Re: O.T. The Maple Leaf Forever

family wrote:

On this day 243 years ago,France ceded Canada to Great Britain,


Only technically correct. The relevant language of the Treaty of Paris, which was indeed signed on February 10, 1763, reads in part:

"His Most Christian Majesty [i.e., the King of France] renounces all pretensions which he has heretofore formed or might have formed to Nova Scotia or Acadia in all its parts, and guaranties the whole of it, and with all its dependencies, to the King of Great Britain: Moreover, his Most Christian Majesty cedes and guaranties to his said Britannick Majesty [i.e., the King of England], in full right, Canada, with all its dependencies, as well as the island of Cape Breton, and all the other islands and coasts in the gulph and river of St. Lawrence, and in general, every thing that depends on the said countries, lands, islands, and coasts, with the sovereignty, property, possession, and all rights acquired by treaty, or otherwise, which the Most Christian King and the Crown of France have had till now over the said countries, lands, islands, places, coasts, and their inhabitants, so that the Most Christian King cedes and makes over the whole to the said King, and to the Crown of Great Britain, and that in the most ample manner and form, without restriction, and without any liberty to depart from the said cession and guaranty under any pretence, or to disturb Great Britain in the possessions above mentioned."

The ceding of "Canada" generally was necessary language to have France renounce its possible claims to all parts of Canada whether or not occupied by France. In reality, that related only to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec, known by the English at that time as "Lower Canada". The English had already (1) taken sole possession of the Island of Newfoundland, and laid claim to the Coast of Labrador (though Quebec maps of the the 20th century still showed no eastern border to the province); and (2) long since discovered Hudson's Bay (1576) from the north, and begun fur trading informally and then formally through The "Company of Adventurers of England into Hudson's Bay", known more commonly as The Hudson's Bay Company, one of the world's oldest continuously operating chartered corporations. [Sad to say, it was announced this last week that the Bay will be sold to an American.] The English had long since pushed down into what is now Ontario, then known as "Upper Canada". Then came the Seven Year's War, aka The French and Indian War. The final British pincer movement came east from Niagara, north up from Lake Champlain and west down the St. Lawrence River, leading to the conclusive battle before Quebec City on the Plains of Abraham. When the war began, France had only 80,000 colonists from Quebec to Louisiana, while the British had 1,000,000, though few in the American colonies contributed to the war. None the less, the long term chances in the war did not favor the French, and Montcalm himself informed the government that the French interests in Canada were not defensible.



under the
Treaty of Paris, which ended the so called French and Indian War.
Strange is not, that in the past 243 years, the citizens of Quebec still call themselves "FRENCH"


Hold it. I have heard "Quebecois" and "French Canadian" to describe their political status, and I have heard "French" used to describe the language status as opposed to the "English" language status of the rest of the country, but I have never heard any one use "French" to describe the political status of people in Quebec. Not even Charles DeGaulle, who proclaimed "Vive la Quebec libre", suggested that Quebec, if it became free, should join France. Also note, that New Brunswick, with a substantial French language population, has not, to my knowledge, vocalized the sentiments of the Parti Quebecois.

On the other hand, there is the motto on the licence plates of Quebec cars: "Je me souviens" - "I remember", words that no doubt refer to the conquest of French Canada by English speakers.


were as the rest of the Canada, no matter what
their ethnic background might be, call themselves Canadian.


Again, this is the political usage, which would correspond in my experience, not to "French" but "Quebecois". Still, you have a point that the English-speaking Canadians, whatever their origins or geographic location, have generally tried to form a single national identity from Newfoundland to British Columbia. [Is it time to rename it "Pacifica"?] Since 1970, the same cannot be said for Quebec.


Francis A. Miniter
.

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