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Introduction. L’antisémitisme au Québec

Pierre Anctil and Ira Robinson

Influence et rayonnement international d’Adrien Arcand

Hugues Théorêt
Over the last decade, various studies have examined Adrien Arcand’s fascist and anti-semitic papers, as well as the movement he led, which attracted a few hundred followers in Quebec during 1930s. Yet little has been written about Arcand’s international influence. In the 1930s, he built up a solid reputation among champions of anti-Semitism around the world by actively participating in the distribution of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and by publishing The Key to the Mystery, a highly anti-Semitic brochure that aimed to prove the authenticity of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Arrested in 1940, Arcand was detained for the remainder of the Second World War. From his release in 1945 until his death in 1967, he continued to correspond with the world’s leading anti-Semites : Henry Hamilton Beamish, Arnold Spencer Leese, Sir Barry Domville, Gerald Hamilton, Robert Edmundson, and Henry Coston. His most famous admirer, the German-Canadian Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel, who was deported from Canada in 2002 to serve a seven-year prison sentence in Germany, considered Arcand to be his mentor.

La contribution des conservateurs à la longue survie des organisations fascistes d’Adrien Arcand. Un élément d’explication

Jonathan Tremblay
Between 1929 and his death in 1967, Adrien Arcand assumed the leadership of three organizations : the Ordre patriotique des goglus (1929-1934), the Christian National Socialist Party (1934-1938), and the National Unity Party (1938-1940, 1947-1958, 1965-2003). Over the same period, he published several newspapers, including Le Goglu (1929-1933), Le Miroir (1929-1933), Le Chameau (1930-1932), Le Patriote (1933-1938), Le Fasciste Canadien (1935-1938), Le Combat National (1938-1939), L’Unité Nationale (1953-1958), and Serviam (1965-2001). These publications and political movements consistently lost money. In order to finance them, Arcand behaved like a mercenary, providing two types of services to the Conservative Party : his skills as a columnist, which he consistently used to support Conservative policies in his newspapers, and the assistance of his fascist followers during election campaigns. In turn, the Conservatives agreed to subsidize Arcand’s ventures. Negotiating this type agreement with key leaders of the Conservative Party of the Canada and the Union Nationale in Quebec gave Arcand the freedom to continue pursuing his anti-Semitic and fascist campaigns for more than thirty years.

L’Église catholique québécoise face à l’antisémitisme des années 1930

Alexandre Dumas
The anti-Semitic writings of Catholic French-Canadian intellectuals have received a lot of attention. From Lionel Groulx to Le Devoir, not to mention the Jeune-Canada movement, the 1930s have much to offer those interested in the issue of anti-Semitism in Catholic Quebec. A large number of relevant studies have focused on the period. However, although Catholicism has often been identified as a source of anti-Semitism, the role of the Catholic Church as an institution has yet to be examined. This article explores the views of the Catholic Church on anti-Semitism and its expressions, especially in relation to Adrien Arcand’s Christian National Socialist Party. Did the Church encourage anti-Semitism among its followers, did it condemn anti-Semitism, or did it largely ignore the issue ? Did the bishops themselves harbour prejudice against Jews, or even fear them ? The recently opened archives of the Archdioceses of Quebec and Montreal show that, on the one hand, the Church generally failed to reach out to the Jewish community or encourage Catholics to be more open and understanding. On the other hand, the Church was suspicious of Adrien Arcand’s party and had little appetite for his virulently anti-Jewish discourse. The article illustrates these findings by revisiting the 1930 debate on Jewish schools, the the relationship between the Quebec Church and the Christian National Socialist Party, as well as the anti-Semitic rhetoric of some priests in the Diocese of Quebec.

« Personne n’est antisémite, mais tout le monde est opposé à l’immigration ». Les discours des responsables politiques québécois sur les réfugiés juifs, 1938-1945

