Maurice Lamontagne Unedited Interview
Title
Maurice Lamontagne Unedited Interview
Publisher
OISE Press
Date
1973
Contributor
Maurice Lamontagne
Richard Alway
Rights
© 1973 The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Language
English
Type
Sound
Transcription
Richard Alway: In a speech in November of 1963, a member of the newly-elected
Pearson government, the Honourable Maurice Lamontagne spoke of
one of Canada's most pressing problems.
“Canada's first century has been marked by great achievements and also
at times by serious crises. The Riel incident, the school question in the
west, our participation in war and the conscription crisis, have all
divided our two main ethnic groups and threatened our national unity.
Those successive crises have followed a common pattern. They resulted
from action initiated in English-speaking Canada and the ensuing
reaction of French-speaking Canada. We are now going through another
serious national crisis, but this time a new pattern has appeared. The
current crisis is the result of actions taken in Quebec.”
Senator Lamontagne, a decade has passed since you wrote that. In your
opinion, is this crisis, the threat of Quebec separation, more or less
acute than it was when you wrote those words?
M. Lamontagne: Well I think it was beginning to really develop in 1963. My impression
is that it peaked around 1970 in Quebec, as a purely Quebec
phenomenon. I fear, however, that there might be a revival of the crisis.
This time perhaps as a kind of backlash in Quebec resulting from the -
what may happen in the future months, let's say, or next year, in
English-speaking Canada. I think that if the so-called French Power is
checked, and if there's growing opposition to the spreading of some
degree of bilingualism, especially in the federal civil service and all
this, those who have taken the succession from Quebec in the federal
field might be discouraged, they might be inclined to go back home.
And then this would leave at the federal level, at the national level,
some kind of vacuum. And this vacuum might produce some kind of
revival of the separatist movement in Quebec.
But I hope that this won't happen, of course
Pearson government, the Honourable Maurice Lamontagne spoke of
one of Canada's most pressing problems.
“Canada's first century has been marked by great achievements and also
at times by serious crises. The Riel incident, the school question in the
west, our participation in war and the conscription crisis, have all
divided our two main ethnic groups and threatened our national unity.
Those successive crises have followed a common pattern. They resulted
from action initiated in English-speaking Canada and the ensuing
reaction of French-speaking Canada. We are now going through another
serious national crisis, but this time a new pattern has appeared. The
current crisis is the result of actions taken in Quebec.”
Senator Lamontagne, a decade has passed since you wrote that. In your
opinion, is this crisis, the threat of Quebec separation, more or less
acute than it was when you wrote those words?
M. Lamontagne: Well I think it was beginning to really develop in 1963. My impression
is that it peaked around 1970 in Quebec, as a purely Quebec
phenomenon. I fear, however, that there might be a revival of the crisis.
This time perhaps as a kind of backlash in Quebec resulting from the -
what may happen in the future months, let's say, or next year, in
English-speaking Canada. I think that if the so-called French Power is
checked, and if there's growing opposition to the spreading of some
degree of bilingualism, especially in the federal civil service and all
this, those who have taken the succession from Quebec in the federal
field might be discouraged, they might be inclined to go back home.
And then this would leave at the federal level, at the national level,
some kind of vacuum. And this vacuum might produce some kind of
revival of the separatist movement in Quebec.
But I hope that this won't happen, of course
Interviewer
Richard Alway
Interviewee
Maurice Lamontagne
Files
Collection
Citation
“Maurice Lamontagne Unedited Interview,” Exhibits, accessed November 23, 2024, https://exhibits.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/15647.