Prayers, Petitions, and Protests: The Catholic Church and the Ontario Schools Crisis in the Windsor Border Region, 1910-1928 PDF
Preview Prayers, Petitions, and Protests: The Catholic Church and the Ontario Schools Crisis in the Windsor Border Region, 1910-1928
prayers, petitions, and protests 25504_Cecillon.indb 1 21/08/13 9:12 AM 25504_Cecillon.indb 2 21/08/13 9:12 AM Prayers, Petitions, and Protests The Catholic Church and the Ontario Schools Crisis in the Windsor Border Region, 1910–1928 Jack D. Cecillon McGill-Queen’s University Press Montreal & Kingston London Ithaca • • 25504_Cecillon.indb 3 21/08/13 9:12 AM © McGill-Queen’s University Press 2013 ISBN 978-0-7735-4161-0 (cloth) ISBN 978-0-7735-8886-8 (ePDF) ISBN 978-0-7735-8887-5 (ePUB) Legal deposit third quarter 2013 Bibliothèque nationale du Québec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free (100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Cécillon, Jack D. (Jack Douglas), 1964–, author Prayers, petitions, and protests: the Catholic Church and the Ontario schools crisis in the Windsor border region, 1910–1928 / Jack D. Cecillon. Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-0-7735-4161-0 (bound). – ISBN 978-0-7735-8886-8 (ePDF). – ISBN 978-0-7735-8887-5 (ePUB) 1. Bilingual schools – Ontario – Windsor Region – History – 20th century. 2. Schools, French language – Ontario – Windsor Region – History – 20th century. 3. Separate schools – Ontario – Windsor Region – History – 20th century. 4. Catholic schools – Ontario – Windsor Region – History – 20th century. 5. Catholic Church – Education – Ontario – Windsor Region – History – 20th century. I. Title. lc3734.3.w45c43 2013 371.829'114071332 c2013-902841-2 c2013-902842-0 This book was typeset by Interscript in 10.5/13 Sabon. 25504_Cecillon.indb 4 21/08/13 9:12 AM To Lea 25504_Cecillon.indb 5 21/08/13 9:12 AM 25504_Cecillon.indb 6 21/08/13 9:12 AM Contents Acknowledgments ix Illustrations xiii Introduction 3 1 Early Struggles for Bilingual Schools and the French Language in the Windsor Border Region 16 2 Bishop Fallon and the French Language Controversy 42 3 Bishop Fallon, Regulation 17, and a Divided Resistance 78 4 Standoff at Ford City 112 5 The Battle of Our Lady of the Lake Church 139 6 Breach in the Militant Forces 177 7 The Militants’ Last Stand 205 Conclusion 231 Glossary 249 Appendices 259 Notes 291 Bibliography 351 Index 359 25504_Cecillon.indb 7 21/08/13 9:12 AM 25504_Cecillon.indb 8 21/08/13 9:12 AM Acknowledgments This book is a revised version of my doctoral dissertation which I defended at Glendon College, York University in December of 2007. The inspiration for my topic, an examination of the resistance to Regulation 17 in the Windsor Border Region, came to me as a result of a summer employment experience twenty-five years ago. At that time, I worked for minimum wage on a regional study of assimilation rates among franco- phone teenagers at the French elementary and secondary schools of the Windsor area. As I completed the report and prepared to do graduate work in history, the regional director of the ACFO, Madame Bernadette Grenier advised me to look into the Ontario schools question and visit local historian and priest, Ernest J. Lajeunesse at Assumption church. After a one-hour interview with the 90-year-old scholar, he directed me to dig around for documentation regarding a long forgotten riot by fran- cophones at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish in East Windsor. Over the course of the next year, I conducted a series of interviews with elderly residents of the region, Monsignor Jean Noel of Belle River being one of them. This man fascinated me in particular. He seemed to be a gentle and kind soul, but upon the mention of Bishop Fallon, the priest piped up and exclaimed in no uncertain terms, “Cet homme, il détestait les Canadiens français.” [That man hated French Canadians.] Noel had been studying to become a priest during Fallon’s reign as Bishop of London. I knew then that there was a story waiting to be told. From there I went on to interview another elderly resident, Hazel Lacasse Delorme, who was just a little girl at the time of the momen- tous event of the Ford City Riot. She later claimed that her grandmother had suffered a blow to the head during the trouble. Another interviewee, Claire Janisse, the daughter of Ford parish rebel Stanislas Janisse, was 25504_Cecillon.indb 9 21/08/13 9:12 AM
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