Tag Archives: Abbe Lionel Groulx

A New School of Anti-White (French)Historical Thinking in Montreal?

Posted on by

A New School of Anti-White (French)Historical Thinking in Montreal?
In mid-September 2024, a curious story surfaced in several newspapers: six history professors
at the University of Montreal (UdeM) were attempting to strip the Lionel Groulx Pavilion of its
name. Their reasoning? The esteemed hist

orian and Catholic canon no longer fits the trendy
new dogmas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Shortly afterward, the

announced it was renaming the Lionel Groulx Prize, citing the words of a
young, self-righteous historian from Montreal.
To the untrained eye, this might seem like a sudden break from tradition. But those paying
attention to the ideological winds blowing through UdeM will know this is merely the latest
chapter in a broader campaign to redefine Quebec’s past. Just a year earlier, in September
2023, the university hosted a conference on colonialism that blurred the lines between academia
and activism. Instead of reasoned historical analysis, attendees were treated to sessions packed
with ideological sermons worthy of a political rally. The event was so overtly militant that even
some Journal de Montréal columnists felt compelled to call it out.


And it didn’t stop there. The same group of activist-scholars has been busy holding lectures filled
with absurd accusations. One memorable claim? That the decolonization theories espoused by
Parti Pris sovereigntists were responsible for “erasing Indigenous peoples” and constitute “a
form of colonial violence still present today in debates like systemic racism.” 1

These academics seem fixated on portraying Quebec’s francophone population as inherently
oppressive. Some dedicate their careers to studying racial issues, but only to paint French
Canadians in the worst possible light. Their arguments are often flimsy and deliberately
inflammatory. One example: blaming the entire Quebec Catholic population for residential
schools simply because they supported the clergy 2 . Using that logic, should taxpayers be held
responsible for every government policy? Should all Muslims be blamed for terrorist attacks
committed by extremists?


Worse still, these historians scour old textbooks and photographs to “prove” that Quebec’s
national identity is rooted in racism. They conclude their work with declarations like, “I must
recognize the privilege of my whiteness and understand how it enables me to deny or ignore the
racist, colonial culture from which I come.” 3 Such statements might sound laughable, but they’re
catnip for a radical left eager to undermine Quebec’s history and culture.

“The Montreal School”,The militant activism of today young historians is so pervasive it may well signal the emergence
of a new school of historical thinking. Quebec has seen several such movements over its history.
The “Montreal School,” led by figures like Michel Brunet, Guy Frégault, and Maurice Séguin,
argued that French Canadians’ social and economic struggles stemmed from the dislocation
caused by the British Conquest. The “Quebec School,” on the other hand, emphasized internal
challenges, such as the Church’s influence. Revisionists eventually moved away from Quebec’s
specificities altogether.


Now, the new UdeM historians seem intent on exposing the supposed flaws of French
Canadians—too white for these apostles of diversity. Every minority group deserves to be
glorified, except, of course, francophones. Pluralism must be exalted, even at the expense of
common good 4 .


But what should we call this new school of thought? Philosopher Roger Scruton, in England and
the Need for Nations, coined the term “oikophobia” to describe the rejection of one’s home andheritage (oikos meaning “home” in Greek). Oikophobes are elites who disdain and denigrate
Western traditions, instinctively favoring foreign cultures. As early as the 2000s, Scruton noted
how oikophobia was spreading through American universities. It’s a fitting label for UdeM’s new
historians.

Some researches have shown a steady decline in university history program enrollment. These
oikophobes are undoubtedly part of the problem. How many young people now turn away from
history because its study has become synonymous with self-loathing and ideological
indoctrination?


Instead of celebrating Quebec’s rich history, these scholars tear it down to align with the latest
academic fads. If we allow this trend to continue unchecked, what kind of future are we building
for the next generation? It’s time for Quebecers to reclaim their heritage and demand a more
balanced, thoughtful approach to understanding the past.

