L’Église catholique dans l’Ontario français du dix-neuvième siècle by Robert Choquette (review)

120 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW transitory triumphin the House.JustasMike Pearson's memoirsmadethat ambitious andenigmatic manappear morehuman andmorefallible than John Diefenbaker's, sotoo doesMartin'saccount conveymore than Fleming's, despited theConservative's far greaterlengthanddeadliervenom. Finally,Flemingtwicesaysthat he hasrefusedaccess to hispapersto everyone who hasasked.Happily, thisis incorrect:Mr Fleminggaveme permission touse hisvast andvaluable files forthelast volume intheCentenary series, thatontheyears•957-67. J.L.GRANATSTEIN YorkUniversity L'l•glise catholique dansl'Ontario franfais du dix-neuvi•me si•cle. ROBERT CHOQUETTE. Ottawa: Lesl•ditions del'Universit• d'Ottawa •984.Pp.365 . $•5.oo In his conclusion Robert Choquettemakesthe statement,'le signede la cornpar6 dececordonumbilicalestla nominationdeJohnLynchhToronto/t •86o'(313).Whatthisreferstoisthelargest portionof theworkwhichdeals with the Irish-French antagonismwithin Ontario Catholicismand which curiously provides aperfectintroduction toChoquette's Language andReligion (Ottawa•975). The disputecentringupon Lynchand ThomasDuhamelof Ottawais a complex,well-toldstoryrepletewith intrigueand political manceuvring, rivallinga goodspytale.However,asthetitleindicates, thisis alsoa broaderstudyof themesboth old and new. For example,the brief Sandwich episcopacy of AdolphePinsonneault examinedpreviously in detail onlyin John McMahon'sUniversityof WesternOntario MAthesisis given considerable importance. Similarly usefulistheaccount ofthesadly ineffectual Bishop BrunoGuiges of Bytown.Choquette's workisalsorefreshing inthatit isnotstrictly history from thetopdown;onedoesgeta sense, especially in the sections dealingwith the OttawaValley,of the trialsand tribulations of the ordinarypriestandsister. There arealsotwoverytopical sections, considering thecurrentOntariodebate,dealingwiththedevelopment of separate schools in generalandwithbilingualschools in particular.If thereisa faultwiththis work,it isthatattimesthereadermaybegintofeelthatthereisatendency to useeverypieceof information.However,thisisa minorproblem. Choquette deserves praisefor utilizinga widevarietyof sources, manyof thempreviously unobtainable byscholars, toprovideaninsightfulanalysis of Ontario'sFrench-Canadian Catholiccommunity.It is to be hopedthat an English translation will followsoon. GERALD j. STORTZ WilfridLaurierUniversity ...