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Nov 19, 1400
Shamans
Shamans are the link between humanity and the spirits, in the eyes of the Amerindian people. They are spiritual doctors, who "cure" sicknesses by singing in the sick person's tent all night (not sure how that can possibly cure anything, especially not a headache). They make "healing" plants, too.They interpret dreams and apparently had a reputation for understanding their significance, because dreams were important to the Amerindian people. -
Nov 19, 1450
Amerindian Equality
Everything was equal to the Amerindians. They would treat each other with respect, including the children, animals, slaves, and war adversaries. Even things like trees and flowers. This was because of something called animism, which means that everything has a soul. They would respect their environment and take only what they absolutely needed. Also, their chiefs, despite being "above" others in ranks, never showed authority over others. It was a good way of thinking in ways, but it didn't last. -
Nov 19, 1550
Trading between Amerindians and Europeans
When the Europeans arrived in North America, they started to trade with the natives. They would give things like guns and steel knives in exchange for furs and ores. As the Amerindians kept getting more modernized European tools, it slowly changed their culture. They became dependent on the Europeans instead of being independent. The Amerindians used to trade with the idea of increasing their relationship, but because of the Europeans, now they only think of their economic benefits from trade. -
Conversion of the Natives
The French believed that the natives were a nation without a culture, so they decided to convert them to Christianity, and to teach them everything about their culture, including language, clothes, their ways of working, modernized tools, etc. More and more natives would be separated from the rest because of this, and some Amerindian cultures completely disappeared. This is what started aboriginalism, the need to stop their culture from disappearing by thinking of their past. -
Education (French Regime)
Education was provided by religious communities, who ran the primary schools in Montreal and Quebec. Skilled professions were taught by master workers instead of schools (lack of universities). Education was mostly taught in the urban areas, and the majority of inhabitants never finished the second grade, and remained illiterate. Government intervention was at a minimal, and no real Canadian literature developed during this period. -
Higher Education (French Regime)
During the French Regime, two Quebec City institutions took charge of higher education in New France: The College des Jesuites (1635), which taught boys from the Quebec Elite. Only a few hundred attended this school, because, there were numerous wars, limited finances, and lack of interesting opportunities beyond priesthood. The other school was the Grand Seminaire, which only trained priests. -
The stronghold of the Church on society
In the 17th century, the political regime in France was an absolute monarchy given by "divine will". The king had power over all, and he told the clergy that if they submit to the authority of the king, he will give them power over education, health care, and social services. The clergy forced the inhabitants of the colony to respect fasting and daily prayers schedules. They also had to confess their sins to the priest, who would take control of their lives. -
Amerindian influence on European Culture
During the French Regime, the Amerindians also influenced the French culture. This culture, however, was distinct from that of France. It was characterized by the need to adapt to the natural environment and showed many signs of the Amerindian influence. Canadians adopted their means of travelling, agriculture, education (especially with how they educated children), and even the governors and intendants acted like good fathers and heads of the family, instead of a person with authority. -
French Popular Culture
During this period, the majority of Canadians were illiterate, so cultural facts were passed on orally. There were songs, games, and many, many, stories and legends. Some stories and songs did come from France, but most of them were written in New France. People would gather in homes, play cards, listen to storytellers, and dance to fiddle songs despite the clergy's music prohibition. They would only do all this deep in the winter, because there was too much cold snow to work in the fields. -
French Canadian Nationalism
French Canadian Nationalism refers to how the French Canadian have done things and found it necessary to claim political powers to stop the loss of their culture, after the English would settle in after the Seven Year War (1763). The clergy saw this as an opportunity to strengthen links between Catholics and to keep their faith alive while living in a Protestant majority. To support this, there were many monuments, novels, newspapers, songs, etc. -
The Montreal Gazette
In 1775, Fleury Mesplet (Montreal's first printer) founded the Montreal Gazette which spoke of the liberal ideas of the time and criticized the Catholic Clergy in general, and also demanded a Legislative Assembly. This newspaper became the voice of the Canadian intellectuals who supported liberalism, and was bilingual at first, until it was transformed into The Gazette and was only English. -
English Canadian Nationalism
Early in the 19th century, some English Canadians felt torn between their attachment to Canada and their loyalty to Great Britain. A few, like historian Goldwin Smith, thought that Canada would inevitably become annexed by the United States, but the majority was resistant to this idea. English Canadians reacted to French Canadian Nationalism by creating a nationalism of their own that placed value on bilingualism, multiculturalism, and guaranteed human rights and freedoms. -
The St Jean Baptiste Association Pt 1
After the British Conquest, many British and Loyalist people settled into the colony, and they could identify with the British Empire. Not all French Canadians were as comfortable, as they feared for the future of their culture. This led Journalis Ludger Duvernay to set up a nationalist organization to promote the French Canadian cultural heritage known as the St Jean Baptiste Association. -