1 Third paragraph in this report of the November 2021 workshop: https://histoireengagee.ca/retour-sur-
latelier-le-colonialisme-dimplantation-au-quebec-un-impense-de-la-recherche-25-26-novembre-20211/
2 See: https://histoireengagee.ca/lhistoire-des-pensionnats-de-louest-est-une-histoire-quebecoise/
3 Catherine Larochelle, School of Racism: A Canadian History, 1830–1915, University of Manitoba Press,
2023.
4 See Catherine Larochelle’s brief as part of the consultations on Bill 64 (An Act to establish the Musée
national de l’histoire du Québec, September 2024).

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

More Hatred for Whites And Our Heroes: Woke Quebeckers Want to Erase the Memory of the Father of Quebec Nationalism, Abbe Lionel Groulx

Posted on by

Quebec institutions debate pulling Groulx’s name from public places

Late historian’s views threaten legacy

  • National Post (National Edition)
  • 12 Dec 2024
  • MORGAN LOWRIE
A statue of John A. Macdonald toppled and decapitated by Montreal activists in 2020. Now, the legacy of late Quebec historian Lionel Groulx has come under fire over claims of racism and antisemitism.

• In 2020, Montreal activists yanked down and decapitated a statue of Canada’s first prime minister, in protest of Sir John A. Macdonald’s role as the architect of the residential school system.

Now, another largerthan-life historical figure is coming under scrutiny, as Quebec municipalities and institutions are mulling whether to pull the name of priest and historian Lionel Groulx from public places over views described as antisemitic and racist.

Earlier this year, a Quebec-based history organization that Groulx founded in 1946 decided to remove his name from its prestigious annual prize, following a consultation with its members in which about 60 per cent advocated for the change.

“Today, with the recognition of diversity and the necessary reversal of perspectives towards colonialism in Quebec, the name of Groulx can hardly act as a unifier,” read a line in the 24-page document released by the Institut d’histoire de l’Amerique française.

Thomas Wien, the institute’s president, said in an interview that Groulx was someone who was “eminently complex, and eminently fascinating.”

Groulx was born in 1878 near Montreal. He was a historian who helped professionalize the field, an intellectual and a Quebec nationalist figure who inspired pride. Born of modest means, he went on to become a priest, writer and thinker who penned the slogan “maitres chez nous” (“masters in our own house”) that later became a rallying cry of the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s.

However, he was also a conservative nationalist whose views were “tinted by racism and antisemitism,” including a belief that French-Canadian Catholics were a “chosen people” guided by divine providence, Wien said.

While the comparisons are inevitable, Wien maintains that Groulx and Macdonald have little in

WHAT WAS RECOGNIZED WITH THIS PRIZE WAS … THE PIONEER OF A DISCIPLINE.

common. While Canada’s first prime minister was a direct architect in the forced removal of Indigenous Peoples from their land and other atrocities, he said, Groulx was a historian whose legacy is more complex.

However, he noted that Groulx was a figure of controversy and criticism even when alive, suggesting he was not merely a product of his time whose views are being unfairly reinterpreted through a modern lens.

Renaming the prize, Wien said, doesn’t amount to denying history or “killing the father,” but rather an acknowledgment that his legacy is better kept alive in more nuanced forms, including a forthcoming page on the institute’s website.

Other historians disagree. “I can understand why English-Canadian historians have renamed the John A. Macdonald Prize,” wrote Eric Bedard, a historian who has studied Groulx. “It is difficult for me to explain that Quebec historians are imitating them for Lionel Groulx, since what was recognized with this prize was not his religious, social or political ideas, but the pioneer of a discipline.”

Of the 20 or so Quebec municipalities that are recorded as having places named after Groulx, only two — Gatineau in western Quebec and Ste-Julie, on Montreal’s South Shore — indicated that they intend to broach the subject of a possible renaming.

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , ,