Quebec diaspora
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- For the 1970s migration of Quebec anglophones to other Canadian provinces, see English-speaking Quebecers.
The Quebec diaspora refers to the millions of people who left the province of Quebec for the United States, Ontario and the Canadian prairies between 1840 and the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Brought on by the "push" of overpopulation in rural areas that could not sustain themselves under the seigneurial system of land tenure, but also because the expansion of this system was in effect blocked by the "Château Clique" that ruled the Province of Quebec under the new British governors, who reserved new land developments for the English and the English system of colonization (see Eastern Townships) and the "pull" of industrialization in New England, approximately 900,000 residents of Quebec[1] (French Canadian for the great majority) left for the United States seeking work. About half of those are reported to have eventually returned to Quebec.[2] Often those who stayed organized themselves in communities sometimes known as Little Canadas. A great proportion of Americans with French ancestry trace it through Quebec.
Until 1849, the Catholic Church was not allowed to purchase any land, or establish any parishes in the Eastern township due to English Protestant laws and control[3] At the initiative of Father Bernard O’Reilley, an Association des Townships was 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 centers of textile manufacturing and other industries attracted significant French-Canadian populations, like Fall River, Holyoke, and Lowell in Massachusetts; Woonsocket in Rhode Island; Manchester in New Hampshire and the bordering counties in Vermont and Maine. There are also sizeable populations of French-Canadian descent in Michigan and Minnesota — who began migrating there when the region was still part of New France.[citation needed]
The largest proportion of French-Canadians outside of Quebec trace their ancestry to Quebec (except in the Canadian Maritimes, which were settled by the Acadians).
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[edit] Legacy
The Museum of Work and Culture in Woonsocket, 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 writer Jack Kerouac, Robert Goulet, Emil Beaulieau and historian Will Durant.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Bélanger, Damien-Claude (23 August 2000). French Canadian Emigration to the United States, 1840-1930. Québec History, Claude Bélanger, Marianopolis College. Retrieved on 2007-01-31.
- ^ Bélanger, Claude (23 August 2000). Rapatriement. Québec History, Claude Bélanger, Marianopolis College. Retrieved on 2007-01-31.
- ^ "Historical Geography of the Eastern Townships", Eastern Township Research Centre of Bishop's University
[edit] References
- Bélanger, Claude (2001-08-09). Franco-American History (HTML). Québec History, Claude Bélanger, Marianopolis College. Retrieved on 2007-01-31.
- Roby, Yves (2004). Franco-American of New England. Dreams and Realities.. Septentrion, 550 pages. ISBN ISBN 2-89448-391-0.
- Savard, Pierre; Raymond Breton (1982). The Quebec and Acadian Diaspora in North America. Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 250 pages. ISBN ISBN 0919045111.
