Back to the Land

The high pay of factories and the luxuries of city life had swollen the drift from the land into a steady tide. Even Quebec, against the ancient tradition of living on the land, was turning disturbingly urban, and the Catholic Church was deeply concerned. Last week, in a pastoral letter signed by Cardinal Villeneuve, three archbishops and 14 bishops, the Church raised its powerful voice in a plea : go back to the land. The Church wanted to stop not only the movement to the cities but emigration to the U.S.

The letter, read in all Catholic pulpits, heavily emphasized the Church's approval of the rural life for the protection of family ties and as a shield against city distractions. The bishops made the point that Quebec still had 10,000,000 acres of tillable, uncultivated soil, enough to establish 500 parishes of 200 families each. Said they: "Many of our young people would find there the living space that would allow them to make a home." Colonization was not a temporary palliative. "This is a permanent task ... to fill the gaps caused by emigration. ... It is also important to facilitate obedience to the law of fecundity imposed on man by the Creator."

Whither Younger Sons? How much heed the young men of Quebec would give to the plea was questionable. Once predominantly rural, Quebec is now (next to Ontario) the most urban province.* Almost 95% of its 155,000 farmers own their farms. But they cannot afford to buy new land in established areas for their many sons because 1) land prices have risen and 2) mechanization requires larger and thus more costly farms. Hence some 180,000 unmarried sons between 15 and 30 are currently wondering where to farm or whether to farm at all. Many will wind up in city jobs or in the U.S. Colonization schemes in the '30s and early '40s have drawn 11,300 families into Quebec's great hinterland. To help lure more to the soil, the Quebec government is ready today to sell approved families (they must meet certain requirements as to health, etc.) 100 acres at 30-c- an acre. It will also provide free transportation, the use of tractors, monthly allowances of $15 for from three months to a year, cash grants up to $575 for building a house and stable, credits for all land cleared and ploughed. In some parts of the province this policy has paid off, e.g., the Rimouski diocese of the Gaspe Peninsula, where 33 new parishes averaging 150 to 200 families have been established in the past 15 years. But no one realized better than the Church itself that to the young men of today the virtues of pioneering sounded bleak and harsh beside the siren voice of the cities.

* 1941 census: rural, 1,222,198;urban, 2, 109, 684.

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