Sandra Dubé
Canada was one of many countries where European Jews fleeing Nazi persecution sought asylum in the 1930s and 1940s. In previous years, new restrictions on immigration had been introduced and, like many countries during the period, Canada opted not adjust its policies in light of the tragic circumstances of European Jews. Historians have sought to understand the reasons for Canada’s reluctance to welcome Jewish refugees, and whether anti-Semitism was a decisive influence. The Great Depression and increased hostility toward immigrants have been cited, but scholars have also pointed to a lack of empathy toward the persecution faced by Jews on the part of both politicians and the general population. Some have also noted a tense and radicalized international political climate, marked by the rise of communist and fascist ideologies, as a factor. In this way, anti-Semitism has come to be regarded as the key explanation for Canada’s restrictive immigration policies. In addition, Quebec has been portrayed as having had an important influence on these policies, with French Canadians being depicted as hostile to the Jews, if not outright anti-Semites. While the opinions of many important actors have been studied, the words of the province’s politicians have not been closely examined, in large part because the reconstituted debates of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec have only recently become available. What did Quebec politicians, who are often automatically cast as anti-Semitic, actually say and what positions did they take ? To answer this question, the article explores the discourse of Quebec politicians on Jewish refugees between 1938 and 1945. In light of the unique features of the Quebec context and with the help of a matrix for the analysis of racism and its terminology, a study of this discourse reveals a more complex picture than the historiography has sometimes painted.

Le Congrès juif canadien et l’hostilité à l’immigration juive dans l’immédiat après-guerre (1945-1948)

Antoine Burgard
The anti-Semitic writings of Catholic French-Canadian intellectuals have received a lot of attention. From Lionel Groulx to Le Devoir, not to mention the Jeune-Canada movement, the 1930s have much to offer those interested in the issue of anti-Semitism in Catholic Quebec. A large number of relevant studies have focused on the period. However, although Catholicism has often been identified as a source of anti-Semitism, the role of the Catholic Church as an institution has yet to be examined. This article explores the views of the Catholic Church on anti-Semitism and its expressions, especially in relation to Adrien Arcand’s Christian National Socialist Party. Did the Church encourage anti-Semitism among its followers, did it condemn anti-Semitism, or did it largely ignore the issue ? Did the bishops themselves harbour prejudice against Jews, or even fear them ? The recently opened archives of the Archdioceses of Quebec and Montreal show that, on the one hand, the Church generally failed to reach out to the Jewish community or encourage Catholics to be more open and understanding. On the other hand, the Church was suspicious of Adrien Arcand’s party and had little appetite for his virulently anti-Jewish discourse. The article illustrates these findings by revisiting the 1930 debate on Jewish schools, the the relationship between the Quebec Church and the Christian National Socialist Party, as well as the anti-Semitic rhetoric of some priests in the Diocese of Quebec.

René Lévesque. La haine du préjugé racial et de l’antisémitisme

Jean-François Beaudet
In reaction to the Nazi atrocities he witnessed in 1945 and through the various relationships he maintained with the Jewish community in Quebec, René Lévesque developed a particularly deep and sensitive understanding of Jewish issues. Throughout his career as a public figure, this future Premier of Quebec openly condemned all forms of anti-Semitism and racial prejudice. Based on columns written by Lévesque and published Quebec newspapers, this article explores some of the key reflections on anti-Semitism made by one of the most important figures in 20th-century French-Canadian nationalism. In fact, during the Quiet Revolution and the years that followed, Lévesque would try to reconcile the Jewish community – which feared the excesses that could accompany expressions of Quebec nationalism – to the movement.

« Maîtres chez eux ». La grève des internes de 1934 revisitée

Ira Robinson
One of the most iconic events in the history of anti-Semitism in Quebec was the 1934 strike by interns at Notre-Dame Hospital. They were opposed to the presence of a Jewish physician, Dr. Samuel Rabinovitch. This article examines both archival sources and commentary in the contemporary press to arrive at a better understanding of the event from multiple perspectives, namely those of the Jewish community, French Canadian leaders (at the hospital, at the Université de Montréal, and within the Catholic Church), members of the wider French-Canadian community, and English-speaking Canadians.

Le Devoir et les Juifs. Complexités d’une relation sans cesse changeante (1910-1963)

Pierre Anctil
Expressions of anti-Semitism in Le Devoir have been a key issue in Canadian Jewish historiography. For more than 30 years, the topic has been passionately debated, at times evoking contradictory statements that usually attract significant media attention. This article approaches the question somewhat differently. It undertakes a systematic analysis of all editorials published in the newspaper over a 50-year period, from the foundation of Le Devoir in 1910 to the nomination of Claude Ryan as director in 1963. A careful reading of close to 16,000 editorials reveals that Jews and Judaism did not, in fact, attract much attention in the pages of Le Devoir. Essentially, the newspaper’s editorialists only showed a significant interest in the subject between 1933 and 1939, in the context of the Nazi persecution of Jews in Europe. Granted, a mistrust of Jews continued to be expressed in Le Devoir until the mid-1940s, but the most explicit examples were published during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In this article, I attempt to understand why Le Devoir expressed such reticence to the Jewish presence in Quebec, an attitude that was rooted in the teachings of the pre-Vatican II Church.

