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The
Scot-Quebecers (
French languageFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
:
Écossais-Québécois), were pioneer settlers who emigrated from their native
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
to
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, migration that began when the province was a colony of
British North AmericaBritish North America consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783....
.
Overview
The Scots are recognized as a hearty and humble people, weathering the tides of change with an attachment to tradition and an oral culture with roots in their highland home. The Scots of Quebec are often not seen in this light because they are obscured by the headlining names that one associates with capitalism and industry. Redpath, McGill and McCord are names that are carved into the history of Montreal as the emerging bourgeoisie of a conquered and industrializing city. It is difficult to see the Scots as a whole given the difference between the city elite and the rural communities. The historiography of these immigrants supports this notion of a group divided along class lines. The Montreal elite have been documented and discussed extensively and because of the abundance of literature covering them but it is easy to obscure the less celebrated populace of Scottish-Quebecers. Through this lens the Scots are an easily assimilated people who adapted to the tides of industrialism in Quebec in the nineteenth century and abandoned the bonds of ethnicity in favor of a new identity among the successful capitalists of North America. This is supported by Green and MacKinnon’s study of the assimilation of British immigrants, which claims Scots to be the most assimilated group from the British Isles and as the best represented in the elite. This understanding of the Scottish-Quebecers however neglects the diversity of the Highland population in the province. The view of the Scots as successful urban merchants obscures the urban working class, for which there is very little written history, and the rural population, such as that of St. Francis; also lost is the sense of a common Scottish community across the province maintained by Scottish run newspapers and their Social Notes. Finally the tradition of the Scots, their attachment to the bard as a cultural unifier and the perpetual presence of the Presbyterian Church as a stronghold of the community are all lost in the white-collar tolkenism of figures such as Redpath and McGill. Therefore I argue that the Scots in Quebec were members of a complex and diverse ethnicity which existed in all classes and corners of the province; they made significant contributions to the cultural development of Quebec and Canada and while they were separated by class and settlement they were united by tradition, religion and memory of origin.
Historiography
The narrow perception of the Scots in Quebec is largely due to a significant lack of contemporary documentation of the condition of those who were not in the elite. The working class highlanders in Montreal are relegated to parish records of the Presbyterian Church and through this narrow lens it is difficult to see the life of the Scots in Montreal. As a result the historiography of the group is focused on the success of the elite. John Redpath is an icon of the Industrial Revolution in Quebec and has come to be seen as the face of Scottish-Quebecers. Literature that emphasizes the Scots as an assimilated people use Redpath as an example of the adaptation and success of the people as a whole. While Redpath provides a stellar example of first generation immigrant success, his story is outside of the normal Scottish experience and distorts the history of the Scots in Quebec. Rural communities are often overshadowed by the urban elite however insight into a rural Scottish community is possible because of the urban interest in the Magentic Outlaw Affair, in which the community resisted the arrest of one of their own. The community at St. Francis is the subject of a number of publications as a result of this incident, which left an abundance of contemporary documentation. Recent publications are more aware of the diversity of the Scots in Quebec. Heather McNabb’s thesis on the Scots in Montreal addresses the lack of contemporary resources available and attempts to read between the lines of parish records and incorporates St. Andrew’s Society records to create a more complex understanding of the community in Montreal. The holes in the historiography of the Scottish-Quebecers demand a more nuanced picture of the community as a whole, which the paper will attempt to outline. By revealing a more complex community, the divisive factors separating the community by settlement and class will yield to those that ultimately maintained the Scottish identity throughout the province.
