Helping “nos chers conscrits”: The Knights of Columbus Catholic Army Huts and French-Canadian Nationalism, 1917-26

This essay discusses efforts to provide recreation centres for Canadian Catholic soldiers during the First World War. More specifically, it compares the efforts of two organizations, the Catholic Army Huts (CAH), operated by the Knights of Columbus and the Chez-nous du soldat, operated by the Aide a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Canadian studies 2013-03, Vol.47 (2), p.246-267
Main Author: Trepanier, James
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Armed forces
Canada
Canadians
Cartier, Jacques (1491-1557)
Catholics
Charities
Economic depression
Fraternal organizations
French Canadians
French language
Historians
Leadership
Nationalism
Ontario
Opinion
Political sociology
Quebec
Ruling class
Schools
Sociology
Sociology of organizations and enterprises. Bureaucracy and administration
Sociology of work and sociology of organizations
Soldiers
Solidarity
War
Wars
World War I
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Description
Summary:This essay discusses efforts to provide recreation centres for Canadian Catholic soldiers during the First World War. More specifically, it compares the efforts of two organizations, the Catholic Army Huts (CAH), operated by the Knights of Columbus and the Chez-nous du soldat, operated by the Aide aux conscrits canadiens. Both were established late in the war, and attempted to provide comforts for volunteer and conscript alike. The CAH fundraising drive in September 1918 in Ontario and Quebec elicited different reactions within French-Canadian nationalist circles in the two provinces. French-Canadian nationalist opposition to the Knights of Columbus’s efforts in Ontario reveals that, during a period of supposed French-Canadian solidarity over conscription and Regulation 17, sharp differences of opinion persisted between French Canadians in the two provinces.
ISSN:0021-9495
1911-0251
DOI:10.3138/jcs.47.2.246