DIOCESE OF ST. ALBERT,
ALBERTA, N.W.T., CANADA, 20th Nov., 1889.
To His Eminence, Monseigneur Taschereau, Cardinal
Archbishop of Quebec, and to Monseigneurs the Archbishops and Bishops of the late
Ecclesiastical Province
of Quebec.
Your Eminence and Most Reverend and Venerable Sirs :—
Permit one of your humble brothers in the Episcopate,
overcome by the troubles and anxieties which are crushing
him, to have recourse again to your affectionate sympathies, hoping that you will
be able to aid him at least
with your prayers and your advice, and that our Saviour
himself Will inspire you to devise some plan to succor
him.
Since the annexation of our Territory to Canada, in the
portion fit for settlement of my diocese, the physical
hardships of former times have much diminished, they
have even ceased to exist in certain localities. but I am
compelled to admit that the moral afflictions which have
succeeded them, especially those which we anticipated,
cause us to regret the past years. At the time of the
annexation the French Canadians and MĂ©tis were, we
may say, the only settlers in the country which their
fathers had discovered. They lived at peace with the
traders of the Honorable the Hudson Bay Company, and
with the few English settlers who had but recently taken
up land.
After the annexation the immigrants came in great
numbers, and I can tell you that out of every hundred
there were but ten Catholics: the English and Protestant
population thereupon increased rapidly, and in a few
years we must be content to find ourselves in the minority. God forbid that I should
wish to accuse in a
sweeping manner this new majority of wishing to ill-treat
us; there are among the new comers respectable and
honest families who regret the war that is being made
upon us. This war, my Lords, they will not admit, but I
for one will certify to your Eminence and your Graces
that it is the Dominion Government which, by means of
the staff of the Indian Department, has first declared war
upon us, taking the initiative and with so much the less
fairness, seeing that on their part there has been no declaration of war; and as for
us, not being able to imagine
all, we did not in the beginning make any resistance. Since
the time that the Indians concluded the treaty with the
Government the entire control of the Indian Department
was, in my diocese at least, generally and exclusively
under that of Protestants using the English language.
For reasons which they will not admit at any time these
gentlemen compel our Christian Indians to withdraw
from our establishments, in consequence of which we were
compelled to close them. This conduct was as equally
opposed to the treaty conditions as to the physical and
moral interests of the Indians. When, after that we
desired to establish ourselves among the Indians at their
own request, you could not conceive the difficulties which
they stirred up against us. Without regard to the religious faith and the wish of
the Indians, Protestant schools
were the only ones granted to them; and the poor Indians
were pressed, even threatened, to compel them to send
their children to schools where their faith was not respected. Apart from an industrial
school, there is not in
my diocese a single Catholic school which we were not
obliged to establish ourselves, often against a lively opposition, and to support
in a measure in the beginning. In
November, 1887, I was assured most positively from Ottawas that such a course of action
was going to cease. I must
certify that the persecution—I can make use of no other
word—is more keen than ever. In spite of all this, you
will be suprised to hear it we are the guilty ones; like
good sheep we should allow ourselves to be torn and
swallowed without even a bleat.
This fanaticism is an epidemic and has spread from the
reserves to certain centres of civilisation. Our schools
are hunted down. It is a crime for us to take advantage
of the education laws to procure assistance from the
Government. Our reports are studied: they are found
fault with, in order more especially to be able to accuse
us and deprive us of that asslstance which is ours by right.
Although in the minority, we might be able, nevertheless, to send two representatives
to the House, but
they have succeeded in making this a thing imposslble
for us. I again charge the Dominion Government, who
in marking out the electoral-districts have divided up the
two French Catholic centres in such a manner that it is
impossible for us to secure representation. You are also
acquainted with what is going on this very day at Regina.
In spite of the efforts of the Honorable J. Royal, Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West,
and the Honorable
Judge Rouleau, all our representatives, not one of whom
is a Catholic, demand, with two exceptions, the abolition
of our language and the amendment. of our school laws
in order to impose upon us the so-called secular schools
which are nothing else but anti-Catholic schools, even
admitting that they are not Godless schools. Imagine
what will be the consequence of all this, in a new country, in a savage country. These
petitions were addressed
to His Excellency the Governor General in the name of
the people of the North-West. They are certainly not
ignorant how we are opposed to these doings, but we
count for nothing in the eyes of these gentlemen.
This studied contempt ot the French Catholic opulation
has already had very sad consequences. Although the
Half-breeds gained nothing by their uprising, they are not
on that account more insensible to contempt. Nothing
would at this moment he easier than to fire the powder.
Let one of those so-called loyalists, so ready to question
our loyalty and patriotism, presume that another rebellion
would advantage him, and he will find all the less difficulty in inciting our population
to it because our Catholics
have no longer the same reliance in their clergy. They
have been told so often that we are paid by the Dominion
Government to work for it against them, that they now
believe this. Certainly. we have supported it, as we
always sustain constituted authonty; but we are bound
to acknowledge that we have been very badly requited,
and those who have found fault with us on this account
are partly justified. Nevertheless, the French Catholic
party, which is now in the background, has rights of
which it cannot be deprived without injustice, it even
has a right to the gratitude of the powerful party which
is inclined to oppress it. Are not these French Canadians
and Half-breeds the men who made possible the settlement of the North-West, who rendered
more easy the
intercourse between the white man and the Indian, and
who are to this day the connecting link between them?
But it seems that gratitude, even the remembrance of an
obligation, is not a quality to be met with in the powerful;
and that we, the minority, must submit to being of no
consequence socially, and should only he too glad if we
are allowed to live as conquered outcasts. Although
possessing a certain amount of humility, which I have
tried to practice, I can hardly resign myself to existence
on such terms. I am often told that a French Catholic
immigration into the North-West should be organised.
