On the denial of French schools
A documentary filmmaker is investigating the history of immigrants – mostly Italians, during the mid 20th century – being refused access to French schools. Although some have tried to deny this happened, there’s too much evidence that it was standard procedure for many years.
Ephraim 09:35 on 2026-03-09 Permalink
How is this a surprise? I thought it was known that the Irish Catholic being refused was how the English Catholic school board was started. And the Italian Catholic being refused was how the St-Leonard School Board (originally the Saint-Léonard-de-Port-Maurice school board and at the end before abolition Jerome-Le Royer, often just called the Italian School Board colloquially) was started and the whole argument over if they should be taught in English or French. They were streamed in both languages, but there was a whole crisis over it, eventually leading to it becoming a French board with some of the students moving over to the English board.
DeWolf 09:35 on 2026-03-09 Permalink
“The percentage of Italian-Canadians enrolled in Quebec French public schools dropped steadily in the 20th century, according to a 1988 study of the community’s schooling history. It stood at just over 60 per cent in 1930, dropped below half by 1950 and had fallen to just eight per cent by 1975.”
Striking numbers.
jeather 10:40 on 2026-03-09 Permalink
There is a certain subgroup of people who insist that francophones in Canada have always and only ever been the beleaguered minority, so if a group of immigrants into Quebec chose English when they came speaking neither language, the only possible reason is a hatred of French and actively wanting English and not that the French schools and other groups rejected them. (Now, post WW2 Jews chose English, not because they spoke it or because they hated French, but because the community which had been there for many decades already was English speaking, because — well, see above.)
This is not dissimilar to the “well, the English were colonialist towards us therefore we could not have been colonizers ourselves, we were simply friends to the First Nations” argument.
Kevin 11:10 on 2026-03-09 Permalink
I’ve had a lot of discussions with francophones who were completely unaware that immigrants were removed from French schools, but this article is the first time I’ve ever heard of a historian (mentioned in the piece, Robert Gagnon, 1997) claiming that it never happened.
It’s one thing to document that the Roman Catholic School Commission (CECM) had created a committee to encourage allophones to attend French Catholic schools in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.
It’s shockingly lazy scholarship to think the creation of a committee actually led to schools admitting allophone children.
It’s insulting to posit that the existence of this committee is proof that anyone who says that children were removed from French Catholic schools is lying.
Kate 11:24 on 2026-03-09 Permalink
I blame the nuns.
Chris 11:37 on 2026-03-09 Permalink
>There is a certain subgroup of people who insist … only ever been the beleaguered minority
Yes, that’s been all the rage all over the place for decades now. If the topic interests you, see The Rise of Victimhood Culture by Manning and Campbell and The Age of Grievance by Bruni.
azrhey 12:29 on 2026-03-09 Permalink
Same with the Portuguese immigration. To the English schools they went. Even though who already had some very basic french because chances were they had family that emigrated to France. And If you speak Portuguese, French is that much easier to learn than English. I have an extended cousin that refuses to speak any French because she was forced into the English school system when she arrived in the 70s and now she says “you didn’t want me to learn french then, you’re not getting any now”
Bit pig headed, it’s a family trait, but I understand where she comes from.
bob 13:15 on 2026-03-09 Permalink
Hey! Let’s talk about the deep Quebecois nationalist love of black francophones…
Ian 21:33 on 2026-03-09 Permalink
Or North African Arabs for that matter.
dwgs 10:12 on 2026-03-10 Permalink
“I blame the nuns.” We should print T-shirts
Kate 09:47 on 2026-03-11 Permalink