Are We French or Are We English? John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, and the Question of Canadian Identity

The late nineteenth century saw a surge of nationalism and the establishment of foundation myths and founding heroes as Western nations established narratives of predestined greatness. For the citizens of the British Atlantic, celebrations of John Cabot were key to understanding their place within the British Empire. As the quadricentennial anniversary of Cabot’s landing in North America approached, communities across the British Atlantic began preparations to mark the occasion with monuments, public displays of patriotic celebration, and academic commemorations. For the English-speaking Canadians, particularly communities along the eastern coastline, Cabot could easily be incorporated into their growing national identity as their founder-hero. However, the fact that Cabot claimed his discoveries for England, insinuating an English predestination to the region, offended the French-speaking population of Canada. This was especially salient as Canada’s two French strongholds, the cities of Montreal and Quebec, faced an Anglo majority for the first time in their history. Instead, the French-speaking communities presented Jacques Cartier as the true founder of Canada using the 350^th anniversary of Cartier’s voyages, which happened to fall a decade before the Cabot anniversary, as an opportunity to publicly present their founder-hero to the Canadian populace before the Anglo population could present theirs. When it came time to plan celebrations for Cabot’s quadricentennial anniversary, the French-speaking population protested the use of public tax dollars to sponsor any memorials at all. As a result, the attempts to commemorate Cabot’s landing on the continent all but disappeared. This paper analyzes this contested space within Canada’s national narrative and foundation myth, revealing how the appropriation of explorers and their memories can be (and have been) used by different communities to assert their own belonging within a larger community, to bridge community divides (as seen in Newfoundland), and often highlight internal ethnic divisions.