Chapter III: Section 133: is not limitative. Some people are apt to look upon this

matter in a very strange way. We are told that we are not to claim any rights for the French Language in Ontario, because there is no text of law. I ask you, gentlemen, if you have ever seen anywhere a text of law which says that the English language is the official language of the British Empire? No, there is no such law, none anywhere, not at Westminster, at Ottawa or at Toronto. Why? Simply because language is a natural right--there are rights that we all enjoy which do not need the sanction of law, the right to live, to breathe, the right of property--these are rights which do not need the sanction of law, that is, of any special text of law, but belong inherently to all individuals and everyone is entitled to their enjoyment without any text of law. These rights are the necessary attributes of individual freedom.

The rights of the minority in the Province of Quebec with reference to their religious tenets and their language have no other and no better foundation than the same rights of the French or Catholics in the Province of Ontario. If we are deprived of the right to use the French language in our schools in the Province of Ontario, and if that is constitutionally sound, there is nothing to prevent the government of the Province of Quebec from saying that in the English schools of the Province of Quebec there shall be no word of English spoken. I should think the contemplation of such a thing would make you shudder. It is really inconceivable with anyone in Quebec.

I have tried to show you the conditions at Confederation. I said I would give you authority for my statements, and I am going to give you the authority of different and most competent people. First of all, I will give you the authority of Sir Oliver Mowat. He had no doubt on this matter, nor had Sir George Ross, and both of them said so in very clear and unmistakeable language. As long as their authority lasted the use of the French language in the Province of Ontario was not interfered with, but was treated in a broad and sympathetic way. I will quote also from Doctor Ryerson, who was the father of the Ontario school system, and who for thirty-five years exercised undisputed sway over the schools of that province. I will likewise cite Sir James Whitney.

Sir Oliver Mowat, in a speech made at Woodstock, on December 3rd. 1889, said:

"French-Canadians cherish their own language lovingly; they
wish their children to love it and be educated in it; but
they know it will be for their interest to be familiar with
English also, and to be educated in English, as well as
French. Proscribe French, their mother tongue, and they will
hate you and have nothing to do with your schools. Permit
their own language to receive attention, and they are glad
to have their children learn English also as soon and as
fast as it can be imparted. Such was the view of the
Commissioners as to the proper policy; it is the view of
this Government; and it is the view of all intelligent men,
except our political opponents. It was the view of Dr.
Ryerson and his Council of Public Instruction, even to the
extent of putting no pressure whatever on French or German
schools, and of awaiting their own spontaneous action as to
English and other matters.

"Our opponents insist that the Government should insist on
all instruction being given to the French children in the
English language. No such regulation was suggested by the
Commissioners, and none such has been made, because such a
regulation would be absurd; and, instead, of serving the
cause of education, would often prevent education
altogether. How can you teach in a language which the
children do not understand?"

Gentlemen, I want to quote also a letter of Dr. Ryerson, whose name I have just mentioned, dating as far back as 1857, and this letter, although it contains but four lines, contains the whole thesis upon which this question rests. I invite your special attention to every word of this letter, not only because of the man who wrote it, but on account of the significance of the words he uses. It is as follows:

"24th April, 1857.

"Gentlemen:--

"I have the honour to state in reply to your letter of the
16th instant THAT, AS THE FRENCH IS THE RECOGNIZED LANGUAGE
OF THE COUNTRY, as well as the English, IT IS QUITE PROPER
AND LAWFUL for the trustees to ALLOW BOTH LANGUAGES TO BE
TAUGHT in their schools to children whose parents may desire
them to learn both.

"I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,

"Your obedient servant,

"(Sgd.) E. Ryerson."

I also stated that I would quote Sir James Whitney, and that is very much more recent history. Within a few months of the promulgation of regulation No. 17, in fact on the 25th of July, 1911, Sir James Whitney caused this letter to be written:

"25th July, 1911.

"Reverend and Dear Sir:--

"I am directed by the Prime Minister, Sir James Whitney, to
acknowledge your letter of the 21st and to state that no
change has been made in the school law or the department
regulations AFFECTING THE STUDY OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE IN
THE SCHOOLS.

