As always, a fascinating and informative read. I will admit that I do have some admiration for Quebec's attempts at preserving its language and culture. For as much as it might seem petty, parochial and, well, "provincial", when you see the results of it you very much appreciate it.
A couple of years ago my wife and I explored Quebec City and the towns between there and Charlevoix and I was *absolutely* blown away: an intact, cohesive, proud and stable culture that actually took pride in its history and wasn't constantly denigrating it, to say nothing of stunningly beautiful geography. Local customs and practices still intact in every place we visited, so to a downtown Torontonian it was utterly refreshing not to see sullen Indian and Chinese students behind every counter, families of burka-clad women with eight kids in tow, and shitty ramen and shawarma places everywhere. Instead, Quebec flags flying, and a sense that I was in a *place*, rooted in time and tradition. Young families enjoying Sunday lunches and ice cream, fresh cheeses and local produce, and a much more relaxed and leisurely air everywhere. I remember saying to my wife: we stepped into a time machine, this must be what Ontario was like in 1980 - or even 1990 - when I was young. Then I come back to Toronto...
I think an emergent movement of what you're referring to at the end of your piece *must* happen, but at least currently its biggest roadblock will be the very group that comprises the Anglo-Celt identity of which you refer: do-gooder, self-loathing whites who hate their heritage, think a couple of million more Indians will help in the cause of "diversity" and yet who, in my experience, live in the whitest neighbourhoods of downtown Toronto, drink in pubs, have friends who look like them and convince themselves that the very cultural legacy they enjoy is somehow illegitimate and must be undermined in the name of defeating racism and intolerance. Maybe when Indians move en-masse, 10 to a house, in the Annex, Leaside, Lawrence Park, Bellwoods, High Park and other white, posh enclaves will they realize what they've lost.
I've said this in other places but Brampton is what you get when you press the fast-forward button on Canadian immigration policy, and now we're seeing it: Subcontinent ethnic and religious conflict played out in temples and Mississauga parking lots. We *must* rewind to as big a degree as we can otherwise it's all gone, and Quebec *should* go it alone.
It's always been puzzling to me how completely suicidal anglo canadians are culturally. You really get the sense they want to stop existing sometimes.
Sadly, in Quebec they have recently been sending more and more immigrants here. In small towns now you will see random africans. I don't know who is behind this but I suspect the federal government is doing some kind of retaliation.
Not surprising if you've been indoctrinated since birth that anything "White" or "European" is to be denigrated, if not outright despised. It ends up in a place where, if you look at ads on television, you'd think we had the demographics of Bermuda.
Another interesting aspect of the Filles du roi is that it was done explicitly to avoid ending up like Spanish America, where you had many more male settlers than female settlers, and so they ended up having mixed race children wth native women. The vision was to create an ideal version of France in North America, with a single spoken dialect (there were many different dialects in France until about 150 years ago), a single religion (Catholicism), and with a population of the same stock as Old France.
This is a real eye opener about the historical origins of Canada's population. My recollection of history
classes in primary school (grew up in Toronto) are about the battles between the French and English and multiculturalism. I'm from Montreal originally and reading this reminds me of why I regret that my family left (Bill 101) and the strong French-Canadian (albeit elitist) culture we left behind. Fascinating read - thank you!
In the late 19th and early 20th century nascent French-Canadian nationalism spread throughout Michigan and the upper midwest through the Societe St. Jean Baptiste and other organizations. My father's French Canadian family still spoke French as well as English in Michigan well into the 20th century despite living in Michigan since the early 1700s and endogamy was the norm into the 20th century. Despite the failure of France's American presense, the switch to British and then American rule, the French-Canadians of the Pays d'en haut retained aspects of our culture over centuries of increasing "marginalization". Check out Voyageur Heritage at voyageurheritage.wordpress.org
This is all new information to me and very interesting to read. When I was young and in school, the teachers did not teach us about our neighbors to the North.
Great article, and largely agree with the policy conclusions so in some ways I feel pedantic by responding. However, I disagree in part with your article and the similar one by John Carter. I will repost a slightly edited versions of my comments made on his article.
"I'm unsure how a focus on an ethnic Anglo-Saxon or British identity would work for Western Canada. Western Canada is fundamentally more multicultural and more propositional then the East. Obviously, the West had Anglo towns, the law was enforced by Anglo arms, and the provincial capitals were dominated by an Anglo elite. After the defeat of Riel, the initial vision of Manitoba was for it become "little Ontario."
However, due to the vastness of the West, the government allowed large amount of non-Anglos to flood into the West. Consequently, the West was settled by a constellation of different groups who created fairly separate ethnically homogonous communities. Ukrainians (specifically people from Galicia) and Germans (specifically Mennonites and Hutterites) are of particular importance due settling relatively large concentrated areas, though groups like the Dutch, Icelanders, Hungarians, Belgians, etc all founded their own towns. These were not immigrants in the normal sense, but settlers who plowed wild lands and built towns form the ground up. This more multicultural aspect was recognized by Grant in "Lament of a Nation."
In my view, the historical West is best conceptualized as a traditional empire. Different ethnic groups formed a basically feudal relationship with the Crown and the British Empire. The Crown gave them land, in return these groups had to be loyal and pay taxes. The Empire was militarily enforced and politically administrated by British people, largely of English and Scottish origin. When the Empire fell, multiculturalism was used to replace these more person loyalties.
Perhaps I'm over valuing the importance of ethnicity, but I'm not convinced that the other Europeans ever fully assimilated into English or even British culture. Admittedly, these groups did anglicize, which made them distinct from their co-ethnics who remained back in the old country. However, my view is that this anglicization was only ever partial, and that they groups remained culturally distinct from Canadians of British origin. There was some intermarriage, but groups generally maintained religious boundaries. For example, Catholics generally married only other anglicised Catholics. Up to until at least the Millennials, these groups still very aware of their different ethnic background, and would even act collectively on this basis.
If these groups assimilated into something it was America pop culture rather then historic Anglo-British identify. The tragedy is that the historical Anglo identity was watered down to be more "inclusive" to the other groups, which didn't even result in full assimilation, but still hollowed out the core aspects of being Anglo British. In the end, all groups, including the English, lost significant parts of their historical ethnic identity due to multiculturalism and simply filled in the gaps with American pop cultural references.
My point is that the West does have this history of other ethnic groups. Though there were absolutely Anglo towns and settlement, there was significant "third force" which made of these other ethnic groups. I do not think this is true in the Canadian East, which seems to have much more solid Anglo foundation.
All this to say, that as the propositional Canada falls apart, the West seems to be in a different situation then the East because it has a different ethnic composition of its founders. I do not believe that the combined number of Anglo-Canadians and Franco-Canadians are the ethnic majority here in the West, never mind if you want to exclude ones with mixed ancestry. The West also has a much higher indigenous percentage (10-20% depending on the province), so the "indigenous question" cannot be easily be ignored."
To me, Canada is to many, especially recent immigrants, an economic zone. With all ethnic groups making the best of it. Mostly consumers now. Chasing the Almighty dollar. No going back. What it will be 100yrs from now unclear. Has great potential though.
This is one of my most listened to podcasts on Canada. People are hungry for truth, common sense and an explanation about the why of things that makes sense in through the lens of real history that is hidden from us:
As always, a fascinating and informative read. I will admit that I do have some admiration for Quebec's attempts at preserving its language and culture. For as much as it might seem petty, parochial and, well, "provincial", when you see the results of it you very much appreciate it.
A couple of years ago my wife and I explored Quebec City and the towns between there and Charlevoix and I was *absolutely* blown away: an intact, cohesive, proud and stable culture that actually took pride in its history and wasn't constantly denigrating it, to say nothing of stunningly beautiful geography. Local customs and practices still intact in every place we visited, so to a downtown Torontonian it was utterly refreshing not to see sullen Indian and Chinese students behind every counter, families of burka-clad women with eight kids in tow, and shitty ramen and shawarma places everywhere. Instead, Quebec flags flying, and a sense that I was in a *place*, rooted in time and tradition. Young families enjoying Sunday lunches and ice cream, fresh cheeses and local produce, and a much more relaxed and leisurely air everywhere. I remember saying to my wife: we stepped into a time machine, this must be what Ontario was like in 1980 - or even 1990 - when I was young. Then I come back to Toronto...
I think an emergent movement of what you're referring to at the end of your piece *must* happen, but at least currently its biggest roadblock will be the very group that comprises the Anglo-Celt identity of which you refer: do-gooder, self-loathing whites who hate their heritage, think a couple of million more Indians will help in the cause of "diversity" and yet who, in my experience, live in the whitest neighbourhoods of downtown Toronto, drink in pubs, have friends who look like them and convince themselves that the very cultural legacy they enjoy is somehow illegitimate and must be undermined in the name of defeating racism and intolerance. Maybe when Indians move en-masse, 10 to a house, in the Annex, Leaside, Lawrence Park, Bellwoods, High Park and other white, posh enclaves will they realize what they've lost.
I've said this in other places but Brampton is what you get when you press the fast-forward button on Canadian immigration policy, and now we're seeing it: Subcontinent ethnic and religious conflict played out in temples and Mississauga parking lots. We *must* rewind to as big a degree as we can otherwise it's all gone, and Quebec *should* go it alone.
It's always been puzzling to me how completely suicidal anglo canadians are culturally. You really get the sense they want to stop existing sometimes.
Sadly, in Quebec they have recently been sending more and more immigrants here. In small towns now you will see random africans. I don't know who is behind this but I suspect the federal government is doing some kind of retaliation.
Not surprising if you've been indoctrinated since birth that anything "White" or "European" is to be denigrated, if not outright despised. It ends up in a place where, if you look at ads on television, you'd think we had the demographics of Bermuda.
