QUEBEC AFFAIRS
It was a splendid evening for an Independence Day celebration in Quebec City. July 4th, that is.
With red, white and blue decorations festooning Dufferin Terrace in front of the American consulate, the panorama of the narrowing St. Lawrence through which many an invader has sailed, the happy hubbub of the crowd noshing on hot dogs, hamburgers, and birthday cake, it was a festive and convivial get-together for ex-pat Americans and local notables of both official languages.
It was obvious few there had yet seen The Patriot or Rambo with Muskets as Liam Lacey of the Globe and Mail called the "must-see Hollywood blockbuster."
Had the film been more widely viewed, a temptation given its Quebecois-resonant title Le Patriote, chances are the discussion on the terrace overlooking le Fleuve may have taken on a less breezy character.
For those who haven't seen the film (me) nor read the reviews, suffice it to say the critics are divided between those quoted with many stars and exclamation marks in the ads, and those who cannot begin to muster enough outrage to denounce the historical inaccuracies, the simplistic caricatures, and the Nazi-like spin contained in the American War of Independence epic.
While debate surely will rage on about the portrayal of the British in the film, the attention accorded the War of Independence (okay, American Revolution, if you prefer), raises the question here in Canada about just how much we know about this seminal event of history.
While the Boston Tea Party, Valley Forge, or Paul Revere may ring a tiny bell of recognition in the minds of people out of school for more than ten years, Canadians as a whole are probably not too intimately in touch with how this country figured in the Revolutionary War.
The July 4th party host was consul general Lois Aroian, one charming and unpretentious diplomat, who got decked out in a star-spangled banner outfit for the occasion. She followed a performance by the American Legion band from Canton, Massachusetts, with remarks that got straight to the crux of the matter:
"Quebec is planning to commemorate this year the 225th anniversary of the invasion of Quebec by American revolutionaries in 1775, prior to the birth of our country... The invasion happened after the Quebec Act of 1774 expanded the boundaries of Quebec south and cut into our colonies' territory.
"This act, in fact, was a major raison d'être for the revolution that resulted in the creation of the United States. Our revolutionaries managed to take over many parts of the province but not the city of Quebec. Although our forebears failed to convince a sufficient number of French and English Canadians to support us against the British and unite our territories, I must say that even back then we had excellent taste in trying to hang onto the most beautiful parts of North America."
While I don't think I would have gone ballistic in the way the Mel Gibson character apparently does, one can understand the kind of resentment the Quebec Act must have sparked in the Thirteen Colonies.
For starters, the British "conquerors" of New France did the unthinkable from the point of view of the southern melting pot, and granted French-speaking citizens the right to maintain their religion, language, and legal system. This effectively drew a line across territory coveted by the American colonists.
What's worse, the Quebec Act extended Quebec's territory south and westward, bordered by the Ohio River in the south and the Mississippi in the west. This extension of the French-speaking colony into territory believed to be the birthright of the American colonists made the Quebec Act easily the most infuriating of the Intolerable Acts -- worse even than The Patriot -- that led directly to war.
So, in a very real sense, Quebec City is as much the cradle of American independence as Philadelphia or Boston.
And while madame consul general may rue the fact few Quebecers joined the Revolution to get rid of the British (although a couple battalions of Canadiens did sign up), French-Canadians got to stay French and the Americans did end up with a prime piece of Quebec City real estate for a consulate -- and a beautiful place for an Independence Day party.
Copyright © 2000 Peter Black/Log Cabin Chronicles/07.00 |
