Quote:
Originally Posted by dc_denizen
^ I would love to know how many times you have visited in the USA, if ever.
actually, geneticists like to study French Canadians for the same reason that they are interested in Ashkenazi Jews: because it's a population with very little intermarriage with outside groups. How assimilated can immigrants be if there is no intermarriage with the dominant population?
I take issue with the idea of Montreal as a major immigrant gateway, as a place where immigrants historically made any kind of major mark on the culture (else, the city would not have remained as French as it did).
The rate of turnover and immigration/population replacement was vastly greater in the US cities than in Canada, for most of the two countries history.
Didn't Montreal mostly grow in the 19th century from migration from the countryside, rather than immigration?
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Another gem.
This only shows more of the same ignorance. I suggest you restore whatever little faith some posters, i.e; Crawford may have in you, by avoiding topics you know little about before you posit an opinion.
The 19th century had probably the same numbers of people form the countryside moving to the cities as other parts of the continent. Many French Canadians ended up in New England, the Midwest or Western Canada. My paternal grandmother (French) was born in Michigan, while my paternal grandfather was Irish by his parents but born in Montreal. Montreal in the 19th Century was a mix of French, Irish, Scot and English, and so was Quebec City and many other towns all over Quebec from the Gaspé, North Shore to the Western border with Ontario. Just take a look at place names, in particular around QC, not just Montreal, and you will find Scottish, Irish and English place names.
Orthodox Jews, Dog love them, were self-secluding from a long history of persecution. The comparison is not only weak but prepostorous at best. I think you confuse Orthodox Jews with Ashkenazi Jews from North African tradition.
While there are strong differences and even opposition between European and African Jews, intermarriage is not uncommon, especially not here.
In spite of differences in religious affiliations, the mixing and intermarrying between ethnic groups has always been important, and the language context has little to do with the fact that immigrants settled here or not. You claim that the city has remained French speaking because immigration was not a major purveyor of newcomers, but that of course has to do with your hardwired belief that English is the only valid language on N.A. soil.
I think that the fact French is the dominant language with almost a million anglos in the metro probably has more of a cohesive effect by promoting the ideal of a polyglot society. Italians, Ukrainians, Portuguese will often keep using their language as well as speak both French and English.
I couldn't help noticing the irony in what you said about immigrants not leaving a mark on the culture. Tell me more. I'm curious.