Le pluralisme religieux à l’épreuve de l’antisémitisme

Yolande Cohen

Le docteur Rieux d’Albert Camus : un mentor au Québec, de la réalité à la fiction cinématographique

Sophie Bastien
Dr. Bernard Rieux, the hero and narrator of Albert Camus’ 1947 novel La peste [The Plague], faces the unavoidable ethical and metaphysical issues raised by an epidemic. With the team he assembles to help the infected, he demonstrates remarkable solidarity and selflessness by sacrificing his own safety for the collective good. In modern-day Quebec, there have been two incarnations of this humble and heroic character. First, there is a real-life doctor who has modelled his behaviour on that of Dr. Rieux. Dr. Réjean Thomas has worked with people living with AIDS for about 30 years – since a time when the disease was epidemic, deadly and little understood – and is recognized as a pioneer in the field. Second, Dr. Jeanne Dion is the fictional protagonist of two feature films : La neuvaine [The Novena] (2005) and La donation [The Legacy] (2009). Writer-director Bernard Émond has recognized the importance of Camus as a source of inspiration. This article begins by reviewing the key traits exhibited by the hero of Camus’ novel while highlighting the philosophical dimension of medical practice in La peste. Next, the article explores the parallels with the career of AIDS doctor Réjean Thomas, as well as Camus’ influence on the thought of filmmaker Bernard Émond. Finally, the article analyzes the fictional character Jeanne Dion in the films La neuvaine and La donation.

Vers une société nouvelle. Fernand Dumont, Michel de Certeau et les années soixante-huit

Daniel Poitras
Working both in relation to and in opposition to the grand narratives of their respective contexts, Fernand Dumont of Quebec and Michel de Certeau of France developed increasingly radical expectations for a new society during the latter part of the 1960s. This article adopts a comparative perspective in order to seek out the connections between two bodies of work that have never before been compared. Despite being shaped by events with very different different repercussions (October 1970, May 1968), by different founding myths (surviving Quebec, revolutionary France) and by different continents (New World, Old World), many parallels can be drawn between the expectations expressed by these two authors. In order to determine the potential and the limits of these parallels, I reflect on the historical specificity of the period and especially on the evolution of futurism during the 1960s. The roles given to the elites and to the “rank and file”, the potential of the “ordinary man”, revolutionary heritage and spatial configurations are the key themes I address while drawing connections between the expectations of Fernand Dumont and Michel de Certeau. I show how these parallels not only move beyond internal explanations associated with national narratives, but also serve as an invitation to step away from the purely local experiences of period in order to apply them to other contexts and in other ways.

Jennifer Drouin, Shakespeare in Quebec. Nation, Gender, and Adaptation, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2014

Jane Moss

Alain Saulnier, Ici était Radio-Canada, Montréal, Boréal, 2014

Pierre C. Bélanger

Germain Lacasse, Johanne Massé et Bethsabée Poirier, Le diable en ville. Alexandre Silvio et l’émergence de la modernité populaire au Québec, Montréal, Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 2012

Louis Pelletier

Daniel Tremblay et Louise-Andrée Laliberté, Le Parlement du Québec. Parcours photographique, Montréal, Éditions Québec Amérique, 2014

Yves Laberge

Frédéric Parent, Un Québec invisible. Enquête ethnographique dans un village de la grande région de Québec, Québec, Presses de l’Université Laval, 2015

Frédéric Boily

Jacques Roy, Les cégépiens et la réussite scolaire. Un point de vue sociologique, Québec, Presses de l’Université Laval, 2015

Alexandre Beaupré-Lavallée

Pierre-Mathieu Le Bel, Montréal et la métropolisation. Une géographie romanesque, Montréal, Triptyque, 2012

Jean-François Chassay

Élise Detellier, Mises au jeu. Les sports féminins à Montréal, 1919-1961, Montréal, Éditions du remue-ménage, 2015

Marilou St-Pierre

Louise Bienvenue, Ollivier Hubert et Christine Hudon, Le collège classique pour garçons. Études historiques sur une institution québécoise disparue, Montréal, Fides, 2014

Daniel Poitras

Yves Frenette, Étienne Rivard et Marc Saint-Hilaire (dir.), La francophonie nord-américaine, Québec, Presses de l’Université Laval, 2012

Sandrine Tailleur

Caroline Caron, Vues, mais non entendues. Les adolescentes québécoises et l’hypersexualisation, Québec, Presses de l’Université Laval, 2014

Martin Blais

Parutions récentes en études québécoises

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