FRENCH CANADIANS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1960, 17 January 1914, Page 14

FRENCH CANADIANS.

SOME OF THEIR TRAITS.

I ROMAN CATHOLIC QUEBEC,

r (B,T^OtiSyiea'.:E^ ;>*When" ypu.'-npproßchVSa'i "man . whoso 'name- you*know.to.,:.bo .Doiiald M'J'her-; son, aiid/askVhhri."if!ho; : .would : call,for a whisky j\"and ho Tcplies,.."Jo ne com* prend pas,";-you have grounds for astonisHmont.'H.This happens .in tho Quebec province of Canada... Many men with Highland'-names, and j= still ■ typically Scotch in appearance-, ■ "\ speak neither Gaelic nor English—only French'.-•-Tho Anglo-Saxon population .of Canada has long ago. given.up all idea of absorbing tho French, and whatever.absorption is going on is at the expense of tho English., In 1763.'.t1iM-e were .69,000 French in Canada; m"l9ll,,thcro\vero 1,605,339 in Quebec: province alone,, ami almost that immuei-.Jias. gonevto -tho United States and Ontario;;. .This enormous increase- has been shown practically without tho aid*, of immigration, "and in spite of the,, influx . into Canada of a vast non-French population.- It is due solely to the iunuenco' of the Roman Catholic. Church, and a high birth-rate. Families of twenty have, been common i in. Quebec, - and though overcrowding and insanitary conditions-in parts resulted ill a high infantile mortality, and mado tho women of Quebec very prone to consumption, the French ha,ve accom- ! plished their desire to possess at kast one province of the Dominion as their own. In tho decade 190141, the British population of Cana'da, fed by continuous . immigration ... from the States and the United Kingdom, racreased by I 27.22 per cent," ■ In. the same timo the French population, fed by no tributary, increased by 22.59 per cent,, whiletown- '■ ships in the Eastern part of Quebec, which used to bo English, have become French, and Roman Catholio scliogls have displaced Protestant. Even Ontario; which prides itself on being more British than London,,: has folt the li'-rench invasion. l -V- ¥'4V • - - : Tliero is no menace in this segregation and increase of French-Canadians. They are a source of- strength to Canada and the Empire. They are notdisloyal,... though they>have-often had to 'submit to the- taunt. If you wish to realise the essential greatness of the British Emniro, go to the noMo Parliament Buildings in Quebec, note tlio ; French heroes whose fame is perpetuated in the niches—Champlain, Mont* calm, Maison Neuvo, Montmorency, Laval, end a host of others whose names are probably unknown to you— note the Union Jack spread in the breeze above them, and reflect that in Quebec, where English is practically a foreign tongue, that flag is held in the flamo reverence and affection as in London. Then tour to. tho south of tho famous Chateau Frontenao -observe tho simple granite- shaft'which enmmpmrtrisies Woifo and Montealm, and read the inscription; "Valor gave them a common death. History, a common famo. ! and Posterity n- common ' monument." To do this is : to realise that tho chief glory of the British. Empire is that it .respects the ■ rights, and consciences of minorities. ,, :. "j-V- tf's , '--i}^' :, : : ■-.:". - '" -.•■■ Tho Nationalist Movement.: ; " French-Canadians are not militarists. Tho Nationalist movement, which aims ; to keep Canada out of the general mass of the. Empire,-- originated 'amongst ■them. This is not .disloyalty. . It is the prejudice—obsession, if you will—of an agrarian people. French-Canadians ore farmers, ana ■- their,, forefathers . were Normandy They are. an isolated community, susceptible to few outsido inttuonces, and with little idea of world politics. They have 310 history. They do isot want to fight, mid I they think they have no enemies. Therefore they do.not want to spend money on armaments. But if ever ■French-Canadians realise the dsinger of another Hag floating over tho Citadel of Quehcc, the Nationalist movement will collapse like a pricked bubble, and thoy will rush to arms. That is what they did when tho Americana invaded Canada. French-Canadians would perhaps prefer independence- to the British connection, but they infinitely prefer the British connection to the' nilo of any other power. They know that their separate schools . would not continue under tho Stars and Stripes, and that their religious privileges would , be curtailed. . Tho domination of Germany would ho intolerable, and the tricolor'of i Eppublican and secular Franco would bo more irksome than tho Union Jack. Quebec owes nllogjaneo to Rome, and after that to King' George. . "Lot us be French as tho Americans [are English," says' M. Bourassa, the Nationalist leader, and in so saying he merely reiterates the determination of French-Canadians to preserve their language. They have done this so well that if you walk into one of the unpretentious but exeellont restaurants that abound in the east end of Montreal you will probably have to talk French or order by dumb show. There have, been a few ill-timed attempts to make English the language of' Quebec, but it is now.- agreed that Quebec must £or ever be a bi-lingun.l province, with French tho predominant tongue. It would be strange indeed if this were not so. for anyone who roads history without bias must acknowledge that in tlio discovery- and settlement of Quebec, and Canada generally, the French played a far more important' part than the English. Their heroic priests- carried the cross and the flag far inland in the face of privation and peril. Wolfe's military genius changed tho destiny of Canada, but it did not altogether wipe out history. If time has dealt kindly with' FrenchCanadian ambition to possess Quebec it lias blurred some wilder dreams. One fif these was that the sacrifices , of French mothers might peoplo Canada. The high birth-rate in Quebec has been tho expression of a political hope wliieh tho Church encouraged. At one time tho Provincial Government used to.give land grants to largo families, and but for the eiwrmous non-French immigration into Canada the dream might have come near realisation. - Even now the ; Church has a, tender regard for its adherents outsido Quebec. On Juno 24 last hundreds of French women were selling buttons and flags on the streets of Montreal "for the education of Ontario." If one asked in English the purposo of this effort thoy replied in French: "Don't you speak French?" Tho proceeds were to bo devoted to the propagation of the French language in Ontario and to the French schools. In its French population Canada has an asset of tremendous value, an asset which is best appreciated after a visitto the Prairies. Tho besetting sin of tho "Wost is materialism. If Quebeo has any fault it is other worldlmoss. Wost of "Winnipeg nothing counts but tlio dollar; there is little leisure, littlo reverence, littlo contemplation, no timo for day-dreams. In Quebec province! Wo Church is supreme, literature flourishes as nowhere elso in Canada, tho priest passes contemplatively, the habitant tills his ancentral farm; 1 and tho busy world rushes by unheeded. . Quebec has escaped the materialism that threatens-to strangle the rest of Canada. The Freßcli-Canadinn is therefore a valuable factor in the national make- : up, whatever • his intrinsic weakness may be. : ■ ; . -■.■■' ■ . ■:.;...<!-.,', .; :Ths Power of tho Crtureh. Quebec is even more' Roman Catholic I than French, for there are sonio Irish i settlements, Tho Church really has tho privilege of a State Church, , but is ini dopondent of the State. Tio oiire reIpoivea 1-264.01 ti% gerotls produced^.

