April 17, 1959
CANADIAN   JEWISH   REVIEW
The Montreal Jewish Community
Canada By Creating Harmony
�Y   NAIM   KATTAN,   SECRETARY  AND   EDITOR   OF   BUUETIN   DU   CIRCLE   JUIF
The position of the Jewish community of Montreal is unique in North America. It is the only community on this continent established in a French city of a Catholic majority. What makes its position quite different, is that the Jewish community is English speaking, although a large number (about 30%) of the Jews living in the Province of Quebec are bilingual. In order to understand the impact on the life of the Jewish community in this province of the fact that the majority of the population is French Canadian and Catholic, it is essential to know that the French Canadians are themselves a minority in Canada. (About 34% of the total population. The population of Canada stands at 17^(MhOGOr-^rench Canadians, 4500,000). The French Canadians have been waging a heroic struggle during the last two centuries for the survival of their culture, faith, and language.
The fact that the majority of Canadians�are�English-speaking
French Canadians are the conquered people; English Canadians are a small minority living in this province yet they are the main shareholders of the biggest industries, and from them the presidents of the big corporations emerge. The Jews have come in considerable numbers only half a century ago (in 1851 there were only a few hundred Jews in Montreal) and in a short while achieved prominence TrTlhei frades"ancT in~ small industries as well as in the professions.
The anti-Semitic feeling of French Canadians was quite strong and at periods even violent. In the thirties, Adrien Arcand, following the example of Hitler, the "fuhrer", organized his shock Iroops,TwhichTon several occasions raided the Jewish quarters and looted stores and shops. Just before the war, the Nationalist movement of French Canada was characterized by a generalized anti-Semitic feeling. During the
'"the-.- store of
Canadian family"
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and Protestant, coupled with the increasing influence of American culture, keep this struggle equally alive today. Although the word "survivanee" (survival) has given way to the word "vie" (life), the
war, Arcand and all the Fascists were arrested. Things started to change, and after the war, leaders in French Canada began to feel that anti-Semitism leads nowhere.'They were aware that~the~
Jews were not the ones who
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French Canadians are not always certain that they can keep their culture and faith away from American and English-Canadian influence. They are opposed to any assimilationist ideas and the word "melting pot" always meets with strong disfavour. This puts French Canada, whose center is the province of Quebec (there are about 1,000,000 French Canadians living in other provinces), in a peculiar position in this country. Everything here is centred on religion and the social life is quite parochial.
Indirectly, this situation has helped the Jewish community of this Province to build a very strong communal life. In Montreal, for example, where French Canadians and English Canadians each have their own separate cultural, social, and welfare organizations, the Jews also had to create their own structural organizations. It has often been said that each of the three major communities of Montreal�English, French, and Jewish (there are also large number of Poles, Germans, Hungarians, Italians who emigrated here after the war), lives in a closed ghetto of its own. Each has a deep minority feeling, and they are afraid of one another.
The animosity between French Canadians and English Canadians draws its strength from history.
standing in their way, preventing them from achieving their cultural aspirations. Among the Jews themselves, a new trend developed/The younger generation was more Canadian and more interested in Canadian public affairs. Some of the Jewish leaders began to be vitally interested in French Canadian life and culture.
It was felt in the Jewish community here and especially at the Joint Public Relations Committee of_ the Canadian Jewish Congress and Bnai Brith, that the time had come when combatting anti-Semitism should be approached with a different attitude. Incidents of open anti-Semitism, though not completely eliminated, became very sparse and weak. It was, nevertheless, clear that the anti-Semitic feeling was still latent in French Canada and would emerge again (probably with violence) if, and when, the economic situation was no longer synonymous with prosperity. It was felt then, that the moment was. propitious for building links of friendship and promoting an atmosphere of understanding and fraternity.
It was felt by many members of the Joint Public Relations Committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Bnai Brith, especially by S. D. Cohen, Rabbi
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