This is very true; but what can I do towards this immigration? One can do nothing
without money, and I have
none—our population is poor. If, with this object in view,
I appeal to your charity, you will doubtless repeat what
several persons in your dioceses have ver properly said
to me: The Province of Quebec must not be depopulated
in order to people the boundless North-West. Very true,
my Lords, but without impoverishing yourselves, bestow
upon us at least the crumbs which fall from your tables.
How many thousands of your flock leave each year for the
United States, where they too often lose both spiritual
and bodily health, and are moreover lost, not only to your
Province, but to the Dominion, unless we are to imagine
that the prepare the way for a union between Canada
and the United States. Both you and I, my Lords, have
other views and other hopes.
If even one-fourth of those who emigrated from your
Province during the past ten years had come to us, we
would still constitute the majority or would at all events
be a powerful minority which would have to be taken into account and against which
none would think of enacting extraordinary laws. To people this territory, to people
our land, as the aborigines call it—and the Half-breeds
and French Canadians have some right to use that expression; for French Canadians
discovered this vast
country: French Canadians and Half-breeds opened it
up to religion and colonisation—to settle our lands there
121 [JANUARY 29, 1890.] 122
are sent men from every nation, men without faith and
without religion; Mennonites are brought from a great
distance, even Mormons are admitted and are seemingly
held up as examples to the Blackfeet; yet each year a
multitude of Canadians are allowed to depart—honest
and hard working, but too poor to come this far to settle.
Do you not think, my lords, that this is a great evil? Can
no remedy be found? Since our Government appears to
take no heed, I think that, with the assistance of your
patriotic and devoted clergy, of your pious intelligent
and influential laymen, of generous charity of every one,
you could enable those brave Canadians to settle comfortably in the North-West. You
would obtain from the
Dominion Government and from the various railway
companies the means of preserving to Canada these good
and upright citizens; and the Provmce of Quebec would
be none the poorer, but would, on the contrary, acquire
strength by extending its influence, and would at the
same time protect the poor Canadians who are threatened with the fate of outcasts
on their own lands.
I therefore beseech you, my Lords, as well in my own
name as in that of my missionaries, in the name of the
French Catholic party, in the name above all of the interests of the Church in the
North-West, to see What you can
do, and I appeal to you, in the name of God, to take action.
Pardon my pressing entreaty, and believe me, my Lords,
your most devoted and grateful servant and brother.
2nd. Have the Government any reason to doubt
Bishop Grandin's word, who signed the said letter?
3rd. Is it the intention of the Government to take
any steps to remedy grievances complained of by
the Bishop, what steps and when?
Sir JOHN A. MACDONALD. The Government have not received the letter set out in the
question, or any copy of it. I have been informed
that it appeared, without signature, in the Montreal
Witness. I would simply say that the letter has
never come before the Government except in the
manner I have mentioned. The Government will
attend to the complaints of Monseigneur Grandin,
and those of any other clergyman or person in
Canada who has any complaints to make.
THE TRADE IN OLEOMARGARINE.
Mr. BAIN (Wentworth) asked, Is the Dominion
of Canada the British North America referred to
in the official Trade Returns of the United States
for the eleven months ending November 30th last,
which show, among exports to British North
America, "Oleomargarine, 534,146 lbs"? If so,
has the hon. Minister of Customs any reason to believe that oleomargarine enters into
consumption
in Canada under a fraudulent or assumed name?
Has any recent investigation been made by the
officers of the Department to ascertain whether it
is being brought into the Dominion, in evasion of
the statute forbidding its importation?
Mr. BOWELL. There is reason to believe that
the part of "British North America" to which the
oleomargarine referred to is exported, is the
colony of Newfoundland. There is no evidence
that any of it was imported to Canada, and entered
into consumption in the Dominion. The officers of
Customs are instructed to exercise constant vigilance everywhere for the prevention
of such violation of law. A few pounds of the article was sent
to a party in St. Thomas, Ont., from Chicago as a
sample without orders. It was seized by the Collector of Customs and confiscated by
the Department. A consignment of oleomargarine from the
United States to a party in Halifax was entered
for consumption, and was seized by the Customs
officials, but upon evidence being produced that the
entry was made in mistake, it was allowed to be
amended and the article exported to Newfoundland. Similar entries were made in Cornwall,
Ont.,
in December last, which are under seizure, the
parties who imported claiming that they purchased
it as butter, and they are holding it for exportation
to Great Britain. There is reason to believe that
a great quantity of oleomargarine passes through
Canada
in transitu to other countries, and that in
this as in other articles exported from the United
States, which are forwarded through the Dominion,
are entered in the Export Returns of the United
States as being exported to British North America,
that being the first foreign country which the[...]
159
[COMMONS] 160
[...]ment. They were posted in small towns where
there were neither express offices nor money order
offices, or banks,or any other mode of transmitting
money, except by registered letter; and if the hon.
the Postmaster General can see his way clear, under the law, to reimburse the sufferers,
I am extremely desirous that he should carry out the suggestion I now make, and allow
his sympathies to
be extended towards those poor people.
Mr. HAGGART. The facts of the case are, as
Mr. White has stated, that a robbery was committed at the post office and a lot of
money taken
from several registered letters lying in the safe.
These parties who have lost the money are entitled
to every sympathy; but it is a rule of the Department, which cannot be departed from
in any case,
that losses of that kind are never made good.
This is the rule laid down in England and the
United States, and in other countries which have
similar regulations, and a departure from that rule
would entail a very great responsibility on the
Government which they would not be justified in
assuming.
Motion agreed to.
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