Writings | India and Quebec: tenuous but surprising links

These are two former colonies that are a priori very distant, geographically and culturally, but where certain points of contact and mutual influences turn out to be unsuspected: India and Quebec have in fact, in a way that is certainly not intensive, but notable, had the opportunity to share many goods and citizens, but also political ideas, over the last few centuries.

Equipped with the magnifying glass of connected history, Serge Granger, professor at the School of Applied Politics at the University of Sherbrooke, dissects these links mainly maintained by a hyphen, namely the British Colonial Empire, first “communicating vessel”, then screed from which these two nations will seek to free themselves.

His work The cousins ​​of the Empirein which the historian Yvan Lamonde also intervenes, abundantly informed by documentary sources, drawn in particular from the period press, examines the evolution of these connections in two stages: during the phase of construction of the British colonial network, then during that of its disintegration, struggling with the desire for autonomy of its various components.

Thus, from the 18th century^e century, we first observe one-way commercial links, through imports of spices and Indian fabrics, intensifying with other prized commodities, such as opium or tea; the chapter devoted to the weight of the latter proves particularly interesting, showing how the resource basins moved from China to India, where the British orchestrated new plantations. It also constitutes an eloquent example of the change in consumption habits in the colonies, the drink outweighing the all-powerful coffee in Canada.

The essay introduces us to exchanges that go well beyond goods. Soldiers, warships, engineers, doctors, missionaries or congregations from French-speaking Canada crossed the seas, leaving to join the colony of Asia for the purposes of defense or development of the interests of the Crown; for all these areas, countless very specific examples are presented. Ideas also circulated: in both colonies, we found the same spirit tinged with loyalty towards this empire in a phase of consolidation.

Influences of independence

However, at the beginning of the 19th century^e century, serious cracks appear in the model.

A thread will now connect Canada and India: the aspiration for freedom.

Several figures at the heart of these processes will constitute influences on both sides, such as Allan Octavian Hume, who will encourage Indian reformists to draw inspiration from the Canadian demands of 1837. This mutual observation will be undermined by immigration policies discriminatory policies of Canada towards Indians, but revived by the independence pushes led by Gandhi.

In Quebec, well before the Quiet Revolution, the Indian process found strong resonance with French-Canadian nationalists. The last chapters of the work are very instructive in this respect, exploring the Quebec perception of the pacifist leader (sometimes blessed, sometimes reviled) and the impact of the independence of the Asian giant in the Quebec political and social arena.

At a time when Indo-Canadian diplomatic relations have deteriorated significantly, shedding light on the relationships between these two “constitutional cousins” with parallel destinies allows us to deepen our view of them well beyond simple current affairs. .

The cousins ​​of the Empire

Serge Granger, with the participation of Yvan Lamonde

The Presses of the University of Montreal

224 pages