"I AM DIRECTED TO POINT OUT THAT THE QUESTION IS ONE
ENTIRELY UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES....

"(Signed) A. H. U. Colquhoun.

"Deputy Minister of Education."

This letter was written to Reverend Father Chaine, of Arnprior, a town not far from Ottawa.

I spoke to you a moment ago of the right to appoint trustees. I want you, gentlemen, many of whom I have the honour of calling my friends, and whom I see before me, my Protestant friends of Quebec, how would you like it if the Roman Catholic School Committee in this province were to arrogate to itself the right to appoint the teachers in your dissentient schools, and to define their duties? How would you like it? Would you think that was keeping faith with the British North America Act? Would you think that was keeping faith with the Confederation partnership? How would you like it if this same Committee, not only would assume to appoint your teachers and your inspectors, and would take good care also to appoint Catholic inspectors in your Protestant schools--how would you like it? Will you not take that suggestion home with you, gentlemen, and think it over? How would you like this regulation No. 17 to be applied to the Province of Quebec?

Let me read the two or three most important sections of the regulation and substitute the word "French" for the word "English" and vice versa wherever they occur, and I want you to take that home also and think it over. Let us read section 3 of the regulation No. 17:

3. Subject in the case of each school to the direction and
approval of the superintendent of Education (I use that
term advisably as corresponding to the term used in
Ontario) the following modifications shall also be made in
the course of study in separate schools.

The use of ENGLISH FOR INSTRUCTION AND COMMUNICATION.

(1) WHERE NECESSARY, in the case of English-speaking
pupils, English may be used as the language of instruction
and communication; but such use of English shall not be
continued beyond Form 1 (that is the first two years the
child goes to school) excepting that on the approval of the
Superintendent of Education, it may also be used as the
language of instruction and communication in the case of
pupils beyond Form 1, who are unable to speak and
understand the French language.

Now, gentlemen, will you seriously consider that? How would you like that kind of thing, you the English-speaking people of the Province of Quebec, if you could use your language in your schools, as a means of instruction and communication in the first form, that is during the first two years, only if and when the Superintendent of Education for this Province, after examination of your children, might say it was absolutely necessary to use English?

As a subject of study let us carry on the same process. I will read further from regulation 17, making the same transposition:

"English as a subject of study in separate (or dissentient)
schools."

4. In schools where English--(remember, gentlemen, we are
now in 1912)--has HITHERTO been a subject of study, the
separate (or dissentient) school board may provide, under
the following conditions, for instruction in English,
reading, grammar and composition in Form 1 to 4, in
addition to the subjects prescribed for the separate (or
dissentient) schools.

(1) Such instruction in English may be taken only by pupils
whose parents or guardians direct that they shall do so,
and may, notwithstanding section 3 above, be given in the
English language.

(2) Such instruction in English shall not interfere with
the adequacy of the instruction in French, and the
provision for such instruction in English in the time-table
of the school shall be subject to the approval and
direction of the Superintendent of Education, and shall not
in any day EXCEED ONE HOUR in each class room, except where
the time is increased upon the order of the superintendent.

Would that be agreeable to you, gentlemen, to have only one hour of English in your school, and that confined to reading, composition and grammar, and nothing else, and just one hour--and more than that if it pleased the Superintendent of Education to say that you should have English for one minute only each day, would you be satisfied with that? That is Regulation No. 17 in all its simplicity!

Are you surprised, gentlemen, that the French-Canadians of Ontario have strenuously protested and intend to continue to do so, and have asked the support of the Province of Quebec under conditions of that kind? We have sought the support of our French-Canadian friends in the Province, and we have got it; but I for one am very much more anxious to have the sympathy and the help of the English-speaking people of the Province of Quebec. If I accepted the invitation to come here within half an hour after getting the telegram from my good friend Mr. Paradis, it was because I thought that I might contribute in some small way to assist my English-speaking friends in the Province of Quebec to a proper understanding of the real meaning and object of this very troublesome question.

