French-Canadian Aces

Further to an earlier thread which touches on the concept of racism in the military (hardly a novel idea), I have noted the lack of French-Canadian aces in WW1. In 1914 about 30% of Canadians were Francophones, but the only French-speaking ace was DelHaye (9 victories), who was actually a Frenchmen who had immigrated to Canada, not a French-Canadian. Another possibility might be the French-Canadian/American ace Emile Lussier.

J.A. LeRoyer, an observer, had four victories, and some sources indicate a possible fifth.

By WW2, the door to the Anglo old boy's club may have opened a crack further. Aces like Sabourin, aricheliere, Robillard, Charron, and Levesque served with distinction. I am not sure if R.J. Audet (10.5 victories) from Alberta was Francophone.

I realize that both world wars were unpopular amongst many Quebecois so perhaps that may have contributed to the low numbers.

Originally Posted by Terry McCormick

I realize that both world wars were unpopular amongst many Quebecois so perhaps that may have contributed to the low numbers.

That's your reason Terry. IF there was any prejudice, it has come full circle in today's Canadian military, with franco-phones consistantly rising above even more proficient Anglo-phones.

In the next referendum, I want the rest of Canada to be able to vote Quebec OUT.

[Michael]

There is a fairly large francophone community in Alberta, St. Paul, for example, so Audet is probably one.

I seem to recall from my last reading of "Wind in the Wires" that Grinnell-Milne mentions a French-Canadian pilot who helped them with the language barrier.

WWI was pretty unpopular in Quebec and caused a considerable amount of tension across the country. PM Borden didn't want to force the issue by conscripting French-Canadians so they opted for conscription with the option of staying in Canada. Which is a rather strange way of doing it "You have to serve, but you don't have to fight" was the message.

Most of the Quebecers in WWI enrolled in the Army (and there were some rather famous Quebec soldiers, Talbot Papineau comes to mind) as that was the most obvious role for men during WWI. I suspect that as the RFC and RNAS conducted the initial recruitment in Canada that they had a pretty substantial bias against Francophones, especially those who were unilingual. This is, however, a mere supposition and is not substantiated by myself. It is most instructive to note that the only flying schools for a long time were in Ontario at Long Branch, Camp Borden and a few other places. Nothing around Montreal.

Just a few corrections and added insights:

Quebec public opinion of the First World War might have been a bit more supportive had Sam Hughes (Minister of Militia) not thrown away all pre-war mobilization plans and started the CEF almost from scratch. That meant raising new regiments rather than marshalling existing ones - and when it came to allowing new French-speaking units, Sam opposed it (the 22e Regiment was an exception). Nor did he help matters by giving many of his friends commissions and giving them plum jobs recruiting - there were several cases of members of the Orange Lodge being appointed "recruiting colonels" in Quebec. It was also kind of hard to sell the war in Quebec when Ontario (via Regulation 17) was trying to ban the use of French in Ontario schools. All the same, active hostility to the war only surfaced with conscription - and it was not only French-speaking Canada that got mad. The first "march on Ottawa" was actually Ontario farmers seeking to have their sons exempted from consription.

Conscription in 1917-18 was for overseas service, pure and simple. The idea of consription for service only in Canada was a 1940 invention.

The location of RFC/RAF schools in the Toronto-Hamilton-Niagara area had nothing to do with wartime public opinion. The selection of sites was essentially made by the Imperial Munitions Board and the RFC (not the Borden cabinet) and it had everything to do with the presence of existing flying schools and an aircraft factory (Curtiss Aeroplanes) in that area, plus proximity to what was then a crucial air industrial heartland (the mother Curtiss company).

Quebec nationalists love to paint "Anglo-Canadians" as knee-jerk Imperial puppets. In truth, Canadians outside Quebec were a lot more skeptical of Britain than is realized. Nothwithstanding a much greater population, Canada recruited about the same size of army as the Australians (the role of foot-draging citizens often ascribed to French-Canadians was, in Australia, assumed by the Irish, who managed to defeat TWO conscription referendums in that country in 1917 and 1918). It is worth recalling that a conscription-minded government was elected in Canada only after the electoral rolls had been "modified" by (a) giving the vote to women - but only those women who had sons, brothers or husbaands in the CEF, and (B) disenfranchising thousands of immigrants whose presence in Canada for the past 10 years was deemed less significant than their birth in the German or Austrian empires (no distinctions made for Poles or Ukrainians who might have had their own axes to grind with the Central Powers).

Non-French Canadians have, in fact, been more independently minded for longer than many realize. Many years ago I took a hard look at Canadian participation in the South African War. English newspaper opinion was solidly pro-war, but English-Canadian enlistents did not reflect the editorials. Even considering the English population base alone, Canadian enlistments lagged far behind those of other colonies. As a proportion of enlistments to population, the most "loyal" colony was Rhodesia (no surprise there) - the next most "loyal" was New Zealand; Australia and the Cape Colony were next, and finally, Canada.