Another interesting aspect of the Filles du roi is that it was done explicitly to avoid ending up like Spanish America, where you had many more male settlers than female settlers, and so they ended up having mixed race children wth native women. The vision was to create an ideal version of France in North America, with a single spoken dialect (there were many different dialects in France until about 150 years ago), a single religion (Catholicism), and with a population of the same stock as Old France.
This is a real eye opener about the historical origins of Canada's population. My recollection of history
classes in primary school (grew up in Toronto) are about the battles between the French and English and multiculturalism. I'm from Montreal originally and reading this reminds me of why I regret that my family left (Bill 101) and the strong French-Canadian (albeit elitist) culture we left behind. Fascinating read - thank you!
In the late 19th and early 20th century nascent French-Canadian nationalism spread throughout Michigan and the upper midwest through the Societe St. Jean Baptiste and other organizations. My father's French Canadian family still spoke French as well as English in Michigan well into the 20th century despite living in Michigan since the early 1700s and endogamy was the norm into the 20th century. Despite the failure of France's American presense, the switch to British and then American rule, the French-Canadians of the Pays d'en haut retained aspects of our culture over centuries of increasing "marginalization". Check out Voyageur Heritage at voyageurheritage.wordpress.org
This is all new information to me and very interesting to read. When I was young and in school, the teachers did not teach us about our neighbors to the North.
Great article, and largely agree with the policy conclusions so in some ways I feel pedantic by responding. However, I disagree in part with your article and the similar one by John Carter. I will repost a slightly edited versions of my comments made on his article.
"I'm unsure how a focus on an ethnic Anglo-Saxon or British identity would work for Western Canada. Western Canada is fundamentally more multicultural and more propositional then the East. Obviously, the West had Anglo towns, the law was enforced by Anglo arms, and the provincial capitals were dominated by an Anglo elite. After the defeat of Riel, the initial vision of Manitoba was for it become "little Ontario."
However, due to the vastness of the West, the government allowed large amount of non-Anglos to flood into the West. Consequently, the West was settled by a constellation of different groups who created fairly separate ethnically homogonous communities. Ukrainians (specifically people from Galicia) and Germans (specifically Mennonites and Hutterites) are of particular importance due settling relatively large concentrated areas, though groups like the Dutch, Icelanders, Hungarians, Belgians, etc all founded their own towns. These were not immigrants in the normal sense, but settlers who plowed wild lands and built towns form the ground up. This more multicultural aspect was recognized by Grant in "Lament of a Nation."
In my view, the historical West is best conceptualized as a traditional empire. Different ethnic groups formed a basically feudal relationship with the Crown and the British Empire. The Crown gave them land, in return these groups had to be loyal and pay taxes. The Empire was militarily enforced and politically administrated by British people, largely of English and Scottish origin. When the Empire fell, multiculturalism was used to replace these more person loyalties.
Perhaps I'm over valuing the importance of ethnicity, but I'm not convinced that the other Europeans ever fully assimilated into English or even British culture. Admittedly, these groups did anglicize, which made them distinct from their co-ethnics who remained back in the old country. However, my view is that this anglicization was only ever partial, and that they groups remained culturally distinct from Canadians of British origin. There was some intermarriage, but groups generally maintained religious boundaries. For example, Catholics generally married only other anglicised Catholics. Up to until at least the Millennials, these groups still very aware of their different ethnic background, and would even act collectively on this basis.
If these groups assimilated into something it was America pop culture rather then historic Anglo-British identify. The tragedy is that the historical Anglo identity was watered down to be more "inclusive" to the other groups, which didn't even result in full assimilation, but still hollowed out the core aspects of being Anglo British. In the end, all groups, including the English, lost significant parts of their historical ethnic identity due to multiculturalism and simply filled in the gaps with American pop cultural references.
My point is that the West does have this history of other ethnic groups. Though there were absolutely Anglo towns and settlement, there was significant "third force" which made of these other ethnic groups. I do not think this is true in the Canadian East, which seems to have much more solid Anglo foundation.
All this to say, that as the propositional Canada falls apart, the West seems to be in a different situation then the East because it has a different ethnic composition of its founders. I do not believe that the combined number of Anglo-Canadians and Franco-Canadians are the ethnic majority here in the West, never mind if you want to exclude ones with mixed ancestry. The West also has a much higher indigenous percentage (10-20% depending on the province), so the "indigenous question" cannot be easily be ignored."
To me, Canada is to many, especially recent immigrants, an economic zone. With all ethnic groups making the best of it. Mostly consumers now. Chasing the Almighty dollar. No going back. What it will be 100yrs from now unclear. Has great potential though.
This is one of my most listened to podcasts on Canada. People are hungry for truth, common sense and an explanation about the why of things that makes sense in through the lens of real history that is hidden from us:
https://soberchristiangentlemanpodcast.substack.com/p/s2-ep-12-untold-history-of-canada-b63