1909 Lake Champlain celebrations. The early New France. There was much to be gained following is adapted from this exhibition. by a settlement at Quebec. Dedicated to sus- tained colonisation in New France, Champlain uebec City, the first enduring settlement returned one last time as Governor in 1633. in Canada, was founded on 3 July 1608, There he died in 1635, after thirty-two years of by Samuel de Champlain. An intrepid strenuous effort. Quebec City was still little Q navigator and explorer of the New more than an outpost, numbering a few hundred World, Champlain was also responsible for the ex- souls. ploration and early settlement in the Maritime From such humble beginnings, Quebec City Provinces, the navigation of the Gulf of the Saint became an important capital and vibrant city. Its British military review at Quebec’s tercentenary, July 24, 1908. 14 Pictured: The Duke of York, future King George V, taking the salute, Lithograph by J.D. Kelly and A.H Hide. while Wilfind Laurier stands in the rear. SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008

importance was proclaimed through the Tercente- part in this volume and includes a most interest- nary celebrations, a splendid series of events ing description the and many obser- which took place from July 19th to July 30th, vations on the vicinity of Quebec: 1908. Recognising the significance of the foun- “De Ile d’Orleans ils furent moüiller l’ancre dation of Quebec in 1608, the Canadian and Que- à Quebec qui est vn destroit de la riuiere de bec governments planned a schedule of events Canadas, qui a quelques 300 pas de large: ce including a Procession of Champlain through the pays est vny & beau, City of Quebec, a Military Review on the Plains ou ils veirent de of Abraham, a Regatta in bonnes terres plaines the harbour and a spec- d’arbres, cóme tacular Pageant, per- chesnes, cypres, formed in the open illus- boulles, sapins, & trating the key historical trébles, & autres arbres events that shaped the fruictiers, sauvages, & future of the nation from vignes: le long de la the time of Champlain to coste dudict Quebec il the British Conquest. se trouve des Diamans The celebrations were dans des rochers presided over by the d’ordoise, qui sont Prince of Wales and at- meilleurs que ceux tended by dignitaries d’Alençon…” (p.419). from the British, French, Another source for United Sates and Cana- the early voyages is dian governments. the Le Mercure The Tercentenary français. This journal was a magnificent testi- contained news of po- mony of Canada’s grati- litical events involving tude to those heroic fig- France, its victories and European politics. Book ures who had con- Four of the first volume (1611) includes one of tributed to its history. It the earliest references to Champlain’s arrival at promoted a notion of the site of “Kebec” on 3 July 1608. The name common heritage among which he gave to the site had been used by the the population and stim- native Indians long before. It is derived from the ulated patriotic interest Algonquin word, meaning “a narrowing”, and is in the country. All the descriptive of the form which the St. Lawrence events were meant to be River begins to take there. both an educational and Champlain also published his voyages in an inspirational experi- four different accounts, some of which have ad- ence. A lasting reminder ditional issues or editions. Champlain provides of these celebrations is first-hand descriptions of the natives, their forti- to be found in the docu- fications, war tactics, and local customs, as well ments and colourful special supplements, sou- as an account of the wildlife that he observed venir booklets, albums and post cards that were during his travels: deer, caribous and an abun- produced for the occasion. dance of lake fish. Champlain was moved by the beauty of the country, which drew him back to escriptions of Champlain’s early voyages explore further each time. In all, Champlain to New France were first available in made nine voyages to the New World. chronologies and journals. For instance, The collective edition of the voyages, entitled, D Palma-Cayet’s Chronologie septenaire Les Voyages de la Nouvelle France Occidentale, de l’histoire de la paix entre les roys de France dicte Canada, faits par le Sr. de Champlain et et d’Espagne describes events relating to France toutes les Descouuertes, was published in dating from 1598 to 1604. Book Four published in 1632. It contains all of Champlain’s voyages in Paris, 1605, includes the earliest account of to New France from 1603-1629 and includes a Champlain’s first observations on Canada made detailed map of New France. In addition, this during the expedition led by Le Sieur du Pont edition contains a brief review of all the pro- (known as Pontgravé) in 1603. Champlain was ceeding French expeditions to the New World, responsible for providing the French king Henri and Book Two contains notes on the history of IV with a faithful report of the expedition includ- Canada, a treatise on navigation and an Oraison ing the navigation of and discoveries up the St. dominicale in French and Montagnais. The book Lawrence River. The report was published in was dedicated to Cardinal Richelieu.

15 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

Ten years prior to the three hundred year an- plain monument, orations were delivered, eulo- niversary of Quebec’s founding, the Champlain gistic of Quebec’s founder, and at the same time monument was dedicated in an inaugural ceremo- an urgent appeal for the unity of French Canadi- ny held 21 September, 1898. The story of the ans in matters of nationality and religion. monument’s commissioning and celebratory in- “Arriving at the Terrace towards three stallation on Dufferin Terrace near fort St-Louis o’clock in the afternoon where a large number of may have played a leading role in generating in- people had already gathered, the monument was terest and giving focus to what became a great at once bedecked with a shower of flowers deli- festival celebration. A call for submissions an- cately interwoven and neatly superimposed. nounced in July of 1895 by the Comité du monu- These were presented by the Catholic Associa- ment Champlain solicited design ideas from tion of French-Canadian youth, the Loyola Cir- artists, sculptors and architects. The honour was cle, the Chevalier du Levis circle, the Champlain awarded to the French sculptor Paul Chevré guard and by the youth of St. Sauveur. (1867-1914). Funds were raised across Canada “The monument now overlaid with pacific gar- by la Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Québec. lands was then encircled with Zouaves and other mili- An audience of 25,000 people witnessed the tary guards. Several thousand voices sang Canada’s monument’s dedication ceremony in what was national anthem; bands played; ensigns fluttered; mili- considered an historic commemoration of inter- tary commands were given, and the Quebec Tercente- national importance. Representatives of France, nary was on!” Great Britain, and the took part in the tremendous “Fête de Champlain”. The event he Champlain celebrations were graced by was conceived as an apotheosis of Samuel de the presence of His Royal Highness the Champlain and had many motivations. The fol- Prince of Wales representing his father, His lowing desciption of a Catholic youth celebration TMajesty King Edward VII. Again, from the honouring Champlain appeared in the Quebec Quebec Centenary Commemorative History (pp. 41, Tercentenary Commemorative History (Quebec: 43-45) we get this account: Daily Telegraph, 1908, p.18-19): “Wednesday [22 July] was the first grand day “With the honouring of the memory of of the Tercentenary celebrations. The promised Champlain at the foot of his monument on Duf- arrival of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales had made ferin Terrace by l’Association catholique de la the day a long desired one. All had been looking jeunesse Canadienne-Francaise, the celebrations forward to the coming of the Prince who was the which marked Quebec’s Tercentenary were com- central figure of the celebrations. Old Quebec menced. doubled its population on Wednesday. His Royal Highness arrived at the King’s Wharf aboard H.M.S. Indomitable. “The brilliant spec- tacle was emphasized by the booming of cannon from the citadel and the ships in port.... Amid the shower of this thunder the Indomitable, her decks manned and her yards dressed.... The vessels were now anchored. Around them came launches and boats of every description bearing messengers of two republics [France and the United States] and their admirals together with repre- sentatives of Britain and Canada. As soon as the gangway was low- ered, the Admirals and Captains of the Atlantic fleet accompanied “It was Sunday, the nineteenth of July. The by Rear-Admiral Kingsmill of the Canadian Ma- day was an ideal one. Quebec had assumed a rine Department went on board to pay their re- festive air, emphasized by the profuse decora- spects to the Prince of Wales. Following the tions which covered every part of the city.… naval contingent, His Excellency the Governor- The youth of French Canada … [f]ormed into a General [Earl Grey] and Field-Marshal the Earl procession consisting of about five thousand per- Roberts… [followed by] Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Mr. sons, these youths marched toward the Terrace Joseph Pope, Under Secretary of State, … Vice- and after depositing floral tributes on the Cham- President Fairbanks [U.S.A.] and Rear-Admiral

