Quebec’s Patriotes still stir controversy — 180 years later
NATIONALIST FLAG BLOCKED FROM QUEBEC CITY LEGISLATURE
On May 22, as the rest of Canada celebrates Victoria Day, Quebecers will get a day off in honour of les Patriotes, the 19th- century rebels who fought to bring responsible government to what is now Quebec. It’s no surprise that the mostly French- speaking province isn’t terribly keen on paying tribute to a longdead British monarch, and such Patriote leaders as Louis-Joseph Papineau, Jean- Olivier Chénier and Wolfred Nelson are worthy of celebration. Yet last week, Quebec’s Liberal government angered nationalists by blocking a proposal to have the Patriote flag fly above the legislature in Quebec City.
Q Who were the Patriotes? A The Patriotes was the name given to Papineau’s Parti canadien and the popular movement he and others inspired to rise up against British colonial rule in 1837-38. “The primarily francophone party, led mainly by members of the liberal professions and smallscale merchants, was widely supported by farmers, day- labourers and craftsmen,” the Canadian Encyclopedia says. They advocated democracy and the right to self-government, but at the same time they were in no hurry to get rid of the seigneurial system. After the rebellion was crushed, many participants were imprisoned, exiled or hung.
Q What is the Patriote flag? A The flag was introduced in 1832 by Papineau’s political party and was carried at political speeches and into battle during the rebellion.
It is a simple design consisting of three horizontal bars, green, white and red from top to bottom. The flag was seen by the Montreal aristocracy as a revolutionary symbol, and in 1837 the Montreal Herald wrote urging people to destroy it. Some early versions also featured a beaver, a maple leaf or a maskinonge fish. Today, the flag often has the profile of a musket- toting, toquewearing, pipe-smoking rebel superimposed in the centre. Q How did Victoria Day come to be called the Journée nationale des Patriotes in Quebec?
A As early as the 1920s, Quebec had soured on the notion of a holiday for a Queen. A movement to substitute the name of Adam Dollard des Ormeaux, a French soldier killed in a failed ambush of Iroquois hunters, took hold, and for decades the holiday was known as the Fête de Dollard. With the rise of the Quebec independence movement, the Patriotes were adopted as pioneers of a push for national self- determination. The flag was flown at separatist marches and rallies, and in 2000 the Parti Québécois added the promise of a Patriotes holiday to its platform. In 2002, the PQ government of Bernard Landry officially changed the May holiday to honour les Patriotes, citing their struggle to ensure the right of “a people to govern itself.”
Q Why would the Liberals object to raising the Patriote flag over the National Assembly?
A The PQ’s flag- flying motion died without debate after the Liberal deputy parliamentary leader failed to consent to its introduction. But the federalist Liberals were clearly uneasy about raising a flag that has been adopted by separatists as a symbol of their cause. Premier Philippe Couillard has argued the Patriotes are symbolic of unity not separation. In a 2012 essay, he said they embodied the liberal values of inclusion and interculturalism, choosing a flag that featured green for the Irish, white for the French and red for the English. But the flag, in particular the version with the soldier, remains a favourite of hard line separatists. When the city of Gatineau agreed to raise the Patriote flag at city hall in 2010, the Liberal MP Marcel Proulx called the move “unacceptable” because sovereigntists “have appropriated that symbol.”
Q Is is possible to buy Patriote merchandise, preferably without a guy in a tricorne snapping a football?
A Yes, in fact. The separatist website l equebecois. org, whose logo is an image of a Patriote with a pen replacing his musket, sells flags and a selection of shirts. A women’s longsleeve model features an image of three Patriote soldiers over a map of Quebec and the words “Quebec Libre.” Another site, accentbleu. quebec, sells a giant si x- metre- by- nine- metre Patriote flag with handles, designed for carrying in a parade. Price: $2,250.