Montreal’s “Le Devoir” and the Jews

Greg Marchildon interviews Pierre Anctil, a professor of history at the University of Ottawa, about his book “A Reluctant Welcome for Jewish People: Voices in Le Devoir’s Editorials, 1910-1947” (University of Ottawa Press). They discuss the hundreds of editorials published in Le Devoir between 1910 and 1947 on the subject of Judaism or Jews. The most respected newspaper in French-Canada, Le Devoir took a consistently negative view towards increasing Jewish immigration mainly because of the traditional anti-Jewish position of the Roman Catholic Church. Beyond this, however, the key editorialists differed in their views of Montreal’s Eastern European Jewish community. This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt. If you like our work, please consider supporting it: https://bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.