16 Map of the French settlement at Quebec by Samuel de Champlain, reproduced from his published Travels SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008

Cowles of New Hampshire. Following these assembled troops, His Royal Highness the Prince came the French naval commanders, who were in of Wales said: “It affords me the greatest pleas- turn succeeded by the Lieutenant-Governor of ure to hand over to Your Excellency, the repre- Quebec province, Sir Lomer Gouin, the chairman sentative of the Crown in Canada, the sum of and members of the battlefield commission, Ma- $450,000, which through the patriotism of jor-General Lake, and Brigadier-General Otter. British citizens in all parts of Canada and of the …After the official visits ceased,… the Prince Empire and the generosity of French and Ameri- descended the gangway and entered a little green can sympathizers, has been entrusted to me in or- launch, the swiftest der that the his- in the navy.… toric battlefields Several minuets of Quebec, on later the Prince which the two stepped on Canadi- contending races an soil. The Royal won equal and Standard floated imperishable over the King’s glory, may be ac- Wharf; the band of quired for the the forty-third Reg- Dominion and iment of Rifles, preserved under forming the guard the special su- of honour, played pervision of our the national an- Sovereign, as a them; the guard permanent shrine presented arms and of union and led by Sir Wilfrid peace. I place in Laurier, the gather- your hands, as ing on the wharf representative of cheered enthusias- the Sovereign, tically.” the charge of the sacred ground, which it is my pleasure to present to you on the 300th birthday n the sixth day of Quebec’s 300th an- of Quebec as a gift to the people of Canada and niversary celebrations, a grand military the Crown.” (Quebec Tercentenary Commemora- review was staged on the famous battle tive History, pp 77-78.) Osite where Britain had defeated France for control of the city 149 years earlier. he Champlain celebrations did not end in “It was the grand day for the soldiers and 1908. The following year Champlain’s sailors who gathered at Quebec,” enthused the discovery of the lake that bears his name authors of the Quebec Tercentenary Commerative Twas the focus of celebration. Organized History (p. 77). “The militia of Canada, number- primarily by the states of New York and Ver- ing about twelve thousand men, and the naval de- mont, the 1909 celebrations involved all levels fenders of three nations numbering about five of American government and like those of a year thousand, passed in review before His Royal earlier included representatives of Canada, Highness the Prince of Wales. France and Great Britain. Beginning on Monday, “From early morning troops had been march- July 4th at Crown Point Forts, New York, the ing through the streets until at ten o’clock the celebrations went on to Ticonderoga, New York vast concourse of men, steeds and guns had as- the following day and then to Plattsburgh, New sembled on the Plains of Abraham… A special York, Burlington, Vermont, Isle Le Motte, Ver- stand had been erected on the grounds where sat mont, finishing on Friday, July 9th at Rouse’s three thousand spectators among whom were the Point, New York. On Saturday there was a water official guests.… On the ground below were carnival at Rouses’ Point and a tablet was un- thousands of people watching the event.” As part veiled on the main building of the University of of the military review on Friday 24 July, the Vermont in Burlington. In addition to the usual Plains of Abraham were dedicated as a national speeches and dinners, there was an “Indian Pag- battlefield. eant” on each day, military and navel reviews “The review was a memorable one, for not and fireworks. These celebrations were officially military grandeur alone was displayed. The very concluded in July 1912 with the dedication of the interesting and simple ceremony of handing over Champlain Memorial Lighthouse at Crown Point the deeds of the battle-fields to the Canadian Forts and the unveiling of the Champlain Memo- people was also enacted.” After inspecting the rial Statue at Plattsburgh.

A Native deer hunt, as depicted in Champlain’s published Travels. 17 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

THE FORGOTTEN PATRIOTE E.B. O’Callaghan and the struggle against British autocracy in Quebec by Marjorie A. Fitzpatrick

