On our recent trip to meet Jeff's parents in Canada, we visited both Montreal and Quebec City. We learned a lot about the history of "French" Canada, and how it turned out that French remains to this day the first language of this province and one of the official languages of the entire country (for example, food ingredients must be listed in both English and French throughout the country).
Shana and I had previously visited Montreal and so only spent a day there this time. We walked around and encountered this reminder of the dual history of Quebec:
This pair of statues is a combined work known as "The English Pug and The French Poodle". On the left is an English man holding his pug while giving a haughty look at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, symbol of the French Catholic Church. On the right is a French lady holding her poodle while giving a look of disdain at the headquarters of the Bank of Montreal, symbol of English power. While these two are ignoring the other, their dogs are looking at each other trying to find a way to unite. We found them quite amusing -- the dogs in particular.
Leaving Montreal, we rented a car and I drove to Quebec City, the first time I had driven in 2018 (!). On the way, we stopped to introduce my parents to poutine. If you have never had poutine, you are really missing out. Basic poutine is french fries with gravy and cheese curds. You can then add pretty much anything you want (we had one with bacon). Ugly, yet delicious. And, oh so healthy.
Quebec City, which was founded in 1608 (yes, before the Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock) is absolutely beautiful, with a walled old city, similar to many European cities. It even has a fantastic old hotel, Le Chateau Frontenac, that looks like a castle. We learned that Quebec is actually a native word meaning "where the river narrows" as Quebec City sits on the St. Laurence at a point where the river is "only" one kilometer wide.
We took a tour of the province's Parliament building, which provided a lot of interesting history about the mixed heritage of Quebec. Here is a stained glass window from the building containing both the fleur de lis, the symbol of the French Kings and the lion, the symbol of the English Kings. The maple leafs, of course, represent Canada itself:
So, how did Quebec come to have this mixed heritage? Well it turns out it was mostly the fault of the Americans (blame America!). During the Seven Years War (1756-1763), which was referred to as the French and Indian War in North America, there was a battle near Quebec City known as the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. This decisive British victory ultimately allowed England to win the war and take control of all French colonies in the "New World". After that, it was predicted that English would displace French in what would become the Province of Quebec, but that was not to be, in part because the Quebec Act of 1774 gave increased sovereignty to the people of Quebec. Why? Because the British were so concerned that the Quebecois would join the restive American colonists in rebelling against the Crown that they acted to secure their loyalty. As a result, Canada is a dual-language country to this day.
Near the Parliament building, Quebec has honored several of its famous women. Although women gained the right to vote in federal elections in Canada in 1918, in Quebec women could not vote in provincial matters until 1940! Here are Mom and Shana joining in their history:
We really enjoyed our time in Quebec and recommend it as a place to visit, although we would recommend avoiding the winters, which are apparently long and brutal.
Hasta pronto,
Jeff and Shana
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