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Francophones in English units

By Pierre Vennat

Unpublished text

In early March 1942, the member Temiscouata in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Jean-Francois Pouliot , emphasized that, upon departure for overseas of a regiment of Windsor (Ontario), 35% of staff were French, while French-Canadian population of the three districts surrounding the city of the automobile was only 18%.

Pouliot had asked the Department Defence to disclose the number of units serving in the French speaking. Besides the Royal Rifles of Canada, based in Old city and considered a bilingual unit with about 40% of French Canadians in its ranks and that would be Hong Kong the first unit engaged in the battle against the enemy, namely the Japanese, the information services of the military establishment and in the summer of 1942, the proportion of French Canadian regiments then serving in overseas English was:

• 20% in Royal Montreal Regiment,
• 25% in Victoria Rifles;
• 10% in the Grenadier Guards;
• 20% in the Black Watch;
• 50% in the Fusiliers de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke merged with the Regiment were in made a bilingual unit;
• 50% in medical units and 40% in stewardship.

Similarly, mobilized units of the military district of New Brunswick had an average 50% of French Canadians in their workforce.

There was even a regiment of New Brunswick, the North Shore Regiment, then serving overseas, we was placed under the command of an officer Acadian Lieutenant-Colonel JA Léger.

Finally, there was a high proportion of French Canadians in the units of the military district of Winnipeg as well as those in the Ottawa area.