This is the first in a four-part series of articles chroni- years studying sciences in France, he followed thou- cling the life and times of Edmund Bailey sands of fellow Irish emigrants to the promising British O’Callaghan, a complex but little-known historical fig- territory of in 1823.1 Once there, he ure who came to Quebec from Ireland at a crucial pe- headed straight for Montreal and enrolled in a fledg- riod in Canada’s history and who was among several ling program for would-be physicians at the Montreal prominent anglophones who sided actively with the Pa- Medical Institution, forerunner of the McGill Universi- triote fight for political reform in the early 19th centu- ty Faculty of Medicine. In McGill’s archives, he was ry. The articles are adapted from a paper given by the listed as an apothecary in the Institution’s employ—his author at the May 2008 conference of the Fédération means of supporting himself and paying for his studies. des sociétes d’histoire du Québec, and will appear se- O’Callaghan was awarded his physician’s and sur- quentially in forthcoming editions of Quebec Heritage geon’s license in October 1827 and a few months later News magazine. opened a medical practice in Quebec, where the already ny history of na- well-established Irish popula- tionalism in post- tion, with more arriving all Conquest Quebec the time, provided a likely Arightly gives clientele. By late 1828 he had great prominence to the Pa- become surgeon-in-residence triote rebellion of 1837 and at he Quebec Emigrant Hos- its leader, Louis-Joseph Pap- pital, and he and two other ineau-seigneur, member of a physicians opened a clinic in distinguished French-Cana- the port quarter of Pres-de- dian family, ardent reformer, Ville to serve immigrants. He and Speaker of Lower Cana- also took the lead over the da’s Assembly until the sus- next few years in numerous pension of the Constitution. other activities aimed at im- What many casual students proving the economic, educa- of the era fail to realize, tional and spiritual lost of the however, is that political city’s Irish community. He principle rather than ethnic co-founded a Mechanics’ In- nationalism was at the heart stitution and Library for of Papineau’s reformist phi- workingmen of the Saint Jean losophy. Indeed, some of the district, which opened its most zealous Patriotes (Wol- doors in January 1831. The fred Nelson and his brother Robert come to Mind) next year he joined other public-spirited citizens to were not French-Canadian at all. form a Temperance Society to combat widespread al- It is in that context that we cite the name of Ed- coholism. By far his most controversial activity was mund Bailey O’Callaghan, without a doubt Papineau’s serving as secretary of a Committee of Management closest friend and ally all throughout the 1830s, right formed by Quebec’s Irish Catholics, who were trying up to the cold, miserable night of December 4, 1837, to raise enough funds to buy a site and build a parish when the two men—by then both wanted fugitives church of their own following years of vain appeals to charged with high treason—escaped together over the the . When someone using the pseudonym border into American exile. The exploration of how “L’Impartial” published a bigoted letter in O’Callaghan came to be the outstanding English-lan- newspaper characterizing Irish as foreigners deter- guage voice of the Patriote cause in the Lower-Canadi- mined to overthrow the established customs of Que- an press and eventually Papineau’s most trusted lieu- bec, O’Callaghan, denounced the charges as “a gross tenant in the province’s Assembly reminds us once and unwarranted calumny on our character both as again of the critical role that anglophones have played Catholics and as citizens.” in Quebec’s history. Quebec’s Irishmen eventually won their battle O’Callaghan was born to a middle-class family in with the bishop, and O’Callaghan got to see the new Mallow, Ireland, in 1797. After spending a few teenage St. Patrick’s Church rise on the beautiful site he had

18 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008

helped select only a few months before he moved back ously introduced two bills in the House of Commons: to Montreal in late 1833.2 I, too, had the great good for- one, a Relief Bill removing the last civil impediments tune to see the remains of that imposing edifice before from Ireland’s Catholics-just the reform O’Connell had its final destruction by fire a few decades ago. been seeking-and the other, a bill to dissolve the Liber- But it was O’Callaghan’s role as Secretary of the ator’s Catholic Association in Ireland. Both these bills Quebec Friends of Ireland Society that ultimately had passed, and after a brief delay O’Connell took his seat the greatest influence on his future. The Friends of Ire- without incident as the first Catholic member of the land Societies were British House of Commons on February 4, 1830. The Created by Daniel O’Connell, known famously in raison d’être of the Friends of Ireland Societies now Irish history as “the Great Liberator” to generate inter- being moot, they too disbanded. national financial and moral support for his efforts to For that meant freedom to shift vir- claim the seat in the British Parliament that he had won tually all his young newspaper’s attention to Pap- in County Clare in 1828. No Catholic had ever sat in ineau’s reform movement, based, as O’Connell’s was the Commons under Elizabethan law, since Catholics in Ireland, on his compatriots’ claim to their rights as could not in conscience take the required religious British citizens. Papineau argued that these were oath. The Friends of Ireland were formed to help threatened in Lower Canada by the Constitutional Act, O’Connell test that oath’s enforceability. The first to (1791), which gave the province’s appointed Executive answer O’Connell’s call in Canada were the Irish of and Legislative Councils the power to veto any bill Montreal, who formed a Friends of Ireland Society in passed by the popularly-elected Assembly. While this September 1828. By O’Connell’s directive, there were governance structure applied to as well, no religious or national qualifications for membership. it was particularly iniquitous in Lower Canada, with its In October the Irish of Quebec followed suit, selecting overwhelmingly French population and thus distinctive Edmund Bailey O’Callaghan as their branch’s corre- character and needs. Tracey, in light of the Vindicator’s sponding secretary. new focus, now dropped the word Irish from the pa- In his first speech to the Society O’Callaghan per’s title, and declared in his New Year’s Day editori- praised John Neilson’ the Scottish-born Protestant pub- al in 1830: “The cause of the people of Canada is now lisher of the Quebec Gazette, for defending the Irish to us what that of Ireland was.” The Vindicator, barely against anti-Irish slurs in two competing newspapers. a year old, was already Lower Canada’s most influen- He also offered a motion to pledge the Society’s sup- tial pro-reform English-language newspaper. port for a new newspaper about to begin publication in Papineau himself, having grasped the importance Montreal, the Irish Vindicator, whose founder and edi- of cultivation the support of Irish, wooed the paper’s tor-another Irish-born doctor named Daniel Tracey-was young editor to run in the 1832 election as the reform O’Callaghan’s counterpart as Secretary of the Montreal candidate from Montreal’s notoriously volatile West Friends of Ireland. The first issue of the Vindicator ap- Ward. Tracey’s political credentials were already im- peared on December 12, 1828, and thereafter peccable. He and Ludger Duvernay, editor of la Min- O’Callaghan regularly used its columns to publicize erve, had recently served time in the Quebec jail3 for his own branch’s activities. When the French-Canadian criticizing the Legislative Council’s neglect of the As- vice-president of the Quebec Friends authored a peti- sembly’s demands. Their incarceration had turned tion to Parliament urging justice for Ireland’s them into instant heroes, not only to reformers but also Catholics, O’Callaghan emphasized the constitutionali- to advocates of freedom of the press. At a rally for the ty of the group’s goals and praised its ethnic and reli- jailed editors held in Quebec on January 19, the three gious diversity. As reported in the Vindicator of De- featured speakers were Elzéar Bédard, M.P.P., Étienne cember 23, he accused Britain of denying the Lower Parent, editor of Le Canadien, and E. B. O’Callaghan. Canadians’ rights as British subjects, as it had those of The election in spring 1832 saw an unusual level Ireland’s Catholics. of violence in Montreal’s West Ward, even by its own A nexus was thus forming that would soon lead brawling standards. On May 21, a day before Tracey O’Callaghan into the orbit of Louis-Joseph Papineau was declared the winner, soldiers sent to the polls by and his Patriotes. While Daniel Tracey gave extensive the city’s magistrates ostensibly to “keep the peace” coverage in the Vindicator to all the province’s Friends shot and killed three French-Canadians, giving the Pa- of Ireland Societies (now including one in Three- triote movement is first genuine martyrs. Tracey’s vic- Rivers), he also hammered constantly in its columns on tory did much to solidify the Tracey-Papineau alliance the resemblance between the Irish and the Canadian and to popularize le grand chef, as the latter was political situations, and specifically between Daniel known, among the Irish of Montreal. But fate still had O’Connell, the Great Liberator, and Lower Canada’s another card to play that spring. Cholera, which had Papineau. Tracey was already at heart a full-fledged devastated Europe the preceding winter, had penetrated Patriote, O’Callaghan would soon become one. Quebec via the immigrant ships despite frantic quaran- Just at this point events took a dramatic turn. In tine measures imposed by the Quebec Board of Health,4 March 1829 O’Connell’s long battle to claim his seat and quickly spread to Montreal as well. While the epi- in Parliament suddenly appeared to be won, when demic there appeared to be subsiding by mid-June, one Britain’s Interior Minister, Sir Robert Peel simultane- of that city’s last victims was the 39-year-old Vindica-