Cultural Interaction
Like many ethnic groups who immigrated to Quebec the Scots did not all settle in one place. Many agriculturalists moved to the rural landscape of the Eastern Townships while semi-skilled and unskilled workers moved to Montreal. The rural settlement in St. Francis is a prime example of cultural interaction between the Scots and the French-Canadians outside of the city. The community of Scots in St. Francis was slowly being overwhelmed by a burgeoning French-Canadian population, which rose from 68 percent of the population in 1881 to 86 percent in 1911. The growth of the population was something felt by the Scottish-Canadians and manifested itself in Maganitic Outlaw Affair. Donald Morison lost his land in St. Francis to French-Canadian farmers and he took his revenge for his family by burning down the farmhouse, he then proceeded to murder to the constable who was pursuing him . The case was a cause célébre especially among the newspapers written by and for Scots. Tension between the two ethnicities became more pronounced when the Scottish community took a protectionist role by sheltering Morison and feeding him while he was a fugitive. The resistance of the Scots to legal authorities and, in a broader sense, to the changing ethnic makeup and social pressures of their community contests the image of the Scots as the “invisible immigrant” and suggests a community with much greater attachment to ethnicity and origin. These networks are further extended with the sympathetic response of Scottish newspapers that waxed nostalgic about the threats to their community and caught the attention of the Scottish urban elite. The public polarization between the French supporters of the law and the Scottish supporters of Morison demonstrates the deep sense of community felt by Scots in all regions of the province. It is also testimony to the awareness of the cultural crisis they were experiencing. The Scots, as a people, are law-abiding and humble in part due to devout religious conviction. To break with this tradition demonstrates the desperation felt in the community. Jack Little argues that Morrison symbolized highlander frustration at the social crisis they were facing and that the sympathy evoked through the newspapers demonstrated a general awareness by the Scottish-Quebecers of their situation throughout Quebec.
Cultural Integration and Retention
The Megantic Outlaw Affair not only demonstrates the strong sense of oneness felt by the Scottish community but also a different immigrant experience than that of the Montreal bourgeois. Rather than experiencing success and prosperity in the emerging industrial city, the rural Scots were overwhelmed by French-Canadian culture and a population much more attuned to the Canadian climate and growing seasons. The Scots in Quebec worked against the grain of the long settled French-Canadian rural culture, which has long been founded on kinship and community support, and which, itself, struggled to survive in post Conquest Quebec. The Scots maintained their culture within the context of the French-Canadian culture through their own set of traditions and norms. Chief among the traditions was the bard, a form of poetry used in storytelling in Scotland. This oral tradition allowed the Scots to maintain a sense of unity within their extended community in Quebec . Tantamount to the bard was the traditional language of the Scots, Gaelic. Angus Mackay (working under the pseudonym of Oscar Dhu) made a critique of the slow loss of Scottish tradition in his poem “Guard the Gaelic” :
Some gay natives of the soil
Cross “the line” a little while
And returning deem it style
To deny the Gaelic
Lads and lassies in their teens
Giving airs of kings and queens
Just a taste of Boston beans
Makes them lose their Gaelic
Mackay is referencing the loss of Gaelic as a result of “tasting” the emerging American economy, which was also driving the success of the Scots in Montreal. The poem also addresses the irrelevance of Gaelic to the new generation, which “became sick and tiered” of the language and saw no use for it in a Franco and Anglo dominated society. Mackay went on to write extensively on the Scottish experience in Quebec and his most celebrated work was on the subject of the Magentic Outlaw Affair. The slow loss of Gaelic left the Scots with their last shared tradition, the Presbyterian Church, which remained a stronghold of the Scottish community in Montreal and the rural communities. The unyielding devotion of the population to the church was not only means of maintaining faith but also, paralleling the French-Canadian tradition , was a means of maintaining social relations within the Scottish-Canadian community. The communal nature of the church led it to form one of the most vital Scottish-Canadian institutions, the St. Andrews Society of Montreal. Providing charity and support within the Scottish community of Montreal it continues to this day in the same goal. Through the experience of ethnic confrontation and the loss of many cultural remnants of Scotland, the Scots came to value these two institutions for their social services and as a means of maintaining the community despite the many divisions between them.
Though the Scottish-Quebecers had a variety of experiences in terms of class and location, the ethnic community was maintained to some degree through a network of newspaper contributions. The Social Notes of the Sherbrook Gazette demonstrate one of the ways Scots sustained “emotional bonds within the cultural group”. Through these papers Scots across the province were able maintain the bond of ethnicity despite the abandonment of much of their culture. Many readers took comfort in the small piece of Scotland they were afforded in the pages of the newspapers. The funeral of Donald Morrison is an example of this, the reporters describes the attire of the women, “the plain dress, rather bulky and short, showing heavy shoes; the white cap with frills and a shawl over the head for out doors.” The Social Notes ran contrary to the trend of speaking for the urban middle class and provided readers with the rural voice of small Scottish communities throughout Montreal. For Scots in the city, it provided a window to a world for which they no doubt felt some nostalgia, as contributers debated local concerns and dispelled the daily community gossip. Through this unique network of contributions, Scots in Quebec maintained a sense of community and a connection with the identity which floundering against the tides of the more popular French-Canadian and Anglo-Canadian cultures around them.