lils ■ parishioners aud taxes arc lovie4 ■by tho Church fox tbo erection and maintenance of buildings. These taxes are enforced by the civil Courts. Schools and teachers arc under the direct, control of the Church, which was formerly, wont , to exorcise* a direct conVtrol over the political machinery of tho province." In recent years the Church, .though, it 'lifts continued to exorcise a largo influence, direct and indirect, on politics, has interfered less ostentatiously.:. The rebuke, of tho Church is still dreaded in Quebec; in former years it lias silenced newspapers, closed then* tres, and altered tho amusements of .the people. Tho results of Roman Catholic domination in Quebec province are to be judged in two ways. Visit tho ramitry aud you find a peasantry which is frugal, hoisest, hospitable, kindly, ignorant, and without enterprise. Visit Montreal and' you find a city two-thirds French with two-thirds of tho wealth and industry in English hands. Probably French enterprise has been crippled by lack of capital, but there is no reason to doubt that tho ascendancy of Protestants in business is duo to their superior education. Tho teaching imparted at Roman Catholicschools lia-s been utterly inadequate and little suited for commercial purposes. A change is at hand, the Provincial Government now showing ailniirablo enthusiasm for an all-around improvement m educational facilities. _ Not only , is the primary course being made nioro thorough, but great attention is beiug paid to technical and agricultural education. With this improvement in French schools and a moro generous supply of capital from Paris it is probable that British commorcial supremacy at Montreal will be' moro severely tested in tho future than ui the past. I hope the spread of education in Quebec province willnot lead to all encroachment of that materialism which is blighting Western life. If it <Joes, thero will bo a net loss, butthefo is no reason why it should. Wore that quiet, Old-World corner to become just like the rest of North America it would be a tragedy. . .. 1