19 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

tor editor and Assemblyman-elect, Daniel Tracey, who When the governor, by then Lord Aylmer, con- died July 18. vened the Assembly on January 7, 1834, his throne As Papineau began coping with the fall-out from speech showed no hint of compromise, nor did the dis- this tragic event, his close friend, Edmond-Raymond patches he revealed to them from the British Colonial Fabre—well-known Montreal bookstore owner and Secretary, Lord Stanley. O’Callaghan characterized the warm supporter of reform—bought the Vindicator,and dispatches as paternalistic, even insulting. Papineau’s with Ludger Duvernay’s help began the search for a party now showed its muscle by referring the funding new editor. After months of indecision and one ill-suit- issue to a Special Committee for debate by the whole ed temporary appointment, Fabre offered the job to House “to discuss the state of the province”—a euphe- E.B.O’Callaghan, whose name first appeared on the mism for drafting a negative reply to the throne paper’s masthead on May 7, 1833. speech. In preparation for this debate, the Assembly The physician-turned-journalist left no doubt from members compiled a list of all the grievances they had the start where his ideological sympathies lay. In his been accumulation all the way back to 1821—a list first editorial he noted that many European peoples had that eventually numbered over a hundred items. On the recently wrested control from their counties’ corrupt eve of the debate, O’Callaghan commented in the Vin- oligarchies and claimed that a similar erosion of public dicator: “I look upon these resolutions as forming a confidence was growing in Lower Canada. new era in our political history, and am persuaded they O’Callaghan especially condemned the ploys by the will form the basis of a new Constitution.” In a few executive to circumvent the Assembly’s public-spend- years that prediction would be proved accurate, but not ing power. British control over patronage in the bu- in a way he nor anyone else could then have foreseen. reaucracy militia and judiciary favored anglophones. Lower-Canadian reformers were familiar with the 1830 uprisings in Europe, but O’Callaghan instead stressed NOTES the American revolutionary experience, arguing that 1 Although I was never able to confirm from primary the government’s abuses in Lower Canada threatened sources the details of O’Callaghan’s studies in France or the the colonial bond itself. To the Vindicator’s masthead date of his immigration to Canada, these and much other bi- motto—“Justice to all classes - Monopolies and Privi- ographical information on his pre-Canadian years are given leges to none”—he added a new heading to his own in his first serious biography by the Rev. Francis Shaw Guy, editorial column: “United We Stand - Divided We “Edmund Bailey O’Callaghan: A Study in American His- Fall.” In one issue he featured the text of the American tiograpy (1797-1880)”, (Washington, D.C.: Catholic Univer- Declaration of Independence, in another a portion of sity of America, 1934, published as Vol. XVIII of the Catholic University of America Studies in American Church the Continental Congress’s resolutions in 1774 to boy- History). Guy in turn probably relied heavily on information cott British goods. contained in the obituary of O’Callaghan published by John Nor did O’Callaghan avoid risky subjects within Gilmary Shea in the Magazine of American History, V, 1 (Ju- the colony itself. On the anniversary of the shooting of ly 1880), 77-80. O’Callaghan may well have confided details the three French-Canadians during the 1832 election he of his early life directly to Shea, his very close friend for sev- reminded his readers how the soldiers had killed citi- eral decades during the later years of O’Callaghan’s life and zens they had been sent out to protect. In another edito- a pall-bearer at his funeral. rial he took to task the once-favoured John Neilson of 2 All newspaper quotations were copied directly from the Quebec Gazette for being too ready to compromise the newspapers themselves during my years of research on O’Callaghan in various Quebec and archives. I owe with the oligarchy. In yet another issue, he accused the much of what I learned about the Committee of Management government of anti-French and anti-Catholic discrimi- and the struggle of the Irish of Quebec City for a church of nation for expediting the approval of McGill Universi- their own to my good friend Marianna O’Gallagher, who ty’s Act of Incorporation, while holding up the Collège generously shared with me copies in her possession of the de Saint-Hyacinthe’s similar request for letters patent. Committee’s Minutes as well as a wealth of information from No question, the situation in the province was tense. her extensive knowledge of the early history of the Irish in The government’s ignoring of the reformers’ griev- Quebec. She also published a book on the subject called ances had propelled the Patriotes into their first Assem- Saint-Patrick’s Quebec, 1824-1834 Sainte-Foy, Carraig bly majority in 1832, and in their continuing frustra- Books). She is a very active member and past president of Irish Heritage Quebec. tion, the new assembly refused to fund the governor’s 3 Later home to Morrin College, and still later to the civil list. Quebec Literary and Historical Society, where I conducted In 1833 the reformers were heartened, as was some of my own research. O’Callaghan, by news that Daniel O’Connell himself 4 Among these measures was the designation of Grosse had undertaken the Patriote cause in British House of Ile in the Saint-Lawrence River as a quarantine station in the Commons and had recommended making the (ultimately vain) hope of staving off cholera’s penetration in- province’s Legislative Council elective. But still noth- to Quebec. Marianna O’Gallagher introduced Canada to the ing happened, except that some thirty Montreal “life significance of this melancholy place in her ground-breaking Legislators”—bureaucrats and leading businessmen— work, Grosse Ile: Gateway to Canada 1832-1937 (Sainte- Foy: Carraig Books, 1984). sought to protect their own interests by forming a pro- Tory Association.

