Jules Lavigne

**Jules Lavigne**, (birthname **John Lewis**) **was** born on the 15th of December, 1892. He was a Canadian naturalized as a French-Québécois who was the supreme leader of the **S.S. État de la Commande Québec**.

## Early life

Jules Lavigne was the supreme leader of Québec, leading for life following Québec independence in 1949. Jules Lavigne's birthname is John Lewis and he was born in Calgary on the 15th of December, 1892. Originally a conservative politician in the city council of Calgary, Lewis enlisted into the Canadian military to fight for the Entente in France in 1915. Following 3 years of fighting in France, Lewis became highly patriotic towards France and its culture, as he learned to speak fluent French during his service.

## Political Career

### Return to Canada

Lewis abandoned his post in Calgary and permanently moved to Montréal in 1922 where he naturalized himself to become French, which included changing his name to Jules Lavigne. Lavigne formed the Le parti du Montréal Français (The party of French Montréal) which was a French-nationalist conservative party which only took part in Montréal elections. Lavigne was highly regarded in Montréal due to his sophisticated way of speaking French and his unique European debate style. Lavigne served 3 terms as the mayor of Montréal from 1924-1929, as Lavigne believed he could reach higher ambitions.

### Rise to National Politics

Lavigne formed the Parti Québécois (Québec Party), which was a catch-all Québécois nationalist party. It served in both regional and national elections, with its main motive to win every district of Québec so that Québécois nationalism has enough seats to secede from the British Dominion. Their first federal election was in 1930, where PQ received a majority in Montréal and won 12 seats in Québec. Following the 1935 and 1940 elections, Lavigne's platform seemed to become increasingly more radical and anti-Anglo, with Lavigne declining to participate in English speaking debates and only spoke French in public. PQ finally received a majority in Québec in 1945, where PQ won 34 seats in Québec, with the Liberals winning 28 seats and minor parties winning the other 3.

### Québécois independence

Lavigne had officially been categorized as far-right by political commentators following the 1945 elections, with Lavigne's extreme prejudice towards Anglo's becoming clearer. Lavigne refused to listen to governmental speeches in English, with him leaving the room every time a non-French speaker spoke in the government. This however was mainly ignored by PQ supporters, who were attracted to the catch-all ideology of the party which had actively participating both left and right wingers. Lavigne also formed a Québécois army corps in 1946, with the intentions being clear that he wanted Québec to secede from Canada. This was amped up following the 1947 Government Crisis and the 1949 Collapse of Canada, which began with Lavigne and his Québécois army corps rising up and declaring independence from the Liberal controlled Canadian regency council. Québec declared full independence in 1949, with Lavigne and his military taking full control of the nation. It was quickly made clear that there was on intentions of democracy, with Lavigne changing the Quebec flag and coat of arms and mandating the French language in Québec. What followed was French supremacist discrimination against other groups, specifically the Anglo minority in Québec. The major minority groups of Québec, Anglos, Irishmen, and natives, were all discriminated by the government. The Irish were allowed to leave and move to either Irish Newfoundland or to the Irish mainland. The natives were given their specific plot of native reserves in the largely uninhabited north of Québec, with native languages being allowed in the specific region but natives having to speak French outside of it. The Anglos were not allowed to leave or to speak English, and many Anglos who protested were controversially sent to labour camps on Baffin Island to work for various mines and for fishing companies. An estimated 300,000 Anglos died while working throughout Lavigne's 23 year reign of Québec, which continued on when Lavigne's son Arthur Lavigne took power.