Canada's Religion History

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of approximately one thousand people most of whom were the direct descendants of either French or English colonists. It was an era of tranquility for Canadian Jews as the standard of living was high and the Jews of early Canada were treated well. These early Jewish settlers were considered ‘almost equal’ to their Anglo-Saxon or Catholic counterparts with few restrictions being placed on them and since they were of such a small proportion of Canada’s population they were able to almost completely assimilate in 1850s Canadian society. As a matter of fact, these Jews were barely even noticed. Jews such as Jesse Joseph, president of the Montreal gas company and Sigismund Mohr, head of the Quebec electric company, were among the Jews respected by their Canadian contemporaries. In 1870 a Montreal newspaper declared, “if only more of our citizens could be like the Jews, we would be a far more industrious and progressive nation.” In general, life was prosperous and secure for ...

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real people; they had been told less often,
and in generally more moderate language.
Now these strident beliefs pertained to neighbors
and fellow citizens…
Another important factor that contributed to the increase of anti-Semitism in Quebec was the strong influence of the press. In 1897 La Croix, one of Quebec’s circulating journals, warned the public of the ‘Hebrew Peril’ predicting:
If the syndicate was not exposed and halted,
that within fifty years the Jews would devour
Canada, and that the country would cease to
exist.
Edouard Drumont, author of Le France Juive and founder of the anti-Semitic group Ligue Nationale Anti-semitique, was gaining popularity in ...

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