Notable Scots-Quebecers
A few of these Scots and their offspring who were major factors in building Montreal and the Province of Quebec into the economic hub of Canada are:
- Hugh Allan
Sir Hugh Allan KCMG was a Scottish-born Canadian shipping magnate, railway promoter, financier and capitalist...
(1810-1882), financier and shipping magnate
- Montagu H. Allan (1860-1951), banker, ship owner, sportsman
- Richard Bladworth Angus (1831-1922), banker
- Robert Mitchell Ballantyne (1859-1929), businessman
- Aeneas Cameron (1757-1822), fur trader
- Thomas Neill Cream
Dr. Thomas Neill Cream , also known as the Lambeth Poisoner, was a Scottish-born serial killer, who claimed his first proven victims in the United States and the rest in England, and possibly others in Canada and Scotland...
(1850-1892), serial killer
- John William Dawson
Sir John William Dawson, CMG, FRS, FRSC , was a Canadian geologist and university administrator.- Life and work :...
(1820-1899), scientist, educator
- Richard Dobie
Richard Dobie was a merchant from Scotland who came to Canada about 1760 and by 1764 was actively involved in the fur trade around Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes...
(1731-1805), fur trader, businessman
- William Dow
William Dow emigrated to Canada from Scotland in about 1818. A trained brewer, he took employment with James Dunn's brewery in Montreal and quickly became a partner. His younger brother, Andrew, who had also trained as a brewer, joined him, and on the death of Dunn, the company became known as...
(1800-1868), brewer and businessman
- George Alexander Drummond
Sir George Alexander Drummond, KCMG, CVO was a Scottish-Canadian businessman and senator.Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, he arrived in Canada in 1854 to work at Redpath Sugar. He married John Redpath's daughter, becoming a co-director of the family business with Peter Redpath, John's son...
(1829-1910), entrepreneur
- James Dunlop (1757-1815), businessman
- Robert Ellice (1747-1790), merchant and fur trader
- Duncan Fisher (1753-1820), businessman
- Hugh Graham
Hugh Graham, 1st Baron Atholstan , was a Canadian newspaper publisher.Born in Athelstan , Huntingdon County, Quebec, the son of R. W. Graham, a Scottish land owner, Graham was educated at the Huntingdon Academy. After finishing school, he served his apprenticeship under his uncle, E. H...
(1848-1938), newspaper publisher
- Peter Grant (1764-1848), fur trader
- William Grant (1744-1805), merchant, politician
- Alexander Henderson (1831-1913), merchant and photographer
- James D. Johnson (1949) businessman
- William C. Macdonald (1831-1917), tobacco manufacturer, philanthropist
- Dugald Lorn MacDougall (1811-1885), stockbroker, investor
- Hugh Mackay (1832-1890), businessman
- Robert Mackay
Robert Mackay was a Canadian businessman and statesman.An 1855 emigrant to Montreal, Canada from his birthplace in Caithness, Scotland, Robert Mackay who got his start working at Henry Morgan & Company department store. He then went to work for Mackay Brothers wholesalers, owned by his uncles...
(1840-1916), businessman, statesman
- Roderick Mackenzie (1761-1844), fur trader, politician
- James McGill
James McGill was a Scottish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He was also a prominent member of the Château Clique.- Biography :...
(1744-1813), fur trader, merchant, politician
- Peter McGill
Peter McGill was a Scots-Quebecer businessman who served as mayor of Montreal, Canada East from 1840 to 1842....
(1789-1860), businessman, politician
- William McGillivray
William McGillivray was a Scotland-born fur trader and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born in Dunlichity, Scotland in 1764. In 1784, he travelled to Montreal with his uncle Simon McTavish and began work with the North West Company...