20 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008

GROUP BEHAVIOUR Exploring the role of schools in shaping English Quebecers’ identity by Annie Pilote

chools have the constitutional instance, considers them centres for One administrator who has been responsibility to ensure the cul- social and community activities working in the English school system tural and linguistic reproduc- “where the local population can share for many years concludes that English S tion of official-language minor- and express their heritage, cultural is making way for French: “I have ity communities by virtue of educational values and regional attachment.” seen this school change from being an rights written into the Canadian Charter But the capacity for schools to English school to what I call now ef- of Rights and Freedoms. Research un- help reproduce the local English- fectively a fausse école anglaise [a dertaken in francophone areas, namely speaking community is hindered by a phony English school].” This influx of the work of Rodrigue Landry and his phenomenon that is changing the students, for whom English is not the colleagues at the Canadian Institute for makeup of school population itself.2 language most commonly spoken, will Research on Linguistic Minorities in With every passing year, more and have an impact on the evolution of the Moncton have demonstrated that more students who speak French as a English-language education system. French-language schools play a major primary language are attending Eng- Funding to integrate these students role in ensuring the preservation and de- lish schools. This is due to the large and facilitate their acquisition of Eng- velopment of a community’s ethno-lin- number of students who have one lish language skills is a critical issue. guistic vitality. It is hardly surprising francophone parent and one anglo- The changing character of English that Canada’s francophone communities phone parent.3 Since anglophones in schools poses an additional challenge consider education of utmost importance the Quebec City region find them- to the perpetuation and transmission of in ensuring the survival and develop- selves in a social environment that is the culture of Quebec’s anglophone ment of the and culture overwhelmingly French-speaking, the community—a culture that already ap- in minority settings. But what about challenge of ensuring the linguistic pears difficult to define and to under- English-language schools in Quebec? and cultural continuity of anglophones stand. How do those involved in education is obvious. How do schools respond? When asked if there is a specific view the role of schools in this respect? anglophone culture in Quebec, the par- How do young people in these schools n order to better understand this ticipants were unable to reach a con- construct their identity with regards to challenge stakeholders from the sensus aside from the fact that the the English-speaking community? A city’s English education system community is composed of diverse closer look at the situation in Quebec Imet in December 2007 to discuss cultural backgrounds as shown in the City may provide some answers. what English schools’ role should be following comments from round-table According to the 2006 Canadian in the transmission of language and participants: Census, just 1.45 per cent of the popu- culture in the context of the francoph- “When you talk about English cul- lation in the Quebec City metropolitan one majority.4 The first observation ture, there isn’t an English culture. area considers English to be their was that the Central Quebec School There is an Irish culture, there is a mother tongue, with an additional 0.30 Board covers such a vast geographic Scottish culture and there is an Eng- per cent claiming both English and territory that it is difficult to create a lish culture. Those cultures are not the French. Even fewer people speak Eng- sense of community at all. Moreover, same. So when you talk about Quebec lish at home: 1.05 per cent claim to according to participants, the anglo- City area, you have to take a look at speak mainly English at home, while phone population is so small that it is [the] historical. Quebec High School 0.28 per cent use both English and difficult to maintain an identity as a is Protestant Scottish; St.Pat’s would French. Consequently, the community group. Recruiting anglophone teach- be more Irish Catholic—more integra- has a particularly low demographic ers, or even bilingual teachers, is now tive of the francophone population. So weight characterized by a strong level a major challenge. And, as mentioned our cultural basis is not the same.” of integration into a largely French- above, an increasing number of stu- speaking milieu. Within this context, dents considered “non-anglophone” hus, although they share a lan- English-language schools are a basic are attending English schools. Even guage, anglophones have dif- institutional need, much like French- when one parent is anglophone, the ferent cultural backgrounds. language schools outside of Quebec. children do not necessarily speak Eng- TAfter a lengthy discussion, the These schools are more than mere lish at home. This situation also ap- participants concluded that the role of places of learning. The Quebec Eng- plies to teachers and other school staff the English-language school was not to lish School Boards Association,1 for members. transmit cultural heritage, but to develop

