It will be about the history of New France in Quebec. And we've got four historians at work on that. One is Simon Maccoun from McGill University, one is Lucianna Tarrab, one is Peter Monahan from Wilfrid Laurier University, and of course, we're very fortunate to have a historian like Mark Kurlansky on the team.
Can we talk for a second about what a complicated story of a lot of different cultural groups coming together, and how did it change Quebec?
We’re seeing a more complex version of European colonization in North America where there’s a lot of exchange and blending of these different peoples. And they all come together, and I think there are many layers to that. You know, you have people that were brought out of France, but then they start marrying native women, and these children have a dual identity. There was also a blending of religious ideas. And then we also have the Jesuit presence. It’s very multi-faceted. And these people are really coming from all different directions.
You had mentioned that Canada will be a little more than half-French by 2067, I think?
It’ll be about 51 percent French, but it will be a lot more English. I’m going to guess maybe 70 percent, and about 30 percent of the population will be native.
The project is very ambitious, obviously. We were thinking of what would happen if the British actually won the war. Did they in 1812?
We’ve looked into that a bit, and in fact we’re going to look at some counterfactual history. So we want to look at what would have happened if the British had won, but the French retained control of Quebec. So we think that’s interesting to look at a scenario like that because that’s the only way you can achieve a British victory. So to us, there’s a very fascinating argument in which the British basically take this territory and the population. So it’s a very fascinating place to look at, so we’ll see.
You’ve been studying Canadian history for a long time. Do you find Canadian history as boring as most people do?
Not boring at all. I think you have some really fascinating events. And I don’t think anyone who lives here can say that the British military didn’t make a difference in the war of 1812, because the British came back in full force after the Napoleonic Wars ended. This was the biggest land force that Canada had ever seen in its history. It was like a small army on an island, with about 11,000 troops and several hundred guns. And they came back with an order to expand the territory and to ensure that Canada was forever part of the British Empire. So this is a very important battle in Canada’s history. It’s really important to understand what the British were trying to do and what they wanted. And I think the history of Quebec is even more fascinating because the French were just so influential here, it really is unlike any other region in Canada.
When you look at that picture of the British soldiers, they’re kind of a ragtag bunch. Do you think they would have been a successful army under any other set of circumstances?
Oh, they were really just a bunch of adventurers. We looked at this in our first episode, where we interviewed Lieutenant-General Sir John Harvey, who had been sent out from Canada in response to the rebellion in 1837. He said that this rebellion had been largely fomented by political figures from Montreal. And he went back and had some more success in quelling it. And he was quite happy with his troops. I mean, these were adventurers who wanted to be in the British Army, so that they could be adventurers on the other side of the world. So it was a pretty small number of people who had some big ideas. So that’s sort of what the British would bring to the fight.
Why do you think they ultimately failed here?
I think the biggest failure was the fact that the British didn’t have a clear plan. The governor-general sent out Colonel Burton, but Burton got shot by the Americans and was killed. And the governor-general basically didn’t have another plan in place. And what the Americans did was they really just picked up the pieces and they kept expanding west, and that’s why so much of the area became United States territory.
Did you find anything weird about the name of L'Oiseau Blanc? Is that a very French way of saying "The White Bird" in English?
No, it’s just a reference to an actual song. There are actually some pretty popular songs called "White Bird" at the time. There’s another reference to a song called "Whitefish Bay." So it’s kind of funny that this is not the only mention of bird songs. But they’re both allusions to music, not necessarily the most accurate renditions of the bird song. But that’s the only thing I don’t really understand about all these songs. I still don’t know what they’re saying, even after trying to learn French song. But maybe if you want to start learning French song, you’ll get a better sense of what it’s saying.
What’s in store for the project?
We’ve got a lot of ideas, and I think we’re going to really take advantage of this opportunity. There will be quite a few projects coming, but there’s a lot of work involved in doing this project.
Will you be doing a miniseries on Quebec, or will it be something more akin to a longer documentary?
It’ll be a bit of both. We’ve got some original footage as well, so we can create something very documentary-like. But there will be some original footage as well as the sort of documentaries that we’ve been making over the years, but some brand new stuff. And you know, what we want to do is get into some really exciting topics that have not been looked at a lot. This project isn’t going to be too heavy. It’s going to be more about exploration, rather than the war of 1812.
Can you tell me how you made the videos? Did you have to make a bunch of trips up to Quebec or anything?
No, we went to Canada, and we actually rented a home in Quebec, and so we were doing a lot of work at home and with friends. And this project will end up being eight hours long, so it’s actually quite extensive.
I know that you mentioned in the show that you had two filmmakers. Do you want to give some names to some of the people who’ve worked with you on this?
Yeah, so we had the filmmaker Kevin Fox, and he’s actually from Boston, and we’ve known each other for quite a while. He was shooting some video that we needed for another project, and he’s actually a very talented guy. And then we hired this young girl in Quebec who was a very talented animator. She did a very nice job on the graphics for the show. So we found them both online, and they’re doing a great job for us.
You mentioned in a tweet that there would be an episode on French-Canadian history in New France in Quebec that’s about how these colonies failed in New England.
There is a French colonial history in New England?
Yeah, there is. So we’re going to explore a few things about that.
Can you tell me about that?
There’s a colony that ended up failing in a weird way. So the Jesuits come to this colony in what’s now called Massachusetts. It’s very beautiful in the beginning, and there are also some things going on there, the natives were quite unhappy. There were a lot of different issues. And you know, the colonists didn’t really understand the natives, and they didn’t understand this land very well, and they didn’t really understand the lifestyle. So there was a failure from the start, and it wasn’t going to be sustainable.
So one thing that I’ve been hearing from an expert in a different field is that this was something that happened throughout the history of America. And, you know, there was the Pilgrims, and they had some problems with the natives, and then you have the French settlers in the Midwest who had some issues with the natives as well. I just wonder if it’s an ongoing cycle in America, where these types of things are happening.
We’re going to look at how this really goes down and how these different groups interact. But the other thing that you have to remember is that there was a big shift happening in British policy, and we can’t really look at this period from the Native perspective. The natives didn’t want the British, they didn’t want the French, but they did want the Americans to stay away. So it’s difficult to understand, I think, that it was that bad, because they don’t seem to be saying anything about it.
How is this gonna be done? Like, did they just write it?
This whole project will be presented in a sort of modular fashion. You know, so people will be able to watch these videos. But we’re also going to create a mobile app that actually helps people understand the importance of
