The Canadian Dilemma

Abstract

There are two miracles in Canadian history/' Professor F. R. Scott of McGill University once maintained. first is the survival of French Canada, and the second is the survival of Canada.1 Almost always in the past English, and especially French, Canadians have believed instinctively that these two miracles were inseparably linked together. Most French Canadians were convinced that la survivance de la nation canadiennefrangaise depended on an alliance with English Canada, and even on the protection of the British Empire. The theme that the last cannon shot which booms on this continent in defence of Great Britain will be fired by the hands of a French Canadian, is an important one in the history of French Canada.2 Then, too, one of the most frequently repeated arguments in favour of the acceptance of Confederation in 1865 was that it was the only alternative to annexation. This argument has often been adapted for modern usage. Pointing out the weakness of the French Canadian separatist case a few years ago, M. Andre Laurendeau wrote that Above all, one of the principal motives which led to the creation of Canada: the proximity of a large country to the south and the necessity of gathering together the British colonies in order to allow them to exist beside the United States, this motive had become more imperious. A segmented Canada would have scarcely more influence than one of the little republics of central America: would it even be able to exist?3 From the French Canadian viewpoint it has always been obvious that although they were a minority in Canada, they would be an even smaller and more precarious group, and therefore less capable of resisting absorption into the United States, if they attempted to exist apart from English Canada.