21 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS a sense of belonging among the students, in the cultural values and social priori- plies to all members of the English- so that they would either stay in the re- ties of a community.5 speaking minority. Rising levels of gion or come back after completing their Most participants in the round- bilingualism among young Quebec an- education. Although they did not agree table discussion agreed that it was glophones, moreover, show that they on a definition of culture, the partici- necessary for young anglophones to can dialogue with French-speaking pants were emphatic that there was not master French in order to get jobs and Quebecers and participate in a com- one common anglophone culture but achieve professional success in Que- mon public life. rather a melting pot, with an attitude of bec, but there was little enthusiasm Although the English language is openness and respect for “the Other.” about the role of schools in the trans- not threatened due to its dominant sta- In addition to the development of mission of a minority’s cultural her- tus in a globalized world, the preser- a sense of belonging, another theme itage. Still, doesn’t the future of Que- vation of the cultural heritage of this that emerged during the discussions bec’s English-speaking minority rest minority in Quebec is far from as- concerned youth migration. All the in part on its ability to meet this chal- sured. Many young people identify participants shared a strong desire to lenges posed by this issue? In the cur- English-language schools as a major see young people in their community rent situation, do schools encourage factor in their feeling of belonging to return to Quebec City after completing the development of an anglophone the anglophone community, thus con- their post-secondary education. Some- identity and a sense of belonging to a firming the importance of the institu- one suggested winning them back by cultural community that is distinct (at tion in the construction of a sense of creating opportunities for training and least in some way) from the francoph- identity. Shouldn’t schools foster in work placements. In the same vein, the one majority? youth the confidence to engage as an- participants acknowledged that, in glophones in Quebec society, thereby most instances, it was necessary to s the culture of groups shaping an inclusive society that is work in French in Quebec City and evolve constantly, it is im- proud of its cultural diversity? this constraint was seen as a factor in- portant to remember that hibiting the return of young people schools are also places where Annie Pilote teaches at Université Laval’s A Observatoire Jeunes et Société in Quebec who had attended an English-language young students with a variety of person- school. On the other hand, participants al identities meet, and sometimes clash City. This article was translated from the shared a perception that the Quebec with, the collective identity promoted by French by Patrick Donovan. City region lacked skilled bilingual school staff.6 It is this relationship be- workers. Even though some felt that tween “Me” and “Us” that motivated my NOTES these young people should not have research among young people in Quebec difficulty finding employment after City’s English-language school network. 1 Quebec English School Boards Association (2002), Brief on the fluctuating demograph- graduation, it was pointed out that The results of this research reveal ics in the education sector, [Online] sometimes anglophones have a hard that youth have a wide diversity of lin- http://www.qesba.qc.ca/documents/briefs_do time meeting employer expectations. guistic identities that range from the cs/fluctuations_demographics.PDF (February “In the province of Quebec,” not- most francophone to the most anglo- 2008). ed one round-table participant, “re- phone, while also including bilingual garding the workforce, you have an identities. This mix of identities testi- 2 Jedwab, Jack (2004), Vers l’avant: advantage if you are bilingual. But in fies to the dissolution of traditional l’évolution de la communauté d’expression reality, you have an extreme advantage linguistic boundaries and brings forth anglaise du Québec (étude spéciale), Com- when your French skills are better numerous senses of belonging of dif- missariat aux langues officielles, Ottawa. than your English skills.” ferent natures. The following excerpt 3. Jedwab, Jack (2002), La révolution “tran- These positions are partly consis- from an interview with a young girl at- quille” des anglo-québécois,inDenise tent with the conclusions of the Task tending an English school in Quebec Lemieux (dir.), Traité de la culture, Les édi- Force on English Education presided City illustrates this point well: tions de l’IQRC, Sainte-Foy, p. 181-199. by Gretta Chambers in the early “I think I am… hmm… a bilingual 1990s. This report recommended that Canadian who is from… hmm… well, 4 For the full report, see Pilote, A. and S. the role of English-language schools I am a bilingual ‘Québécoise’ who is Bolduc (with the participation of D. Gérin- was to educate students who would be also Canadian and who is proud to be Lajoie) (2008), L’école de langue anglaise bilingual and capable of participating ‘Québécoise’ and Canadian.” au Québec: bilan des connaissances et nou- veaux enjeux (phase 2). Round-table proced- both socially and professionally within Much like francophone minorities ings from Quebec and Montréal regions; In- Quebec society, all the while ensuring in other Canadian provinces, many stitut canadien de recherche sur les minorités the preservation of the English-speak- young people educated in English in linguistiques, Moncton, N.B. ing minority’s cultural heritage. This Quebec build complex identities with conclusion builds on a central idea different facets that can be mobilized 5 Chambers, G. (1992). Task Force on Eng- within the report, namely that the edu- according to the situations at hand or lish Education, Report to the Quebec minis- cation of a community’s youth serves the objectives pursued. In such a set- ter of Education, p.1. as a foundation to the edification of its ting, one wonders how English 6 Research funded by the Fonds québécois future, and that confiding the educa- schools can expect to promote a single de recherche sur la société et la culture tion of youth to others leads to a shift unifying collective identity that ap- (2004-2007).

22 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008

BOOK REVIEW Remember All the Way:

History of the Chalmers-Wesley United Church, Quebec City

Price-Patterson, Limited $30 276 pages

t first glance, Remember All the Way Alexander Spark’s congregation broke away in simply traces the Chalmers-Wesley 1800 and petitioned the London Missionary Soci- United Church’s long history, but a ety, sponsored by the Congregationalist church, A deeper inspection uncovers a far to send them a minister. Reverend Clark Bentom wider scope. Author George Crawford profiles arrived and served uneventfully from 1801-02. each Congregationalist, Presbyterian and However, in 1803, he was denied the court’s sig- Methodist minister from 1759 on, in roles as nature on the registers of baptisms, marriages shipbuilders, businessmen and doctors, to create and funerals, a necessary condition for them to a ’s development through be legal. Bentom continued performing the cere- these prominent men. monies until he was criminally charged on March The successes and shortcomings of each min- 23, 1803. He eventually served six months in ister are described, making them appear more hu- prison and, upon release in 1805, returned to man and accessible to those seeking a proper England. way to remember them. Indeed, one’s respect for The Palace Street Congregational Church the men increases, as they prove to have over- was built in 1840 and continued to grow as the come personal and political struggles to devote city experienced a shipbuilding boom. In the their lives to their faith. same way, membership and donations fell after Methodist preacher Nathan Bangs arrived in 1866 as shipbuilding and square-timber indus- Quebec City in 1806, to a church of less than a tries declined. By the late 1870s Palace Street dozen members. Working on a salary of a dollar found it impossible to pay the minister’s salary a week, his diary records his initial mortification and maintain the building, and the church closed over borrowing money, regret for putting his in 1881. Most of the congregation moved to wife through hardship but, ultimately, his Presbyterian churches. restorative faith. “When [God] had sufficiently There had been two branches of Presbyteri- humbled me to depend entirely on himself, he anism since 1843, when Thomas Chalmers led a sent me help in a way I little expected,” he group out of the traditional Church of Scotland. wrote. “A servant would arrive with the kind re- In Quebec City the two main Presbyterian con- spects of unknown persons, with valuable pres- gregations, Chalmers and St. Andrew’s, followed ents of food, sugar, or tea.” the Free Church movement and traditional Pres- At times, descriptions of Methodist revival byterianism, respectively. The distinction had lit- meetings in the 1830s-40s might seem foreign, tle effect, as the two congregations occasionally even threatening, to non-religious readers. But held events together. Crawford balances these with gentle self-reflec- tion, refusing to smooth over the uglier parts of hen Italian preacher Alessandro church history. Instead, he traces the responses Gavazzi arrived in 1853 to give a to challenges and how the three denominations lecture at Chalmers Church, Rev- eventually amalgamated into the United Church W erend John Cook of St. Andrew’s of Canada in 1925. It’s his knack of avoiding attended. It proved important later on, as Cook flowery prose that saves this history—at 276 was called on for an account of the night’s pages rich—from becoming too dry. events. Gavazzi, a former Catholic monk, had The Congregationalist church was estab- converted to and was in Quebec on lished in Quebec City with more than a little an anti-papal campaign. An hour into his defama- controversy. Some of Presbyterian minister tory lecture, protestors stormed the stage as the

