Quebec diaspora
TheQuebec diasporaconsists ofQuebecimmigrants and their descendants dispersed over theNorth Americancontinent and historically concentrated in theNew Englandregion of theUnited States,Ontario,and theCanadian Prairies.The mass emigration out of Quebec occurred in the period between 1840 and theGreat Depressionof the 1930s.[1]
United States[edit]
Approximately 900,000 Quebec residents[1][2](French Canadianfor the great majority) left for the United States between 1840 and 1930. They were pushed to emigrate byoverpopulationin rural areas that could not sustain them under theseigneurial systemofland tenure,but also because the expansion of this system was in effect blocked by the "Château Clique"that ruled Quebec under the British administration, who reserved new land developments for the English and the English system of colonization (seeEastern Townships). New England was the preferred destination due to its growingindustrialization.About half of the emigrants are reported to have eventually returned to Canada.[3]Often those who stayed organized themselves in communities sometimes known asLittle Canadas.A great proportion ofAmericans of French ancestrytrace it through Quebec. Others, particularly in the South, were fromAcadia—theCajuns—and fromFrancedirectly. Until 1849, the Catholic Church was not allowed to purchase any land or establish any parishes in the Eastern Townships due to English Protestant laws and control.[4]At the initiative of Father Bernard O'Reilley, anAssociation des Townshipswas set up in 1848 to promote settlement in the area. In the 1850s, the association purchased lands which it gave to young families of farmers to prevent them from leaving for the United States where it was believed they would ultimately be assimilated.
Certain early American centres oftextilemanufacturing and other industries attracted significant French-Canadian populations, likeLewistonand other bordering counties inMaine;Fall River,Holyoke,Fitchburg,andLowellin Massachusetts;WoonsocketinRhode Island;ManchesterinNew Hampshireand the bordering counties inVermont.There was a significant number of French Canadians who moved to the Kankakee, Illinois area from the 1830s through the 1870s, including religious missionaries, establishing communities such as Bourbonnais, St. Anne, St. Georges, Papineau, and L'Erable.[5]There are also sizeable populations of French-Canadian descent inMichiganandMinnesota—who began migrating there when the region was still part ofNew France.[citation needed]
TheMuseum of Work and CultureinWoonsocket, Rhode Island,details New England's Quebec diaspora which developed in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Noteworthy among those whose parents settled in the United States are writerJack Kerouac,baseball playerNap Lajoie,politicianMike Gravel,singersRudy ValléeandRobert Goulet,Emil Beaulieau,historianWill Durant,andmany more.
Ontario[edit]
The largest proportion ofFrench-Canadiansoutside Quebec trace their ancestry to Quebec (except in theCanadian Maritimes,which were settled by theAcadians). Ontario had been part of New France and settlements in the Detroit-Windsor area find their origins in that period.
The development of mining and forestry resources in thenortheasternandeasternregions of Ontario at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century attracted a large workforce from Quebec. A great part of today's half a millionFranco-Ontariansare the descendants of these Quebec emigrants. The Francophone population of Ontario is today still concentrated mainly in the northeastern and eastern parts of Ontario, close to the border with Quebec, although smaller pockets of Francophone settlement exist throughout the province in areas like Windsor, Welland and Penetanguishene.[citation needed]
Canadian West[edit]
While a good number of emigrants were from Quebec or Ontario, it is often Franco-Americans who formed the nucleus of the population in several francophone communities ofWestern Canada.These populations today self-identify with their province of residence (Franco-Manitobans,Fransaskois,Franco-AlbertansorFranco-Columbians).
See also[edit]
- Canuck letter
- Diaspora
- French American
- French Canadian
- Little Canada
- The Rise and Fall of English Montreal
Notes[edit]
- ^abBélanger, Damien-Claude (23 August 2000)."French Canadian Emigration to the United States, 1840–1930".Québec History, Claude Bélanger, Marianopolis College.Archived fromthe originalon 25 January 2007.Retrieved2007-01-31.
- ^Bélanger, Claude."Emigration to the United States from Canada and Quebec, 1840–1940".Quebec History.Marianopolis College.Retrieved24 July2013.
- ^Bélanger, Claude (23 August 2000)."Rapatriement".Québec History, Claude Bélanger, Marianopolis College.Archived fromthe originalon 13 February 2007.Retrieved2007-01-31.
- ^"Historical Geography of the Eastern TownshipsArchivedDecember 22, 2005, at theWayback Machine",Eastern Township Research Centre of Bishop's University
- ^"History of Kankakee County",Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois
References[edit]
- Bélanger, Claude (2001-08-09)."Franco-American History".Québec History, Claude Bélanger,Marianopolis College.Retrieved2007-01-31.
- Doty, C. Stewart. "The Intellectual of the Quebec Diaspora: The Case of Henri d’Arles". inJournal of Canadian Studies/Revue d’études canadiennes,24 (1989–1990), pp. 61–71.
- Lacroix, Patrick (2021). "Prelude to the" Great Hemorrhage ": French Canadians in the United States, 1775-1840".American Review of Canadian Studies.51(4): 554-572.doi:10.1080/02722011.2021.1980354.S2CID246287995.
- Roby, Yves (2004).Franco-American of New England. Dreams and Realities.Septentrion. p. 550 pages.ISBN2-89448-391-0.
- Savard, Pierre; Raymond Breton (1982).The Quebec and Acadian Diaspora in North America.Multicultural History Society of Ontario.p.250 pages.ISBN0-919045-11-1.