Everything about Quebec Diaspora totally explained
» For the 1970s migration of Quebec anglophones to other Canadian provinces, see English-speaking Quebecers.
The
Quebec diaspora refers to the millions of people who left the province of
Quebec for the
United States,
Ontario and the
Canadian prairies between 1840 and the
Great Depression of the
1930s.
Brought on by the "push" of
overpopulation in rural areas that couldn't sustain themselves under the
seigneurial system of
land tenure, but also because the expansion of this system was in effect blocked by the "
Château Clique" that ruled the Province of Quebec under the new British governors, who reserved new land developments for the English and the English system of colonization (see
Eastern Townships) and the "pull" of
industrialization in
New England, approximately 900,000 residents of Quebec (
French Canadian for the great majority) left for the United States seeking work. About half of those are reported to have eventually returned to Quebec. Often those who stayed organized themselves in communities sometimes known as
Little Canadas. A great proportion of
Americans with French ancestry trace it through Quebec.
Until 1849, the Catholic Church wasn't allowed to purchase any land, or establish any parishes in the Eastern township due to English Protestant laws and control At the initiative of Father Bernard O’Reilley, an
Association des Townships was set up in 1848 to promote settlement in the area. In the 1850s, the association purchased lands which it gave to young families of farmers to prevent them from leaving for the United States where it was believed they'd ultimately be assimilated.
Certain early American centers of
textile manufacturing and other industries attracted significant French-Canadian populations, like
Fall River,
Holyoke, and
Lowell in Massachusetts;
Woonsocket in
Rhode Island;
Manchester in
New Hampshire and the bordering counties in
Vermont and
Maine. There are also sizeable populations of French-Canadian descent in
Michigan and
Minnesota — who began migrating there when the region was still part of
New France.
The largest proportion of
French-Canadians outside of Quebec trace their ancestry to Quebec (except in the
Canadian Maritimes, which were settled by the
Acadians).
Legacy
The
Museum of Work and Culture in
Woonsocket, Rhode Island details New England's Quebec diaspora which developed in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Noteworthy among those whose parents settled in the United States are writer
Jack Kerouac,
Robert Goulet,
Jonathan Lipnicki and historian
Will Durant.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Quebec Diaspora'.
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