23 QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS police force apparently refused to interfere. “I and John Henderson Holt, the owners of Holt said to the police, ‘Why are you standing here Renfrew, an upscale fashion boutique with while there is a man being murdered in the stores across Canada. Reverend Salem Bland, church?’” Cook testified later. Gavazzi’s secre- who served from 1889-1892, went on to help tary was stabbed and beaten. When Gavazzi lec- form the Co-operative Commonwealth Federa- tured in Montreal three nights later, another riot tion, which became the New Democratic Party ensued and 10 people were killed. in 1961. The United Church was formed in 1925 but Towards the turn of the century, Crawford some Presbyterian churches, including St. An- loses a bit of steam and the profiles begin to drew’s, remained independent, perhaps for read like a curriculum vitae of each minister. fear they would lose their voices among the They do, however, offer a glimpse into chang- bigger Methodist churches. Chalmers joined ing social trends. During the Temperance with the Wesleyan Methodist Church to form movement, which gained strength in the late Chalmers-Wesley United Church in 1931. 19th century, temperance songs such as The Wesleyan Methodists had benefitted “Where is my wandering boy tonight?” were over the years from a number of prominent included in the church repertoire. After the trustees. One such man, Dr. James Douglas, Second World War, women’s societies such as left New York for Quebec City in 1826 to es- the Young Mothers’ Club became more active. cape a criminal offense. Douglas had been dig- Remember All the Way takes on an added ging up corpses for medical study when he significance in a year when the province is was discovered by a stage-driver one day. celebrating the past and looking ahead. With Body snatching was a crime and, not trusting the continuing decline in church attendance, the stage-driver’s promise of silence, Douglas one might wonder if the institution will occu- quickly fled the country. He settled in the city py an important place in the future. Crawford and eventually opened both a private hospital offers over 200 years worth of social action to and a hospital for mentally ill patients, who show why it should. had prior to this time been mistakenly placed in prisons. Other trustees included George Renfrew Reviewed by Gloria Er-Chua

24 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008

HINDSIGHT Harmony by Nick Fonda

he same weekend that Sir Paul played res. Then there was the choir itself which, the Plains, I made the trek to Quebec with 1,400 voices, seemed a little too big to City to take in Et si Québec m’était have any chance of being beautiful. T chantée, a much different sort of I first met Jerry several years ago when spectacle being performed at the Colisée de my two daughters were close friends in high Québec. I didn’t make the McCartney show school (and formed a prize-winning piano although I heard a lot about it, including from duo). At the time, he was on leave of absence a brother-in-law who drove almost 2,000 kilo- from his teaching job at Campus St. Jean, the metres to see the former Beatle. As it turned francophone arm of the University of Alberta, out, the choir recital mounted by Carole Bella- and he was living in Sherbrooke where his vance and the Alliance des chorales du wife, Martine, was finishing up her doctoral Québec, like the McCartney concert, was not dissertation. Although he was born in northern without political counterpoints. I left the Saskatchewan and grew up in English, he stud- show feeling buoyed by an ethereal euphoria ied French and now lives and works in French and full of snippets of rhythm and melody and in Edmonton. Among other things, Jerry and I lyric. share the experience of belonging to an invisi- I’d heard about the recital for quite some ble, linguistic minority. And it was he who in- time but the decisive factor was my old friend troduced me to Laurier Fagnan, director of Ed- Jerry Cavanagh. If he hadn’t been singing, I monton’s Chorale Saint Jean, the only non- probably wouldn’t have gone. For one thing, Quebec member of L’Alliance des chorales the forecast was for rain, (a daily occurrence and one of 64 choirs who traveled to the Col- in July). For another, hockey rinks no longer isée this summer help mark Quebec City’s interest me as musical venues; if I’m going to 400th anniversary. “Being accepted to partici- listen to music I want more comfort and much pate in this historic event was a great privilege friendlier acoustics. Besides, choral singing for us,” Fagnan later told me. isn’t high on my list of favourite musical gen- Like Jerry, Fagnan teaches at Campus St.

Alliance des chorales du Québec perform at the Colisee, 18 July 2008. 25 Photo by Michel Simard, Petits chanteurs de Charlesbourg, QUEBEC HERITAGE NEWS

Jean. But while Jerry is a volunteer member of the choir members and flashing images to reflect the choir, for Laurier, making music is the most en- songs or narration, complemented rather than dis- joyable and most demanding part of his professo- tracted. The actors and dancers who occasionally rial workload. It’s also a long-standing passion. appeared swept with grace across the stage. When Though he took time off to earn a Master’s degree the show ended I clapped as loud and hard as any- from Université Laval and to research his PhD in one and I would have gladly sat down to listen to France (his doctoral dissertation was on choral it all one more time. acoustics), Fagnan’s involvement with the Chorale has been otherwise uninterrupted since he first joined as an 18-year-old undergraduate. People would tell me things like, ‘I never “This has been a very busy year for us,” he recalled. “Our participation at the Quebec City realized there were French communities in concert was the last of seven concerts we gave in Quebec, and prior to going east we had already the West.’ One gentleman told me, ‘Your had a very full schedule here in Alberta, including government could have done nothing bet- a free concert of all-Quebec music we gave with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in honour of ter than to send you to Quebec to sing.' Quebec City’s 400th.”

