Embedded Files
Behind the fence to the right of the Manse at the Co-cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Commemoration
A vital cultural force in Eastern Ontario, the Franco-Ontarian community in Cornwall was established during the late 1870s when large scale industrial expansion led to the influx of workers and tradesmen from Quebec. By 1881 French speaking residents comprised the largest single cultural group in the town. Supported by a number of religious and scholastic institutions, including the l’eglise de la Nativité de la Bienheureuse Vierge Marie, the Francophone community grew steadily in the decades that followed. Increasingly it asserted its cultural distinctiveness, paying particular attention to language preservation and French education. Long standing efforts to protect and advance the community’s rights and interests in the schools culminated in the opening in 1974 of La Citadelle, an all French secondary school.
Background
1870 saw the start of the cotton industry in Cornwall. It was an excellent choice due to its abundant water power and good transportation. This would have been one of the major draws for labour moving to the community. The industry continued to the end of the 20th century. There were also paper mills.
French Canadians travelled throughout Ontario and New England for work in this types of industry at the time.
Here we see internal immigration within Canada. A second community joined the United Empire Loyalists. In time they merged into a single community yet each group maintained, and valued, its unique identity.
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