Language:
English
Year of publication:
2013
Titel der Quelle:
Canadian Jewish Studies/Etudes Juives Canadiennes
Angaben zur Quelle:
21 (2013-2014) 90-122
Keywords:
Jews History
;
Antisemitism History
;
Québec (Province) Ethnic relations
Abstract:
Presents an overview of antisemitism in Quebec from the early 19th century to the present, noting that its main themes have changed with the times. In the era of massive Jewish immigration, from the 1880s-1914, Québecois nationalists like Henri Bourassa and Lionel Groulx viewed Jews as a menace to the French Canadian ethnic and cultural particularity and way of life. In the interwar period, the upward mobility of Jews (e.g. in the fields of medicine and business) raised the spectre of the "Jewish question" in French Canada. Another issue which the Jews of Quebec faced was the accusation of communism. Extreme right-wing activists, like Adrien Arcand, sympathized with the Nazis. World War II and the Holocaust made some vocal Québecois antisemites revise their views, but since the 1970s antisemitism has been on the rise, having adopted anti-Zionist and anti-Israel arguments. The issue of "Jewish visibility" (e.g. wearing of religious symbols and kosher food) has become a widely discussed topic in French Canada. Whatever changes have taken place in Quebec, it seems that the view of the Jews as "others" by most French Canadians has not.
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