Sport and the Quebecois Identity

Okay, now that we've gone through a brief survey of the origin of sports in 18th and 19th century Quebec from the francophone perspective, we can better examine how sport reflects the "national identity" of French-Canadians of that era. First we saw horse racing, initiated by the English and promoted by the governor. Since we know that Quebec was essentially a rural region up until the time of the Quiet Revolution, it's easy to see how the sport was integrated into French-Canadian society. Victory on the track reinforced traditional values and their manner of living. The horses became an extension of the farmer. After all, you had to be doing something right to raise such a powerful steed, right? I'd almost equate it to the sort of pride experienced by farmers who raise the largest pumpkin for the county fair.

We also see the hesitation of French-Canadians to participate in the sports introduced by the anglos. Remember, the failure of the Patriot Rebellion in 1837-38 was still fresh in the collective memory of the people, so it's only natural that they would shun these new British sporting institutions. This resistance was further promoted by the Church, who were terrified that protestant values would sneak their way into the hearts of parishioners who participated in competitive sport.

Now after Confederation, we do see the creation of francophone clubs, which surely indicates that French-Canadians were ready to try and develop a new rapport with English Canada, not only on a political level, but on a social one, as well. Mind you, at the same time, there was also the tendancy to revisit more traditional activities, as we see in the popularity of snowshoeing clubs and canoeing. Remember, these 2 activities were common methods of travel for the coureurs des bois of days gone by. It's not a coincidence that these sports were popular. They invoke the Québécois desire to get back to nature and experience the great open spaces, as their ancestors had. The more "social" (as opposed to competitive) nature of the snowshoeing clubs also reinforce that intangible joie de vivre often used to describe the Québécois.

In Quebec, I've found that there's a bizarre fascination with the American Dream. They love the music, the films, the celebrities. Heck, you'll get more mileage with the girls here by telling them you're a American, rather than an English Canadian (probably the only place n the world that can make such a claim). This fascination has some pretty deep roots and can be seen most readily in the Québécois passion for baseball. I suppose one could interpret the love of baseball as another manifestation of resistance against their English conquerors. By playing baseball, they're rejecting the English regime, represented by the sport of cricket. Instead of baring arms, they choose to wield baseball bats and hope for liberation, as represented by the new American sport.

The fact that they felt the need to create a French vocabulary for sport demonstrates quite clearly that although there was a new agreement with English Canada, the fear of losing their culture and identity remained. By the end of the century, one could say that the anglicizing had started to succeed, at least in the case of hockey, wherein the "social nature" of sports in Quebec had been replaced by the burning passion to win on the ice.

In my opinion, there is no doubt that sport plays a part in the national identity of a country. We can see this through the proliferation of International Games during the 20th century. By examining the origins of the sport in Quebec of 19th century, we gain a new understanding of the collective mentality of French-Canadians of the time. We see that resistance against the domination of the anglos took several forms, whether it be through open rebellion like that of the Patriots, or the choice of the leisure activities, like the interest in the sport of baseball.

The fight to preseve the French language and culture even found its way onto the fields of sport. The changes to sporting vocabulary, launched by the Catholic Church and La Société du Parler Français au Canada, indicate that each facet of the life is significant to the Québécois, no matter how minor it appears to the rest of us. Finally, we see the sense of community present in the ideology of Québécois sport through the formation of more "social" than "competitive" sporting clubs. Although this analysis is obviously elementary, I believe that further research can only help in my quest to understand the modern Québécois point of view. If something as significant as sport is trivialized and overlooked, we may miss out on valuable insight. After all, this sense of alienation they seem to feel didn't happen overnight.