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La Belle Province Goes to War
Context
French Canada’s role in the war and attitude toward the war are anything
but simple. French-speaking Canadians were ambivalent about the conflict, many
viewing it as a British concern, more empire-building imperialism. But, many
French Canadians, including politicians, at first supported the war effort. When
war was declared in 1914, nationalist leader Henri Bourassa, no friend to Germany,
supported the Allied efforts. Regular Quebeckers cheered their marching soldiers
through the streets of Montreal and Quebec City. But soon, facing the realities
of trench warfare, eroding economic conditions at home and the threat of conscription,
Quebec’s view of the war would change dramatically.
Enlistment in Quebec was low compared to the rest of Canada and its soft support
of the war did not go unnoticed by politicians and pundits of the day. French
Canadians had many |
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reasons for their lack of enthusiasm for the war effort, including
social and cultural differences. For instance, Quebec men married earlier, had
more children, and often worked on farms. These facts held little sway in the
rest of Canada, where the saying, “They breed and we bleed.” was
popular.
In Quebec, there was little appetite for enlistment and a campaign supported
by the federal government and led by well-known Montreal businessman Arthur Mignault
was aimed at raising the number of volunteers and even creating a French Canadian
Battalion. It failed. As the casualties in Europe mounted in 1916 and 1917 and
with the Russian and French armies on the verge of collapse, the pressure for
conscription in Canada grew. |
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Attendons-nous
Recruitment efforts, including posters like these met
with limited success in Quebec. |
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