(1764-1825), fur trader
- Duncan McIntyre (1834-1894), businessman
- Simon McTavish
Simon McTavish was a Scots-Quebecer entrepreneur and the pre-eminent businessman in Canada during the second half of the 18th century....
(1750-1804), fur trader, saw mill and flour mill operator
- Henry Morgan
Henry Morgan was a Scots-Quebecer department store pioneer in Canada who founded Henry Morgan & Company....
(1819-1893), built the first department store in Canada
- John Neilson
John Neilson was a Scots-Quebecer editor of the newspaper La Gazette de Québec/The Quebec Gazette and a politician.- Biography :...
(1776-1848), printer, publisher, politician
- Alexander Walker Ogilvie
Alexander Walker Ogilvie was a Canadian politician.Born in Côte-Saint-Michel, Lower Canada which is on the island of Montreal, the son of Alexander Ogilvie and Helen Watson, he owned a mill named A.W. Ogilvie & Company.In 1867, he was acclaimed to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for the riding...
(1829-1902), miller, statesman
- William Watson Ogilvie (1835-1900), businessman
- John Ogilvy (1769-1819), merchant
- Andrew Paton (1833-1892), textile manufacturer, politician
- John Redpath
John Redpath was a Scots-Quebecer businessman and philanthropist who helped pioneer the industrial movement that made Montreal, Quebec the largest and most prosperous city in Canada....
(1796-1869), contractor, industrialist
- Peter Redpath
Peter Redpath was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist, closely associated with Redpath Sugar....
(1821-1894), businessman
- James Gibb Ross
James Gibb Ross was a Canadian merchant and politician from the province of Quebec.Born in in Carluke, a village of South Lanarkshire, Scotland, Ross emigrated to Canada in 1832 with his brother, John Ross, settling in Quebec City...
(1819-1888), merchant, statesman
- James Ross (1848-1913), railway engineer, businessman
- Philip Simpson Ross (1827-1907), founder of the Order of Chartered Accountants of Quebec
- George Simpson
Sir George Simpson was a Scots-Quebecer and employee of the Hudson's Bay Company . His title was Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land and administrator over the Northwestern Territory and Columbia Department in British North America from 1821 to 1860.-Early years:George Simpson was born in...
(1787-1860), executive, fur trader
- Donald Alexander Smith (1820-1914), fur trader, financier, railroad baron and politician.
- George Stephen
The Right Honourable George Stephen, 1st Baron Mount Stephen was a Scots-Quebecker banker and railway executive in Canada.- Early life and career :...
(1829-1921), banker and railway executive
- Daniel Sutherland
Daniel Alexander Sutherland , nicknamed "Fighting Dan", was an American businessperson and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives during the 1920s as the delegate from what was then the Alaska Territory.Sutherland was born in Pleasant Bay, Canada on Cape Breton Island...
(1756-1832), businessman
- David Torrance
David Torrance was a Canadian merchant, shipper, and president of the Bank of Montreal.-References:...
(1805-1876), merchant, banker
- John Torrance (1786-1870), merchant, shipper
- William Watson (c.1795-1867), miller, businessman, politician
- John Young (1811-1878), entrepreneur, statesman
See also
{{portalpar|Quebec}}
{{portalpar|Scotland}}
- Scottish-Canadian
- Scottish American
Scottish Americans or Scots Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scotch-Irish Americans, descendants of Ulster Scots, and communities emphasize and celebrate a common heritage...
- Celtic music in Canada
Celtic music is primarily associated with the folk traditions of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, as well as the popular styles derived from folk culture...
- Québécois
Quebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
- Anglo-Quebecer
{{POV|date=December 2007}}{{pagenumbers}}{{POV|date=December 2007}}{{pagenumbers}}{{Ethnic group||group=English-speaking Quebecker|image=
|caption = James McGill {{·}} Sir John Abbott {{·}} Dr...
- Irish Quebecers
Irish Quebecers are residents of the Canadian province of Quebec who have Irish ancestry. In 2006, there were 406,085 Quebecers who identified themselves as having partial or exclusive Irish descent in Quebec, representing 5.5% of the population...
- List of Irish Quebecers