From: CZ94@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA (CZ94)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: A bilingual West (was Re: Denied access...)
Date: 28 Aug 92 19:14:38 GMT
Organization: McGill University

In article <CLAMEN.92Aug26223608@BYRON.SP.CS.CMU.EDU> clamen+@CS.CMU.EDU (Stewart Clamen) writes:
>In article <BtLDK3.48t@ireq.hydro.qc.ca> beaurega@ireq.hydro.qc.ca (Denis Beauregard) writes:
>
>   In article <BtK0wC.Kt8@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca> gordon@madmax.uwaterloo.ca (Gordon R. Strachan) writes:
>   >In article <BtJvLD.I18@ireq.hydro.qc.ca> beaurega@ireq.hydro.qc.ca (Denis Beauregard) writes:
>   >>
>   >>7 millions of francos where assimilated and humiliated because of
>   >>illegal laws in Western Canada.  We just don't care about your silly
>   >>problem.
>   >
>   >Just out of curiosity could you please tell me when there were ever 7 million
>   >French speaking people in western Canada?  Even for you this statement is
>   >pretty outrageous.
>   >
>   If the western provinces had been bilingual in 1870-1900, the migration
>   to USA would have been directed to west and we would have get more French
>   in West and less in USA.  There are some 14 millions descendants of French
>   in North America.  6 millions in Quebec, let's presume 1 or 2 millions out
>   of Quebec still speaking French, and we get 6 or 7 more millions who could
>   have kept the French language without the anti-French laws (that were
>   found illegal 100 years after).
>
>Actuellement Denis, les lois ont eu de controverse a ce temps la.
>
>As I have in the past made comments similar to Denis's, I have chosen
>to add some qualification.
>
>DATELINE: Manitoba
>
>1870 - Manitoba created as a bilingual province
>1890 - With (French) Catholics reduced by Protestant immigration to
>       only 10% of the population, provincial legislature passes law
>       disbanding separate (French-language) Catholic schools in
>       favour of a single, English-language non-denominational system,
>       and abolishes official status for French.
>1896 - The Federal Conservatives inability to resolve the Manitoba
>       Schools Question, coupled with loss of confidence in French
>       Quebec following the Riel execution brings Liberal Wilfred
>       Laurier to power.  (The Federal Parliament had the
>       constitutional power to override the Manitoba legislation,
>       but could/would not.
>1897 - Following the mandate he received in the federal election, PM
>       Laurier 'convinces' the Manitoba Government to reintroduce
>       minority language and religious education.
>1916 - English is restored as the sole language of instruction in
>       Manitoba.
>
>I don't have access to any numbers, so I can only hypothesize in a
>manner similar to Denis on the relationship between the anti-French
>legislation of the Prairie Provinces and the migration numbers from
>French Quebec.  (If anyone DOES have access to them, I would GREATLY
>appreciate seeing them.)
>
>It is clear from the speeches of Quebec MP Henri Bourassa (that I
>posted a few weeks ago) during the debate on the creation of Alberta
>and Saskatchewan that he thought an officially bilingual West would
>promote the development of a truly Canadian (ie. bicultural/bilingual)
>society there, and looked to the political past of Manitoba since its
>creation as a tragic occurence.
>
As Stewart shows, Manitoba *was* bilingual from 1870 to 1890, but
during that period it went from a province with a francophone
majority to one with a small francophone minority, where it was
politically acceptable (and popular) to extinguish the official
status of French.  So there was a lack of francophone immigrants
to this region even before the passage of the "anti-French" laws.

Though there was some "allophone" immigration to Manitoba in
this period (mainly Mennonites and Icelanders), the great wave
of central and east European immigration was to come later.  In this
early period, most of the immigration was British, either directly
from the British Isles, or from Ontario.  So a strong anglophone base
was established, which later assimilated other immigrant groups.

The archbishop of St. Boniface, Alexandre Tache', tried to encourage
francophone emigration from Quebec to the west, but he got little
support from Quebec bishops, politicians, and editorialists.  Their
opinion was that emigration to the Canadian West would be preferrable
to emigration to New England, but that it would be far better if
French Canadians remained in Quebec.  There were active movements
promoting colonization within Quebec, in regions such as the
Saguenay and the upper Ottawa River.

As for why many French Canadians did move to New England, I don't
have any definitive answers.  It may be an early sign of a general
trend toward urbanization.  I think it's understandable why many
people would prefer a job (even an unpleasant one) with a steady
wage in a textile mill, rather than the uncertainties of homesteading
on the distant prairies.

The physical proximity of New England to Quebec also would have made it
easier for French Canadian expatriates to dream of eventually returning
home after making money in their American jobs.

In short, I suspect that the lack of francophone emigration to the
West was more the cause than the result of the laws abolishing
the official status of French. (not that I think this justifies these
laws)

Since the total population of the Prairie Provinces is now about
4.5 million, I think Denis's figure of 7 million francophones in a
bilingual West is a little on the high side, even given the legendary
procreative powers of pre-Quiet Revolution French Canadians.

I think Stewart is a little hard on the Conservatives and generous
to the Liberals in his description of the Manitoba Schools Question.
There were two separate laws passed in 1890 by the Liberal govern-
ment in Manitoba.  One abolished the official status of French.  The
federal government could only have overturned this by using its power
of disallowance, just as it could disallow any provincial law. The
federal government had no special role as a protector of minority
language rights.  Archbishop Tache' lobbied for disallowance, but
didn't get very far.

The other law replaced the denominational school system with a single
non-sectarian system.  In this case, the federal government was
specifically mandated to act to protect religious minorities.
The question of whether to do so divided both parties.  The Tory
government waited several years as cases made their way through
the courts.  It had finally introduced a bill to restore a tax-
supported Catholic school system in Manitoba, but the 5-year life of
Parliament expired in 1896 before the law could be adopted, and the
Tories lost the ensuing election.

Laurier settled the question not by remedial legislation, but by
negotiation with the provincial government.  (BTW, Bourassa was
one of the people he sent to Winnipeg to conduct these negotiations,
along with Israel Tarte).  Schools were allowed to have a half-hour of
religious instruction at the end of the day.  Catholics got far less
from this deal between Laurier and Greenway than they would have got
from the Tories' remidial legislation, which would have restored
a separate Catholic school system.  (note also that the great political
controversy over this question was mainly Catholic-Protestant, not
French-English)

In districts with at least 10 pupils speaking French or any other
language other than English, instruction could be bilingual, in English
and the other language.  Thus French was reduced from a status equal to
English to one where it was equal to all other languages.  When bilin-
gual schools were abolished in 1916, it was mainly because of a fear
that Ukrainians were not being assimilated rapidly enough.  French was
just an incidental victim of this change.

Tom Box
CZ94@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA
Newsgroups: can.politics