Les commissions scolaires et les immigrants à Toronto et à Montréal (1900-1945) : quatre modèles d'intégration en milieu urbain

Between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the Montreal and Toronto school boards defined integration models to assimilate children of immigrants to the culture, values and standards of the society in which they arrive. The author presents the foundations and implementation of these integration models, as well as strategies used to foster the "Canadianization" of immigrants. He argues that despite common intentions, school boards developed different approaches, which reflected the social and cultural conditions of their environment, to ensure the immigrants integrated into local society. The author includes a comparison of how the Commission des écoles catholique de Montréal (both its French and English sectors) and the Protestant School Board School Commissioners of the City of Montreal approached the integration of immigrants into Quebec society. The French sector of the Catholic commission placed most emphasis on maintaining the Catholic religion among non-Francophone Catholic immigrants rather than on integrating them into French Quebec society. The author points out that after 1930, non-Francophone Catholic immigrants were encouraged to attend English Catholic schools, which provided a "high school" education (similar to Protestant schools) that allowed access to technical schools and university. The author outlines how the Protestant commission denied Jewish immigrants representation on its board.

Francophonies d'Amérique

No. 31

49-85

Printemps 2011

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