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 CANADA

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CANADA

Apostolic decree authorized Bishop Bourget to divide the city into as many parishes .is he thought proper. Montreal contained 100 .000 Catholics. By 1908 Mon- treal had more than trebled its population of 1S6G, and there were over forty parishes in addition to the mother-parish of Notre Dame, of which the Sul- picians have had charge for over two hundred and fifty years. New sees were created: Rimouski ( 1S67). Shcr- brooke (1874), Chicoutimi (1878), and Nicolet (1885). In 1870 Toronto was made an archdiocese, with Kingston (1826) and Hamilton (18.56) as suffragan sees. In 1SS9 Kingston was erected into an archdiocese, with Peterborough (1882) as suffragan. Alexandria (1890) and Sault Sainte Marie (1904) were erected and added later. London (1855) was made suffragan to Toronto. In 1SS6 Montreal was made an archiepiscopal see under Archbishop Fabre, successor of Bishop Bourget, and given as suffragan sees St. Hyacint he, Sherbrooke, and later VaUevfield (1892) and Joliette (1905). In 1886 Ottawa was made an archdiocese, and assigned as suffragan the Vicariate Apostolic of Pontiac, which since 1898 has been the See of Pembroke, and finally Leo XIII honoured Archbishop Taschereau of Quebec with the cardinal's hat (1886).

A few special points deserve a brief separate treat- ment. (1) The Restoration of the Acadians. — At the time of Lawrence's violent dispersion of the Acadians (1755) 1268 of them had escaped, and by 1815 formed a nucleus of 25,000 sbuls; in 1864 they num- bered 80.000. A Canadian priest, Father Lefebvre, gathered them together, founded for them the college of Memramcook (Now Brunswick), provided for them primary schools, organized them, and awoke in them a consciousness of their strength. In 1880 seventy Acadian delegates represented their compatriots at the great national reunion. The national society of the Acadians is called "The Society of the Assumption". By 1899 the Acadians amounted to 125,000; they had six deputies in the local legislatures of the Maritime Provinces and two in the Federal Parliament at I Ittawa. According to the census of 1901. their pro- portion to the total population in the Maritime Prov- inces is as follows: —

Provinces

Total Popula-

Protes-

Catholics

Acadian*

Total Icadian

New Brunswick

Nova .Scotia Prince Edward Island

331,120 459.594

103,259

205.000


 * iHinn

57,463

125,698 129,578

45,796

79,979 1

45,161 ( jagoog

13,866 )

If to the Acadian population of 139,006 be added the Catholic Acadians of the Gasped coast and the Mag- dalen Islands, the total will easily reach 155,000, surely an element of Catholic strength for the future. (2) Schools of Xexr Brunswick and Manitoba. — Prior to the confederation of the Canadian Provinces (1867), New Brunswick legislation rendered possible the es- tablishment of religious schools. This privilege was abolished in 1871 by the Provincial Legislature. The Catholics, thus forced either to send their children to public schools <>r to pay a double school tax. appealed to the Federal Parliament. Sir John Mac Donald, who was all-powerful al the time, made promises, which, however, failed to satisfy Bishops Sweeney and Rogers, who organized for resistance and opposed the lax collectors. This convinced the Protestants that it was advisable to reach a satisfactory agreement. The unjust law was not repealed, but enough conces- sions were made to restore peace (1874). A parallel act of injustice was done against the rights of Mani- toban Catholics in 1890. The British North America Act, which consolidated the Dominion of Canada, gave each province the right to exclusively make laws in relation to education, but safeguarded all rights or

privileges granted by the law at the time of the legis- lative union to any class of persons enjoying denom- inational schools. Moreover, when Manitoba entered the confederation (1870) the Catholic delegates, guided by Archbishop Tache of St. Boniface, had taken steps to have the rights of their coreligionists respected. De- spite these precautions, separate schools were abol- ished by an intolerant ministry (1890). In 1S94 the bishops of the Dominion sent a petition to the Gov- ernor-General in Council. On appeal, the British Privy Council decided that this appeal was admissible, but referred its settlement to the Governor-General in Council. In 1S90 a pastoral letter appeared, signed by Cardinal Taschereau and the bishops of the Que- bec province, protesting against the injustice done their Manitoban coreligionists. The issue in the general elections of 1896 was whether the wrongs of the Manitoba Catholics should be removed by reme- dial legislation of the Dominion Parliament, as the Conservatives proposed, or by conciliation and com- promise with the provincial authorities, as the Liber- als suggested. The Liberal party came into power under Sir Wilfred Laurier, and a compromise was ef- fected which, without repealing the law, lessened its disastrous results. The Catholic Liberal members of the Dominion Parliament petitioned the Holy See to send an Apostolic delegate, and Leo XIII confided the delicate mission of making a full investigation to Monsignor Merry del Val, after 1903 Cardinal Secre- tary of State. The first permanent Apostolic Dele- gate to Canada was Monsignor Diomede Falconio, later Apostolic Delegate at Washington, who was suc- ceeded in turn by Monsignor Donato Sbaretti, former Bishop of Havana. The seat of the delegation is at < Htawa.

(3) Foundation of the University of Laval at Mon- treal. — The ever-increasing importance of Montreal made it desirable that the city should have a Catholic university. Bishop Bourget addressed a petition to the Propaganda, asking for its establishment. By a decree of 1 February, 1876, the Sacred Congrega- tion gave permission to erect at Montreal a branch of the University of Laval of Quebec. In 1889 Leo XIII established the administrative autonomy of the new university by the decree "Jam dudum". M. Colin, superior of Saint-Sulpice (1880-1902) took the foremost part in the establishment and organi- zation of the Laval University at Montreal. He even induced his society to give the site needed for the uni- versity buildings and to subscribe almost half of the sum considered necessary for their construction.

(4) Colonization. — The first colonists in Canada settled along the great rivers, especially the St. Law- rence. There each family was wont to clear a strip of land, quite narrow as compared with the extent of the country, leaving intact the interior forest. About 1835 all the cleared portions were occupied by the growing population, and the surplus was forced to migrate to the cities or the United States to find some readier means of subsistence. The emigration move- ment threatened to become general and disturbed the Canadian patriots. The clergy organized a veritable crusade to keep the people on their own soil. The colonizing priest is a type found only in Canada. None is better known than the Cure Labelle, who devoted his life to the work of colonization, founding by his own efforts more than thirty parishes in the Province of Quebec. Wherever the work of colonization has been carried on, at remiscamingue, on the shores of Lake St. John or of the River Saguenay, in Gasp6, or north of Montreal, priests and religious are found, directing anil helping the settlers. It is they who still form a majority of the deputies and members who attend the annual agricultural congresses at the Trappist monastery of Notre- Dame d'Oka, the coloni- zation congresses and societies. We may add that the agricultural schools of .Notre Dame d'Oka, Sainte-