The St Jean Baptiste Association Pt 2
The St Jean Baptiste Association did many things to ensure the continuation of the French Canadian Culture. It adopted the maple lead as the emblem as the emblem of the French Canadian society and started what would become the national anthem of Canada, built monuments in honor of French Canadians like Samuel de Champlain, organized contests and promoted culture, and participated in the foundation of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce. -
Education (British Regime)
There continued to be missing parts in the education of French Canadians under the British Regime. Early in the 1840s, only 5000 out of 11000 children from the ages of five to fourteen went to school. There was a lack of organisation and the number of schools was insufficient. In 1841, the government weakened the control of the clergy on education by adopting the bill of public education, which gave the government the mandate to supervise and coordinate the public education system. -
The Anti-Clerical Movement
Eventually, people who believed in liberalism wanted to separate Church and State. The Parti Patriote, a group that went against the Clergy's wishes to submit to the British Government, were also part of the Anti-Clerical Movement. After the failure of the rebellions, the Patriotes dispersed, and the Parti Rouge soon became the Church's primary adversary between 1850 and 1860. Soon enough, anti-clerical ideas showed themselves in the newspapers, until the Clergy had to lose most of its power. -
The Golden Square Mile
In Montreal, the wealthy business class lived in a neighbourhood nicknamed The Golden Square Mile. Starting from 1850, Canada's high society lived here in luxurious mansions. Having a home in this neighbourhood was considered a symbol of success by the English bourgeoisie. The French Canadians lived in another, slightly less luxurious neighbourhood located further east. However, not even the wealthiest of citizens could not escape the great depression. -
Liberalism and Capitalism
In the 19th century liberalism and capitalism triumphed, and these along with the social and economic progress that came with them, were praised by many newspapers. Liberalism was more for equality, and economic liberalism meant that the greatest possible number of economic decisions are made by individuals or households and not by collective institutions or organizations. Eventually, in the 20th century, capitalism would be greatly challenged by numerous liberal ideologies, like cooperatism. -
University of Laval
After the Catholic Clergy lost complete power of education, they were worried that people would learn things against their wishes, so they made the University of Laval in 1852 to teach religion. They had four faculties, theology, arts, medicine, and law, unlike the Anglophone universities which had those four plus engineering and science.The Francophone universities which were funded by the Church preferred a classic education rather than the more modern science and engineering education. -
Power of the Pope
The clergy were in trouble, until they found the answer. Ultramontanism, which affirmed the primacy of the spiritual power of the Church over the state. They wanted to place things like education and health care directly under the church. To aid with this, the church reinforced power to the Pope and proclaimed him infallible in 1870. This made certain changes in Canada, for example, clergy took control over education, political votes, newspapers, etc. -
Feminism
Near the end of the 19th century, the women started to want more rights. Beginning of the 20th century, they gained the favor of the general public. They wanted political rights, equal access to education, and equality with men. The English Canadian were the first to start this, then the French Canadian joined in. The Church supported them, as long as they continued their woman duties (taking care of family, education, health). Laws were adopted for the women, but there was still inequalities. -
Agriculturalism
At the end of the 19th century, the clergy tried to ward off the negative effects of industrialization by proposing a new ideology, agriculturalism. This movement was about living in the traditional ways of rural life, which the church preferred over living in the urban areas. Priests made settlements for this, and the clergy encouraged many French Canadians to settle there. The government even supported it, letting women participate too. -
The Catholic Press
The Catholic ideology was spread by the new Catholic Press, which started with Le Bien Publique in 1909. They also took advantage of the radio in the 1920s, where they started making many broadcast channels. They encouraged people to read books about rural life and Christian values, and they censured book publishers. The Church was even the main commissioner of works of art and they convinced artists to express themselves on religious subjects only. The Church's power cannot last forever. -
The Secularization Movement
In 1948, Paul-Emile Borduas and fifteen other artists and intellectuals signed Le Refus Global, in which they denounced the Church’s opposition to freedom of thought. This started other critiques against the Catholic Church. People made novels opposing the Church’s authority on censuring books, church’s submission to of women, and poor quality of education. All this contributed to the rapid loss of power for the Church. The government took over what the Church had: education, healthcare, etc. -
Neo-Nationalism
After the 1950s, neo-nationalism and federalism replaced the traditional nationalist ideology. Neo-nationalism was supported by numerous Francophones like Andre Laurendeau, Guy Fregault, Neopolitan. It favors the autonomy of Quebec and its independence. In the 1960s, federalism and neo-nationalism both clashed for power, using propaganda, public debates, etc. Many artists expressed their sympathies for neo-nationalism, but federalism had much more attention. (The picture is a play on words)
