Why is georges vanier important to history

Concordia University uses technical, analytical, marketing and preference cookies. These are necessary for our site to function properly and to create the best possible online experience. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn. Governor General Georges P. Vanier enters Hingston Hall to receive the Loyola Medal. Photo: Records Management and Archives. He fought at the Battle of St. The morale of our troops is magnificent. We cannot lose — what is more we are winning quickly and the war will be over within six months.

The war would continue for more than another year. After convalescing, he refused to return home. That same year Vanier married Pauline Archer. In , Georges was named a member of Canada's military delegation for disarmament, to the League of Nations in London. Three years later, his diplomatic abilities won him a posting to the Canadian High Commission in London, where he served on staff until In , with Europe again on the brink of war, Vanier was appointed Canadian minister to France.

When the Germans marched into Paris in , the Vaniers made a dramatic escape to London by car — but not before also arranging the evacuation of Canadian citizens and many refugees seeking escape to England. Back in Canada during the early years of the Second World War , Vanier urged the Canadian government to accept Jewish and other refugees fleeing the Nazis. In Vanier was promoted to major general. The following year he was sent back to London, as Canadian minister to all Allied governments in exile there.

In he became ambassador to France — the first ambassador to enter the country after its liberation from German occupation. As the war continued, Vanier and his wife helped settle returning deportees and others displaced by the conflict, especially Jewish survivors.

In April , Vanier joined a group of American congressmen touring the infamous Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, just one week after its liberation. The Canadian government gradually liberalized its regulations, and between and , more than , European refugees settled in Canada. Vanier retired from diplomatic life in Vanier took office on 15 September They go forward hand in hand to make Canada a great nation, hand in hand also with Canadians of every origin, with their heritages, irrespective of race or creed.

Canada at , unlike Canada at , is not preoccupied with the national question. So it was suitable for the first French-Canadian governor general to comment upon what it meant for him to assume office two hundred years after Montcalm was defeated by Wolfe.

Today, we might read that history in a different key, not of national identity but of religious freedom. Vanier did not remark upon that as it was not then the issue that it is now. It remains true though that religious pluralism and toleration were an essential part of the Canadian founding, first established in law by the Quebec Act of , and confirmed a century later by the British North America Act now the Constitution Act of It is true that the American Bill of Rights would soon enshrine religious liberty in their new constitution but the reality was different in daily life.

Recall that Darcy McGee, the fierce Irish nationalist, traveled to Boston, seeking to emancipate himself from living in 19 th century Montreal under the British crown. He was shocked to find Catholics in Boston living under all sorts of official discrimination, while Catholics in Montreal had more ample civil rights. He would return to Canada and become a Father of Confederation.

The religious pluralism permitted in Quebec in the s was more than what was permitted in Britain itself at the time. And to be sure, the British crown did not grant the French Catholics in their newly-acquired colonies civil rights out of high-minded principle; it was thought that no other course was possible.

Yet the precedent was established. The crown could respect the practice of a different religion, as a matter of law and practical application. As Canada congratulates itself at , it behooves us to remember the best of ourselves. Georges Vanier is certainly that. So too is our heritage of religious pluralism and liberty. Convivium means living together. Would you join us in continuing to open and extend the conversation? Do you know someone who would enjoy this article?

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