Canada and the British immigrant

by Emily P. Weaver

The system of land tenure in New France has been described as “a mild form of feudalism.” The king gave large grants of land under certain conditions to a number of seigneurs, usually of good family, who in turn made grants to tenants or “censitaires,” who were expected to clear and farm the lands, paying to the seigneur a small rent, sometimes in money, oftener in kind. The seigneur might also demand a certain portion of the fish caught by his tenants, and require them to use, and pay for the use of, his mill and his oven. But if they fulfilled the stipulated conditions, they could not be dispossessed.

No steps were taken till the nineteenth century to relieve the habitants of the burdens of seigneurial tenure. In fact, the rents had become heavier; but, in 1854, an Act of Parliament was passed abolishing the feudal rights and duties, and granting compensation to the seigneurs. Not all the tenants took advantage of this measure, and in some instances the annual rent is still paid.

But the English conquest was the beginning of a new era of freedom for the French-Canadians. As one of the race, the well-known writer, Mr. Benjamin Sulte, says, it “abolished the paper money of the old régime, and substituted cash payments; enabled the habitants, who formed nine-tenths of the population at the time, to purchase where they pleased and what they pleased, instead of being obliged to go to the company’s or government store; gave greater freedom for trade and abolished unjust monopolies; and paved the way for those legislative measures which, at a subsequent date, conferred local self-government and schools upon the French subjects of Great Britain.”

At first, indeed, there was some confusion in the province as to whether the French or English system of law was in force, but by the Quebec Act, enacted in 1774, the French laws regarding property and civil rights were definitely restored to Canada, and the free exercise of their religion was secured to the adherents of the Roman Catholic church. A few years later, in 1792, it was determined that in the parliament of Lower Canada both the French and English languages might be used. This arrangement was naturally continued when the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada were united, and is still in force in the Dominion Parliament.

The Provincial Legislature of Quebec has two chambers: a Council of twenty-four members, appointed for life; and an elective Assembly of seventy-four members.

Taxes are light. The revenue of the province is derived chiefly from the subsidy paid by the Dominion; from the sales and leases of the crown lands; and from fees for licences of various kinds. Between March, 1905, and June, 1910, the provincial debt was reduced by over $9,000,000.

Quebec, with the recent addition of Ungava (of which the value cannot yet be estimated), now stretches on the north to Hudson Strait, and is the largest province of the Dominion, containing nearly 707,000 square miles, or five times the area of the United Kingdom. Even the older part of the province is still largely undeveloped, and will remain so till there are vast additions to the population.

The climate is healthy, though admittedly cold in winter. “During the four coldest months of the year,” I quote from an official publication, “the average temperature is 15 degrees Fahrenheit in December, 10 in January, 10 to 15 in February, and 20 to 25 in March. There are some days when the mercury drops as low as 20 to 30 degrees below zero, but the atmosphere is so dry that but little discomfort is experienced, even by those who indulge in winter sports in the coldest weather.”

There is no question that the dryness of the atmosphere makes an immense difference in the extent to which one feels the cold, and though I cannot speak from experience of a Quebec winter, I know that many people do prefer the crisp cold of the Dominion’s oldest province to a damper and milder climate.

Quebec has the advantage of having plenty of snow, which makes winter travelling easy and delightful. It also “protects the grass and autumn-sown grain from damage by frost, and, as in England, tulips and crocuses which have remained in the ground all winter, push their green shoots through the disappearing snow-banks in the early spring.”