CANADA’S TWO PEOPLES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 13 September 1937, Page 7

CANADA’S TWO PEOPLES

EFFECT OF THE WAR ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE EMPIRE “If the Great War had lasted much longer than it did there would have been civil war in Canada,” said Professor W. Menzics Whitclaw, of McGill University. Montreal, addressing members of the Sydney Millions Club, “Canada cannot afford to run that risk again,” he said. “She cannot take part in another war unless the cause is supported enthusiastically by both the French and the English population. One has to remember that there arc 3,000,000 people in Canada who cannot speak English and who have to be told in French to be British. These French people cannot have cultural uniformity with the British. We do not want to turn good Frenchmen into bad Englishmen. DISUNITY PROBLEM “Canada,” Professor Whitclaw said, “is now less unified than for many years, and the war started the disunification. Nova Scotia is less Canadian than it was in 1867, and British Columbia is less a part of Canada than it was 15 years ago.” Professor Whitelaw pleaded for a better understanding of the difficulties of Canada, which, he said, were very different from those of Australia. The task of the Prime Minister (Mr Mackenzie King) at the Imperial Conference was “ticklish.” He had succeeded in converting his French-Cana-dian colleagues to a realisation of the necessity of Canadian defence. “Mr Mackenzie King has to tread warily,” Professor Whitelaw said. “He has watching him 3,000,000 FrenchCanadians, many of whom would like to found a French republic on the banks of the St. Lawrence.” Professor Whitelaw emphasised that Canadians were an inland people, ’.he majority of whom had never seen the ocean. CONTRAST WITH AUSTRALIA "Canada’s outlook towards the Empire is different from that of Australia,” he said. “We want you to understand our outlook. Imperialism is a religion; you either ‘get it’ or you don't 'get it.’ In Australia, with a population almost entirely British, it amounts to a blind faith. But in Canada we are not sure what the Empire means or what it is for.

“There are two great human achievements. The first is ability to get along with our neighbours, which we might call politics or civilisation. The second achievement is culture, the finer thing of the mind, such as literature, poetry, art, and language. To Canada the Empire stands for a grouping of people which gives security, so that the people of the groups may live life to the full. Uniform cultural ideas are all right if one is English or Scotch, but those cultural ideas do not work if one is French. “Whereas the former Prime Minister, Mr Bennett, was a Conservative, the present one is a Liberal, and the present Government is an exponent of the theory that cultural uniformity with Britain is not the basis of government.” MISUNDERSTANDINGS Professor Whitelaw said that Australians did not understand Canadians. Relations were slightly strained, and reciprocal visits of representatives did not seem to clear up difficulties. “The people must be educated to understand the differences between the two countries,” Professor Whitelaw added.