Few Scots came to Quebec (then New France) before theSeven Years' War.[2] Those who did blended in with theFrench population. Perhaps the first Scot to settle wasAbraham Martin dit l'Écossais (1589-1664), who by the year 1800 had 7,765 married descendants among the French-speaking population.[3]
By the beginning of the 19th century, the Quebec population was expanding slowly as immigration began from Great Britain. Impoverished Scottish immigrants, many the victim of theHighland andLowland Clearances, saw unlimited opportunity in this huge forested land.[4] The bond between Scotland and France, however, also extended to numerous other areas such as theGens d’Armes Ecossais (Scots Men-At-Arms) who guarded the kings of France for nearly three hundred years. Today, in France, there are many descendants of these Scots. They carry names such asCampbell andMacDonald, a famous example beingJacques MacDonald, aMarshal of France.
Some of these Scottish immigrants settled inQuebec City but many with an entrepreneurial drive kept moving west toMontreal which at the time was little more than a small port town on theSt. Lawrence River. By far the majority of the Scots arrived in Quebec with little more than the shirt on their back.John Redpath, who had only enough money for ships passage to Quebec City, walked all the way to Montreal.[5]
In 1779, ScotsmanSimon McTavish helped establish what would become theNorth West Company to compete in the fur trade with theEnglish owned giant, theHudson's Bay Company. Since 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company had been operating an unchallenged monopoly in the territory in the northwest known asRupert's Land, which comprised nearly half of what is now Canada. In the process, McTavish became the most important businessman in all ofCanada.[6]
By the first decade of the 1800s, Montreal had grown to around 9,000 inhabitants and the Scottish immigrants who chose to make Montreal their home soon began to play a key role in the city's cultural, scientific, and business life. Although at their peak, the Scots made up only a small percentage of Quebec's population, they affected the city of Montreal and the Province of Quebec far beyond their numbers. Starting from an almost non-existent economic base, they were instrumental in improving the Province's commercial prospects by exploiting an untapped hinterland. They transformed the small fortified town into the business hub for much of the St Lawrence basin and worked to enhance the Province's economic power. Scots led a wave ofimmigrants seeking a better life that saw Montreal's population grow from 9,000 in 1800 to 50,000 by the year 1850.[7]
Other Scots were instrumental in building theLachine Canal that turned Montreal into one of the most important and prosperous ports inNorth America. The canal led to a rapid industrialization that began in the late 1840s with Montreal manufacturers producing products for the entire nation. It was also Scots who constructed Montreal's first bridge across theSaint Lawrence River andHenry Morgan built the first department store in Canada that was the envy of the country. Scot settlers founded many of the city's great industries including theBank of Montreal,Redpath Sugar, and from headquarters they established in Montreal, Scots were the driving force that built both of Canada's nationalrailroads. Early on, they realized the importance for the mercantile community to create the institutions and instruments that enabled business to be the catalyst for improved standards of living for all its citizens. Because of their work and vision, by 1860 they were greatly responsible for making Montreal the most important city in British North America.[5][6][7]
Ouellet, Jeannine (2007).Des Écossais à Rivière-du-Loup et leurs descendants (1763–2004), Montréal: Éditions Histoire Québec, 476 p. ISBN978-2-89586-014-3
McCulloch, Ian Macpherson (2006).Sons of the Mountains: A History of the Highland Regiments in North America During the French & Indian War, 1756-1767, Purple Mountain Press & Fort Ticonderoga, vol. 1: 392 p., vol 2: 208 p.
Campey, Lucille H. (2006).Les Écossais: The Pioneer Scots of Lower Canada, 1763-1855, Toronto: Natural Heritage Books, 332 pagesISBN1-897045-14-X (online excerpt)
Marrelli, Nancy and Simon Dardick (2005).The Scots of Montreal: A Pictorial Album, Montreal: Véhicule Press, 156 p. ISBN1-55065-192-7
Bennett, Margaret (2004).Oatmeal and the Catechism. Scottish Gaelic Settlers in Quebec, Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press, 352 pagesISBN0-7735-2775-3 (online excerpt)
Beaulieu, Carl (2001).L'alliance écossaise au Québec, Chicoutimi: Éditions du Patrimoine, 486 p. ISBN2-922693-08-2
Symons, Jeffrey (1992).The Auld Alliance in Canada: A Brief Examination of the Relationship between the French and the Scots throughout Canada's History, Lovell LithoISBN2-9803116-2-6
Little, John Irvine (1991).Crofters and Habitants. Settler Society, Economy, and Culture in a Quebec Township, 1848-1881, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 392 pages (online excerpt)
Price, Lynda. (1981).Introduction to the Social History of Scots in Quebec (1780–1840), Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, 152 pagesISBN0-660-02483-7
Baldwin, Alice Sharples (1960).Metis, wee Scotland of the Gaspé, Montreal: An-lo Inc., 63 p.
Le Moine, James MacPherson (1881). "The Scot in New France, 1535-1880", inTransactions of the Literary and Historical Association of Quebec. Sessions of 1880-81, Quebec: Morning Chronicle Office, 1881 (online)
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