{"id":1895,"date":"2024-02-24T15:26:57","date_gmt":"2024-02-24T20:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parolefranco.ca\/?page_id=1895"},"modified":"2024-02-28T18:19:27","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T23:19:27","slug":"1941-et-1974","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/parolefranco.ca\/en\/1941-et-1974\/","title":{"rendered":"1941 and 1974"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We Deserve a New Representation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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In Canada\u2019s political system, the Senate has acquired the reputation of a \u201csafe haven\u201d for members of French-speaking minority communities. Often marginalized in electoral battles for seats in the House of Commons, francophones can enjoy an alternative form of parliamentary representation thanks to the appointment of a senator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Confederation, when a vacancy arose in the Senate, the institutional network lobbied the federal government for an appointment. This strategy worked, as evidenced by the appointment of New Brunswicker Pascal Poirier to the Senate in 1885. Prince Edward Island\u2019s francophone community was also briefly represented in the Senate by Conservative Joseph-Octave Arsenault, between 1895 and 1897. In the 20th century, the Island\u2019s Acadians mobilized on numerous occasions to have one of their own appointed to the Senate.

Senatorial appointments periodically captured the attention of activists. In 1925, the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montr\u00e9al<\/em> requested the appointment of an Acadian from Prince Edward Island. The campaign intensified in the 1940s. The following documents bear witness to the pivotal role played by the Conseil de la vie fran\u00e7aise en Am\u00e9rique<\/em> (CVFA) in this regard. The CVFA supported the appointment of French-speaking senators since it promoted bilingualism in the federal public service. Its leaders coordinated the efforts of various players in the institutional network and created links between nationalist activists and newspapers. While newspapers such as Le Droit<\/em> and Le Devoir<\/em> put forward demographic arguments, L\u2019Action catholique<\/em> of Quebec City criticized politicians who were slow to accede to the request. All in all, a \u201cfine campaign,\u201d in the words of L\u2019\u00c9vang\u00e9line<\/em> (quoted in Le Devoir<\/em>, June 2, 1945).

What\u2019s striking is the extent to which the 1970s campaign for the appointment of a French-speaking senator from Prince Edward Island fell off the radar of Quebec nationalists. By then, the CVFA had lost its relevance, and many national organizations, such as the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9s Saint-Jean-Baptiste<\/em>, had redirected their activism towards the struggle for the independence of Quebec.

In the end, the campaigns of the 1940s and 1970s came to nothing. As a small consolation, the Mackenzie King government recommended the appointment of Joseph Bernard as Lieutenant-Governor of Prince Edward Island in the spring of 1945. However, it wasn\u2019t until 1999 that another Island Acadian - Melvin Perry Poirier - was appointed to the Senate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Titles of the documents <\/strong>Lettre du secr\u00e9taire g\u00e9n\u00e9ral \u00e0 J. Henri Blanchard; Lettre de J. H.\u202fBlanchard; Lettre de J.-Edmond Arsenault, secr\u00e9taire g\u00e9n\u00e9ral au Conseil de la vie fran\u00e7aise; Lettre du secr\u00e9taire au Premier Ministre

Dates : <\/strong>April 11, 1941; October 17, 1941; December 19, 1974; December 27, 1974

Reference : <\/strong>Archives de la Ville de Qu\u00e9bec, Fonds Conseil de la vie fran\u00e7aise en Am\u00e9rique, P52-9A-1576-06 ; …P52-9A-1576-07 .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about this topic:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Printed sources<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab\u202fUn s\u00e9nateur acadien pour l\u2019\u00cele du Prince-\u00c9douard\u202f\u00bb, Le Droit<\/em>, 14 \u202fjuin 1944, p.\u202f3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab\u202fPas de s\u00e9nateur acadien pour l\u2019\u00cele du Prince-\u00c9douard\u202f\u00bb, Le Devoir<\/em>, 5\u202fmai 1945, p.\u202f6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab\u202fUn lieutenant-gouverneur acadien pour l\u2019\u00cele\u202f\u00bb, Le Devoir<\/em>, 2\u202f juin 1945, p.\u202f6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenault, Georges. Les Acadiens de l\u2019\u00cele, 1720-1980<\/em>, Moncton, Les \u00c9ditions d\u2019Acadie, 1987.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martel, Marcel. Le deuil d\u2019un pays imagin\u00e9\u202f: r\u00eaves, lutte et d\u00e9route du Canada fran\u00e7ais. Les rapports entre le Qu\u00e9bec et la francophonie canadienne (1867-1975)<\/em>, Ottawa, Presses de l\u2019Universit\u00e9 d\u2019Ottawa, 1997.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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1867-1927<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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1928-1967<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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1968-1982<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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1983-2022<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nous m\u00e9ritons une nouvelle repr\u00e9sentation Dans le r\u00e9gime politique canadien, la Chambre haute acquiert le statut de \u00ab\u2009valeur refuge\u2009\u00bb pour les francophones en situation minoritaire. Souvent marginalis\u00e9s dans les luttes \u00e9lectorales, ceux-ci peuvent jouir d\u2019une autre forme de repr\u00e9sentation parlementaire gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 la nomination d\u2019un s\u00e9nateur (ou, plus tard, d\u2019une s\u00e9natrice).  Lorsqu\u2019un poste se lib\u00e8re, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60472210,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1895","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/Pfdu74-uz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parolefranco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parolefranco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parolefranco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parolefranco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60472210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parolefranco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1895"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/parolefranco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2164,"href":"https:\/\/parolefranco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1895\/revisions\/2164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parolefranco.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}