Prayers, Petitions, and Protests: The Catholic Church and the Ontario Schools Crisis in the Windsor Border Region, 1910-1928

395 Pages·2013·17.281 MB·English

by  Jack D. Cecillon

prayers, petitions, and protests
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Prayers, Petitions,
and Protests
The Catholic Church and the Ontario
Schools Crisis in the Windsor Border
Region, 1910–1928
Jack D. Cecillon
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston London Ithaca
• •
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© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2013
ISBN 978-0-7735-4161-0 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-7735-8886-8 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-0-7735-8887-5 (ePUB)
Legal deposit third quarter 2013
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free
(100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to
Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada
Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the
financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book
Fund for our publishing activities.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Cécillon, Jack D. (Jack Douglas), 1964–, author
Prayers, petitions, and protests: the Catholic Church and the Ontario
schools crisis in the Windsor border region, 1910–1928 / Jack D. Cecillon.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-0-7735-4161-0 (bound). – ISBN 978-0-7735-8886-8 (ePDF). –
ISBN 978-0-7735-8887-5 (ePUB)
1. Bilingual schools – Ontario – Windsor Region – History – 20th century. 
2. Schools, French language – Ontario – Windsor Region – History –
20th century. 3. Separate schools – Ontario – Windsor Region – History –
20th century. 4. Catholic schools – Ontario – Windsor Region – History –
20th century. 5. Catholic Church – Education – Ontario – Windsor
Region – History – 20th century. I. Title.
lc3734.3.w45c43 2013 371.829'114071332 c2013-902841-2
c2013-902842-0
This book was typeset by Interscript in 10.5/13 Sabon.
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To Lea
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Illustrations xiii
Introduction 3
1 Early Struggles for Bilingual Schools and the French Language
in the Windsor Border Region 16
2 Bishop Fallon and the French Language Controversy 42
3 Bishop Fallon, Regulation 17, and a Divided Resistance 78
4 Standoff at Ford City 112
5 The Battle of Our Lady of the Lake Church 139
6 Breach in the Militant Forces 177
7 The Militants’ Last Stand 205
Conclusion 231
Glossary 249
Appendices 259
Notes 291
Bibliography 351
Index 359
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Acknowledgments
This book is a revised version of my doctoral dissertation which I
defended at Glendon College, York University in December of 2007. The
inspiration for my topic, an examination of the resistance to Regulation
17 in the Windsor Border Region, came to me as a result of a summer
employment experience twenty-five years ago. At that time, I worked for
minimum wage on a regional study of assimilation rates among franco-
phone teenagers at the French elementary and secondary schools of the
Windsor area. As I completed the report and prepared to do graduate
work in history, the regional director of the ACFO, Madame Bernadette
Grenier advised me to look into the Ontario schools question and visit
local historian and priest, Ernest J. Lajeunesse at Assumption church.
After a one-hour interview with the 90-year-old scholar, he directed me
to dig around for documentation regarding a long forgotten riot by fran-
cophones at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish in East Windsor. Over the
course of the next year, I conducted a series of interviews with elderly
residents of the region, Monsignor Jean Noel of Belle River being one of
them. This man fascinated me in particular. He seemed to be a gentle and
kind soul, but upon the mention of Bishop Fallon, the priest piped up
and exclaimed in no uncertain terms, “Cet homme, il détestait les
Canadiens français.” [That man hated French Canadians.] Noel had
been studying to become a priest during Fallon’s reign as Bishop of
London. I knew then that there was a story waiting to be told.
From there I went on to interview another elderly resident, Hazel
Lacasse Delorme, who was just a little girl at the time of the momen-
tous event of the Ford City Riot. She later claimed that her grandmother
had suffered a blow to the head during the trouble. Another interviewee,
Claire Janisse, the daughter of Ford parish rebel Stanislas Janisse, was
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