Perhaps you may think it impertinence on my part, but will you not allow me to say that you owe it to yourselves first of all to look carefully into this matter. To-day it is a question in Ontario, but to-morrow it may be a question in Quebec. Don't you owe it to yourselves to consider this most carefully? But, to put it on a higher ground--because I have unbounded confidence in the feelings of justice and fair play of the Protestants in the Province of Quebec--don't you owe it to us French-Canadians, in both Provinces, to come to our assistance in the Province of Ontario, where we are seeking the preservation of our most elementary rights? I think you owe it also to Canada, to Confederation, to take a part in this matter. I am not trying to convince you of something which is not right or just or fair, but convince yourselves, gentlemen, look into these questions, and if you are not satisfied with the explanations that I have given, come to me, or go to some one else in whom you may have more confidence, and find out--learn about it all. Permit me also to say to you, with all the solemnity and earnestness of which I am capable, that it is your duty, because the present is as grave and as dangerous a situation as ever arose in Canada. I say Quebec is as much a partner in Confederation as the other provinces. Confederation is a partnership in which we are all jointly and severally responsible for the performance of duties and obligations assumed by every one of the provinces, and for that reason I am sure--I hope at all events--that you will agree with me, that it is incumbent upon you to look into this very serious matter and do what you can to bring about a just settlement of it.

Nay more, I say in the interests of the Empire--and I am one of those who believe in some form of a united Empire--though no one seems to have yet found the formula, yet I hope it will be found some day--is it not necessary that we should first have national unity, Canadian unity, before we can seriously consider Empire unity? How are you going to bring it about? And is national unity, in Quebec, in Ontario, in Canada, or the British Empire, dependent upon unity of language? How shall we have a united Empire if all parts must speak the English language? How and when are you going to change the 144 dialects of India into English? Then there are Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, and other places where French is spoken. And what about South Africa? Here is a colony which a few years ago was under arms against England, and did everything it could do to break the British power. When the time came for England to deal with the Boers she treated them not with her ancient generosity only, but with a measure overflowing--she treated the Boers in a way in which we are not treated in the Province of Ontario. To-day in the Boer States the Boer language and the English language are on an absolute equality. They do not have to ask a superintendent or any one else for one hour a day in the school to learn their national language. And are we, the French-Canadian people, the descendants of the race who colonized not only this country but a large portion of the North American continent, who explored it from Hudson's Bay to the Gulf of Mexico and from the St. Lawrence to the Rocky Mountains, to leave behind us and bury for ever, a history which has never been surpassed anywhere in the world, for courage, devotion and heroism; are we the descendants of these men, in this Canada of ours, to be deprived of the use of the language of our forefathers? Are we to be told that in order to have a united Canada and a Empire we must forever renounce and deny our origin, our traditions and our beloved language? I ask you, gentlemen, is there any man in the city of Quebec, any Protestant or English-speaking man, who would not despise me if I threw all this to the winds? If I did so I would richly deserve your supreme contempt and you would not be slow in extending it to me--and yet this is what we are asked to do.

And was there ever a time, gentlemen, less than the present, when Frenchmen any where in the world, let alone in Canada, could be asked to forget their origin and their language? When the France of 1915 and 1916 has compelled the unbounded admiration of the whole world for her sublime courage and devotion. And yet we are asked, we who speak the same language as the men, our full brothers who have fought so nobly in the trenches in Flanders, whose defence of the Verdun forts is the finest and most glorious event of the present horrible war, to forego our French language and all that it carries with it, we are told that our children cannot learn it, and must despise it and allow it to die an unnatural death in Canada. I ask you, my English-speaking friends of the Province of Quebec, will you not come to our rescue and look into this question? I believe that there is not one who has done me the honor to listen to me to-day, and who will take the trouble to seriously ponder over the matter, but will say: Yes, I am going to help our French-Canadian friends in Ontario to solve this question and obtain justice and British fair play.

I hope the appeal which you have permitted me to make to you will bear some fruit, and that the interest, the influence and the sympathy of the English-speaking minority in the Province of Quebec will be aroused, and that you will take such steps as you may think proper to bring about a solution of a question which, I repeat, is of the very gravest character, a question which, if not solved promptly, will bring about--I dare not say what--I would rather let you draw your own conclusions. We French-Canadians of Ontario have done all we can in the Province of Ontario to enlighten public opinion. But all in vain. There is not one English newspaper in the Province of Ontario which has printed or paid the slightest attention to any of the arguments which for four years we have advanced. All our literature has been thrown in the waste-paper basket--not one newspaper has taken the trouble to investigate the question. Our arguments have been met with nothing but contempt and abuse.