booked into one of the few hotels which While 2008 represents a 400th birthday for seemed not to have doubled its prices since I Quebec City, it also marks the centenary of the last stayed in Quebec a few years ago, and University of Alberta and Campus St. Jean, an in- I then navigated my way to the arena to pick stitution vital to French-speaking Albertans. For up my tickets. The seats on the length of the arena Chorale Saint-Jean’s members, who come from to our right were empty, reserved for the choir. both the university and the community at large, About half of what would normally be the ice sur- singing across Quebec this past summer meant se- face was spectator seating. Much of the other half rious personal commitments of time and money. of the rink was given over to a very large, low Though the choir organized fundraising activities stage which seemed to absorb people like a and were successful at getting some grant money, sponge absorbs water. It ended up accommodat- the Quebec tour—featuring sell-out performances ing the five-man band, an even larger team of in Trois-Rivières and Victoriaville—represented a technicians with soundboards and lighting panels $1,000 outlay for each of the 47 singers who and amplifiers, the entire children’s choir, the cos- came. tumed members of the adult choir, the choir direc- Fagnan said what most touched him on this tors and as many as two dozen actors and dancers. year’s tour were comments he received after the Above the seats reserved for the choir were two shows. “People would tell me things like, ‘I nev- large screens and probably as many as two dozen er realized there were French communities in the microphones. West.’ One gentleman told me, ‘Your government After the first few minutes I felt less anxious could have done nothing better than to send you to for the show to start than for it to be over. The Quebec to sing.’” concert was to be narrated by an overly sonorous, invisible narrator who wanted us to believe he s an anglophone living in Quebec it was a tree reminiscing on the 400 winters, was impossible not to notice that Et si springs, summers and falls he had lived with the Québec m’était chantée was presented residents of Quebec. I heard echoes of elemen- A almost entirely in French; no songs by tary-school concerts. Spare me! Kashtin or Leonard Cohen figured on the reper- And then, somewhere before the end of the toire. As a history buff, it was ironic to note that second piece, the mood suddenly shifted 180 de- Quebec’s 400th this year has been mostly a cele- grees. The music became an aural and visual feast: bration of the survival of francophone culture, a small band that was very tight and very clean, whereas its 300th had been first and foremost a voices that rose as if to lift you to the rafters, choir tribute to the glory of the British Empire. As an directors (six of them, and sometimes directing in optimist I believe that music might still save us, tandem) who, even 100 feet away, seemed to vi- though I’ll put my money on choral recitals rather brate. It was a musical buffet, from Mozart to than rock concerts. Gilles Vigneault and culminating with Claude Gau- The most poignant words spoken to Laurier thier’s “Le plus beau voyage”, with new lyrics Fagnan this summer came from a woman who penned for the 400th. Martin Gravel’s “Totem”, shook his hand after a concert and said, simply: with its powerful, driving percussion was my par- “Grâce à vous, je vais à nouveau pouvoir chanter ticular favourite. The sound was cathedralesque. O Canada avec fierté.” The screens alternately panning the faces of the

26 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008

EVENT LISTINGS

Eastern Townships November 8, 2008, 10:30 a.m. 1455, boul de Maisonneuve Ouest Speaker: Gordon Morley Société d’histoire de Sherbrooke, Topic: Mount Hermon Cemetery in Sillery October 29, 2008, 7:30 p.m. 275 Dufferin, Sherbrooke (Quebec City) Topic: Yeatsian Paradigms: Irish Theatre Info : 819-821-5406 and Society, 1926-1967 [email protected] December 13, 2008, 10:30 a.m. www.shs.ville.sherbrooke.qc.ca Speaker: Malcolm Cogswell October 30, 2008, 8:30 p.m. Topic: Editing a Family Newsletter, large Topic: Major Redefinitions in Irish The- Permanent exhibition, and small atre, 1968-2008 Sherbrooke 1802-2002, Two centuries of history Westmount Historical Association November 6, 2008, 8:30 p.m. Westmount Public Library Room H-1220, Pavilion Hall building, Uplands Cultural & Heritage Center Fall Lecture Series 2008 Concordia University 1455, boul. De (Lennoxville) Cost: Members: Free Maisonneuve Ouest Tel: 819-564-0409 Non-members: 5$ Speaker: Louis de Paor, Ph.D Info: 514-925-1404 or 514-932-6688 Topic: Irish-Language Poetry Reading Till October 26, 2008, Wen-Sunday, 1- Email: [email protected] 4:30 p.m. November 13, 2008, 8:30 p.m. Exhibition November 20, 2008, 7-9 p.m. Room H-1220, Pavilion Hall Building, Sara Peck Colby, Artist Dawson College: Looking back 40 years Concordia University, 1455, boul. De Recent Works of the Eastern Townships Speaker: Sally Nelson, English teacher at Maisonneuve Ouest Admission is free Dawson for 39 years. Speaker: Nessa Cronin, Ph.D Topic: An Irish Poetics of Place? Poetry, Lennoxville-Ascot Historical & Museum December 18, 2008, 7-9 p.m. Topography and the Irish Literary Tradi- Society Centenary of Roslyn School, 1908 tion 9 Speid St.,second floor of Uplands Presentation by members of Dramatis Per- 819-564-0409 sonae, Westmount’s Community Theatre Quebec City

Till December 2008, Wens-Sun., 1-4:30 Société d’histoire de Pointe-Saint-Charles Morrin Centre - (418) 694-9147 p.m. Information : Luc Latraverse, Secrétaire Guided Tours Exhibition 514-938-1660 Mary Catharine (Minnie) Gill, Artist Email: [email protected] Theatrical guided tours newly-restored dis- Over 30 works of the Eastern Townships www.histoire-pointesaintcharles.org cover old cells, 19th century classrooms Admission is free and a unique Victorian library Pont Victoria Tour Stanstead Historical Sociey October 5 and 19,2008, 1:00 p.m. Outaouais Pontiac Colby-Curtis Museum, Given in English Info: 819-876-7322 Gatineau Valley Historical Society [email protected] Guided tours on the history of the Grand 819-827-6224 Trunk Railway Company and the con- Email: [email protected] November 8, Gérard Leduc Ph.D. (in struction of the Victoria Bridge. French) Leaving from Tansey Park at the corner of Current Exhibit Lake Memphremagog: its history, legends Centre and Wellington streets Images of Farm Point and archaeology Chelsea Municipal Offices St. Patrick’s Society Montreal 514-848-8711 Exhibit at the Wakefield Library The Quebec Family History Society Email: [email protected] Covered Bridges of the Gatineau Valley Info: 514-695-1502 Website: www.cdnirish.concordia.ca Email: [email protected] November 11, 2008 www.qfhs.ca The Third Annual Lecture in Canadian Remembrance Day-Chelsea Cenotaph Free Lecture Series , St. Andrew’s United Irish Studies Pioneer Cemetery at the grave of Richard Church, Lachine Free Admission Rowland Thomson Location: Room: H-1220, Pavilion Hall Building, Concordia University

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