Lionel Groulx

Biography

After its formation with the seminar, he taught with the College of Salaberry-with-Valleyfield, then with the Université of Montreal, where he published a monthly review called the French Action . With the League of French Action, Groulx joined a group of nationalists which had militated initially in the League of the Rights of French in favor of bilingualism to Quebec - what meant the restoration of French, language of the majority, in public space. They not only worked to restore the direction of the pride like antidote to the colonial contempt, subordination and the assimilation, but to the rise of an economic nationalism. Several of them taught thus with HEC Montreal, such Esdras Minville. The Archambault Father as for him developed the social doctrines of the Church with the popular social School, whose directives influenced the national liberal Action in the years 1930, left reformist and patriot who was absorbed by the National union.

Groulx traced a national development program of Quebec from the points of view economic, social, cultural and intellectual. According to him, that passed initially by state education and the reform to Quebec: introduction of true French state , according to its expression, implied not to more neglect this instrument of size which was the provincial State, with the provision of Canadian-French to draw from the underdevelopment. Its souverainism was never completely closed with the optics of the reform of the Confederation. But it should be said that it then tended generally to hear Confederation in a strict sense, union of sovereign states, rather than federalistic. It made a point of underlining the accession of Canada to independence after the Statut of Westminster. Moreover, its nationalist feeling was moderated by catholic Christianity and it had suddenly included/understood the benefits of the Christian Universalisme.

Groulx developed also a programme of studies of Histoire of Quebec in which he refuted the theory of the providential Conquête or voluntary by the Great Britain, current at the time, and taught rather than the Conquest was a disaster for the French Canadian. In the difference of future the School of Montreal, he believed this reversible misfortune however, and believed particularly that various stages of the history of Quebec since then could seem stages of reconquest of freedom, though still quite incomplete.

He stressed the acquisition of rights and national recognition by the French Canadians: the Act of 1774, the Government responsible with Baldwin and Lafontaine in 1849 (Lord Elgin) and finally restoration for provincial autonomy in 1867. He also criticized the Canadian Confédération of 1867, insistent on the bankruptcy of his promises of recognition of the rights of the provinces and minorities, as shown by the long succession of prohibitions of the French schools out-Quebec and the hostility expressed towards the French fact through Canada.

Lionel Groulx married the theory according to which the only hope of survival for Quebec was to encourage French and catholic Quebec like rampart against the power anglo-Protestant woman. For him, the reform and the recovery of the condition Canadian-Frenchwoman thus passed by measurements of the Gouvernement of Quebec. He was delighted at the time by the adoption by the fleurdelysé in 1948.

The major writings of Lionel Groulx are in particular the Canadian Confederation (1917), Our Master the past (1936), Our great adventure. French Empire in North America (1534-1760) (1958), History of French Canada since the discovery (1951) and French Canada missionary (1962). It is known to have said Our French State, we will have it . It is become again more federalistic towards the end of its life, without never ignoring the independantism.

Groulx founded the Institute of history of French America (IHAF) in 1946, an institute located at Montreal devoted to the historical study of the French presence in North America, with the history of Quebec, and which gathers the major part of the Québécois historians.

Critical and work analyzes

The authors David Rome and Jacques Langlais showed Lionel Groulx to be anti-semite - under cover of his pseudonyms; let us note that, in its memories, Groulx is betrayed by revealing its pseudonyms. Esther Delisle made studies discussed over its person and her time. Pierre Trépanier, specialist in Groulx, refuted part of the connections between the thought of Maurras and that of Groulx supported by Delisle. Pierre Anctil, author of the work " The Duty, Jews and immigration in Quebec: of Bourassa with Laurendeau" , diverges deeply with Delisle.

Gerard Bouchard, in the two canons and Michel Bock in When the nation overflowed the borders brought other analyzes. As for Ronald Rudin, in To make history in Quebec , he recalls the role of pioneer of Lionel Groulx in the development of the historical discipline to Quebec. Groulx was titular first pulpit of history of Canada and builder of the foundations of the future department of history of the university of Montreal in the years 1930 and 1940: this department took its take-off after the Second world war, and Groulx had worked to be several successors, such Guy Frégault.

The Groulx canon was in these years of post-war period the founder of the IHAF and the RHAF. Rudin highlights that while highlighting the prejudices of Lionel Groulx but in their context of time, where they hardly differed from those of a Mackenzie King, Canadian Prime Minister during two decades, to take a significant example.

Pseudonyms

Jacques Blazing inferno
Alonié de Lestres
Andre Marois
Lionel Montal

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