Now, I say again, I, for one, wish to appeal as earnestly, as solemnly as I can, to you English-speaking Protestants and Catholics of the Province of Quebec, for your help and succor in the solution of this momentous situation. I wish to again offer you my most grateful thanks for your very kind attention and indulgence.

The Honorable Mr. JUSTICE McCORKILL:--Mr. Chairman and Senator Belcourt, fellow-members of the Quebec Canadian Club. When I left the Court House to come here, I had not the faintest idea that I was going to be singled out for the duty of moving a vote of thanks for the lecturer of to-day. I came here because I am a Canadian, because I think I have a proper appreciation of the French race and the French language, and thirdly because I have known Senator Belcourt for a good many years. We were students at the same time--I am sorry to have told you that, because you will think that he is older than he really is--and I knew that what we would hear to-day would be worth hearing.

The English Canadians of the Province of Quebec have been puzzled--I mean the English-Canadians native-born, those who have been brought up with the French-Canadians, who have spoken with them in their language, who have played with them in their school grounds, as I have done, on the lacrosse fields, who have served with them in the ranks of the militia, and in the Legislature.

I am sorry that I was not given warning of the task that was before me. I came here determined to listen, and I have listened. Nothing has gone through my mind as to what I am to say, except to express my humiliation to think that we English-Canadians here have listened to a French lecturer who can speak our language as well as his own, as well as we can ourselves. Of how many of us could the same be said with regard to the French language?

I may say, as far as I have known the speaker of to-day, he is a thorough Canadian, and I am sure that the fact that we all listened to what he has said to-day will produce an effect. I am sure he was moved not only because he is a French-Canadian, but because he is a Canadian, to come here and address us on this occasion. It is a very serious question agitating the Province of Ontario, and we English here, as I said a moment ago, cannot understand how such a feeling should arise.

I have some friends in the Province of Ontario, and I must say they are imbued with the same idea as those who passed regulation No. 17. I am sorry for it; I have done my very best to convince them they were wrong, and I knew they wouldn't feel as they did if they had had the experience I have had with French-Canadians.

I need not tell you that I have been a student of Canadian history from the very earliest days. I have read with the greatest interest the history of the old regime, the opening up of the country, and then of the abandonment of the people by their country, so to speak, and of the tremendous efforts they made to keep the country for themselves. I have read the history of the country under the British regime, and how they have fallen in so well with the administration of justice, the administration in our Legislatures and municipalities under the British system. I believe that a certain French-Canadian at Ottawa is one of the greatest parliamentarians under the British Constitution that we have in any part of the Empire.

They have adopted our system, but there are two things they have clung to, their religion and their language. I believe that their national sentiment is even stronger than their religious sentiment--I really believe so. The national feeling among them is intensely strong, but I would ask you English, Irish and Scotch descendants born in this country, and brought up here, supposing a regulation similar to No. 17 were passed in the Province of Quebec, what do you think our duty towards it would be? Supposing Sir Lomer Gouin--I cannot imagine it--but supposing he did have the courage, or the nerve, so to speak, to pass a regulation of that kind. There would be a rebellion in this Province, I think. And here we have our French-Canadian brethren in the sister Province who by constitutional means are trying to obtain the repeal or the modification of the regulation, or some other settlement of the question which would be satisfactory to all concerned.

Gentlemen, you didn't come here to hear me, and I am not going to detain you any longer. I wish to express, on behalf of the members of this club, our sense of pleasure and obligation to Senator Belcourt for coming here to address us on this question. I am delighted to see so many English-Canadians here to-day. Some may have felt it required a little extra courage to appear, but I do not think so. It does not mean that you are all in sympathy with everything that has been said, but it means that you want education and enlightenment on this matter. And I am sure the appeal the Senator has made to us to study the question will have its effect. And I will agree with him, in the hope that they may have our sympathy and co-operation in bringing about a satisfactory settlement of the question in Ontario.