In 2017, there was a debate in the National Assembly about whether or not the patriot flag should fly over parliament on National Patriots’ Day. But in my eyes, even if the patriot flag did not fly over the Quebec parliament on Monday, May 20, 2024, that would not stop me from remembering. Because I am once again going to delve into a significant moment in our past. It is quite simply a duty to remember.
It is clear that there seems to be a palpable unease with our National Patriots Day, established on November 22, 2002 in Quebec. Is it because the figure of the patriot which adorns the center of the flag is represented by a man, pipe in mouth, holding a rifle in hand? But should we still play ostrich and hide our heads in the sand, refusing to admit that we were able to stand up to the English invader? In fact, the Patriot Rebellion of 1837–1838 was the most intense and best-known episode of colonial opposition to the British Empire in North America after the American War of Independence.
Face his story
And then, should we refuse to face a significant and decisive page in our history because our ancestors took up arms to advance their ideals and some of them — and not the least of them — ended up on the scaffold on February 15, 1839? Of course, here I want to highlight the hanging of five of them. I named: the notary Chevalier De Lorimier, the soldier Charles Hinderland, the bailiff Pierre-Rémi Narbonne, the farmer Amable Daunais and the teacher François Nicholas. Men who stood up against the English regime and who, through force of circumstances, allowed the French-Canadian identity to still be alive 184 years later in Quebec and in other provinces of Canada.
Should we therefore celebrate our patriots by hiding the flag that represents them? Should we distort our history by emphasizing that our patriots instead fought with rock pullers, refusing to say that blood was shed, thus, by means of arms? Of course, all wars are to be deplored.
But on this account, should we not erase from our history books the Battle of the Plains of Abraham of 1759, or even the Battle of Châteauguay of 1813, won masterfully by Lieutenant Charles-Michel de Salaberry with a French-Canadian militia?