Raconte-moi la Grande Guerre - Les Canadiens français

This episode looks back at French-Canadian participation in the First World War. As Canada entered the Great War as a Dominion, French-Canadians resisted crossing the Atlantic Ocean to fight “for a cause not their own”. Identifying themselves with neither Britain nor France, they preferred to focus on preserving their identity and culture in Canada, notably by fighting Regulation 17 in Ontario, which restricted the teaching of French in schools. Nevertheless, the French-Canadians who did enlist made their presence felt, particularly in the 22nd Battalion, which fought bravely at Courcelette. Many of them paid the ultimate price, with 1,100 of the 5,600-strong battalion killed and 2,500 returning wounded. Professor at the Université du Québec en Outaouais, Michel Filion tells the story of the French Canadians in this conflict, which left some nine million dead and twenty million wounded.