From Jean Talon, New France
Among the traitors to French Canada identified by Lionel Groulx were the young men, Radisson and Grosselliers among them, who in the seventeenth century did not hesitate “between the sedentary … Continue reading
From Lionel Groulx, The Death of a Race
The stations of the Montreal Metro system are not named after people. They are named after streets and places, which themselves may or may not be named after people. So … Continue reading
From Lionel Groulx, The Birth of a Race
Of all the stations in the metro system, Lionel-Groulx is the most controversial. Named after the priest and historian, he dominated a strand of French Canadian intellectual culture from the … Continue reading
From Laurier, Canada
Canadian Confederation was a marriage of convenience performed under the shotgun of the U.S. Civil War. The country created by Macdonald and Cartier existed on paper but was one dominated … Continue reading
From Cartier, Pax Canadiana, or Confederation
“Canada,” Pierre Elliott Trudeau is supposed to have said, “is a country built against any common, geographic or historical sense”. Prime Minister from 1968 to 1979 and again from 1980 … Continue reading
At Place d’Armes, An Election and A Massacre
Canada has just now to witness the most foul and barbarous murder of several of her citizens and MONTREAL is about to become no less famous than Manchester, in the … Continue reading
On the Metro, With No Small Fanfare, Art and Buskers
Montreal is a city of art and music, and its metro is no exception. This is hardly surprising as the core of the system was designed to whisk the world … Continue reading
At McGill, Cholera’s Death Carnival
A big welcome to all my new readers and followers since Marian Scott’s piece in the Gazette. I hope you’ll feel free to ask questions, give advice, offer corrections, and above … Continue reading
From Place d’Armes, a Picture of Awful and Thrilling Beauty
On 25th April 1849, a group of Montrealers set out from Place d’Armes and burnt their country’s parliament to the ground. The army and police did little, despite warnings. Afterwards, … Continue reading
On the Blog, Some Updates; On the Fridge, Some Magnets; On Facebook, a Page
This week I have been fortunate enough to have had a number of conversations with Marian Scott, of the Gazette. She has put me straight on a number points and … Continue reading
On Peel, A Call for Annexation
Last week I looked at Louis-Joseph Papineau, the leader of the 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion who was exiled in France, largely at the behest of his fellow rebels, when the … Continue reading
Papineau – un canadien errant
And, I’m back! And with the pressing concern of the moment being keeping the T-1000 that is Mitt Romney out of the White House, I have been starting research on … Continue reading
Ralentissement de service
As regular readers will know, there has not much been happening with the History of Canada by Montreal Metro lately. Job hunting in the first part of the year paid … Continue reading
Place des Arts and Social Reforms
The formula of political language doesn’t change: demonize one group, praise another, propose and justify a policy. Political content, though, does change, and to find a way into to the … Continue reading
Henri Bourassa – Between La Fête Nationale and Canada Day
When Mark Twain visited Montreal he famously remarked that ‘This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn’t throw a brick without breaking a church … Continue reading
Place des Arts, Montreal Normal and the October Crisis
Much has been made of the student protests that have been taking place here in Montreal. Too much. They do not require the invoking of the (in any case defunct) … Continue reading
