par Deschênes, Gaston
There was a time in the mid-20th century when Quebecschoolchildren capped off their weekly “flag salute” with a resounding “Jeme souviens!” In those days, the provincial government emblazonedbuildings, official communications and publications with its coat of arms,which bears the same motto. The Quiet Revolution spelled the end of the flagsalute and saw the government replace the coat of arms first with the fleur-de-lisand then with a miniature Quebec's flag. But the motto returned to prominence in1978 when the Lévesque government chose it to replace the La belle provinceslogan on the province’s license plates. Quebecois are thus daily reminded oftheir official motto—though they may not know its origins or understand itsmeaning.
Article disponible en français : La devise québécoise «Je me souviens»
A LostHeritage
The licenceplate motto was changed in the late 1970s without public debate, as if the newslogan were an obvious choice. But many Quebecois were left wondering just whatit was they were meant to remember? A Montreal Star vox pop showed widely varyinginterpretations including the Conquest, a response to the Durham report, eventhe Parti Québecois’ 1976 electoral victory. The government undoubtedly helpedsow this confusion by failing to provide official documentation about themotto. After all, who could recall its history and origins as an inscription onthe pediment of the Parliament Building a century earlier? Yet this is whereits true meaning lies.
Origins
The manbehind the motto was Eugène-Étienne Taché, architect of Quebec’s ParliamentBuilding. Taché’s father, Étienne-Paschal Taché, had been a premier of theProvince of Canada, a regional Patriote leader at the time of the 1837rebellions and a Father of Confederation. The son, a surveyor by training anddeputy minister of Crown lands, was a deeply cultured man with a passion forarchitecture. He had come to public notice with a set of triumphal arches designedfor the bicentennial of the diocese of Quebec City. These arches so impressedhis fellow citizens and government officials that Taché—a self-taught architect with no formal training—was assigned to design the new Parliament Building!
Taché tookinspiration from the Louvre, especially the 1852–1857 addition, which became aleading example of Second Empire style. He was also inspired by theLouvre’s status as a civil palace and its secular statuary. When he suggested decoratingthe Parliament Building façade with images commemorating eminent figures fromQuebec history, he found a receptive audience among government officials, whowanted to strengthen Quebec’s identity with symbolic references to its longhistory and status as a founding nation. When the first stone was laid in 1884,Quebec lieutenant-governor Théodore Robitaille had this response to those whoquestioned Quebecois’ attachment to their institutions and autonomy: “Go andvisit the public buildings in the capital, and you will see that the people ofQuebec wish to preserve this self-government won after a century of struggleand conflict.”
Taché choseto adorn the main entrance with the coat of arms assigned by Queen Victoria in1868. Underneath, he added a motto of his own invention: Je me souviens.It is really as simple as that. Once approved by the government his plans wereappended to the building contract notarized in 1883.
No explicit written explanation of the origins or meaning of Je me souvienssurvives. Taché probably did not feel the need to explain as his message was sosimple and the motto’s meaning so obvious—in context. In a report to thedeputy-minister of Public Works in April 1883, Taché outlined “all thememories” he wished to evoke with the façade’s ornamentation. This passageleaves no doubt as to the meaning of Je me souviens. Taché wanted tocreate a Pantheon to commemorate the heroes of Quebec’s history; his motto urgesQuebecois to remember.
TheMotto’s Meaning
From itsdiscreet beginning on the façade of the Parliament Building, the motto wasincorporated into the provincial coat of arms as of the late 19th century(without the government seeking royal assent). In 1939 an order-in-councilofficially included the motto in the heraldic description of the coat of arms.
Quebecois were quick to adopt Taché’s motto, as demonstrated by an 1895 speechby Thomas Chapais, historian, politician and member of the legislative council:
The province of Quebec has a motto of which it is proud, and which it likesto engrave on the pediments of its monuments and palaces. This motto has onlythree words—Je me souviens—yet in their simple brevity, these three words rivalthe most eloquent of speeches. Yes, we remember. We remember the past and itslessons, the past and its misfortunes, the past and its glory.
There are norecords of public discussion of the motto’s significance, and Taché’scontemporaries did not question its meaning. Written mentions display consistentinterpretations into the 1970s even though the government never once provided anofficial interpretation. Like Chapais, many writers invoke only general historicalmemories. In English Canada interpretations were similarly vague: “[the]ancient lineage, traditions and memories of all the past” [sic] (Association ofOntario Land Surveyors, 1934) or “the glory of the Ancien Régime”(Colombo’s Canadian Quotations, first edition, 1974). (NOTE1)
The Other Motto
After Jeme souviens took its place on Quebec licence plates, another interpretationof the motto gained currency. This interpretation, which was alreadycirculating by word of mouth in certain quarters, garnered further prominence, thankslargely to a 1978 open letter Taché’s granddaughter published in the MontrealStar. She claimed Je me souviens was the first part of a longermotto: “Je me souviens /Que né sous le lys / Je croîs sous la rose” (I remember / That born underthe lily / I grow under the rose).
Thisexplanation worked its way into at least one dictionary of quotations (Colombo’sCanadian Quotations) and into government information banks. TheEnglish-language media latched on to it with special enthusiasm: journalistsfrom the Globe and Mail and Montreal Gazette couldn’t passup the chance to play up the political overtones and delight in the irony oflicense plates that reminded Quebecois they had flourished under the rose ofEngland!
However, it is now clear that the “poem” from which this “complete motto” waspurportedly derived never existed. It was rather the conflation of two distinctmottos written by the same person. Taché conceived the second motto—whose exactwording is “Née dans les lis, je grandis dans les roses” (Born inthe lilies, I grow in the roses)—for a monument that was never built; he laterused it for the medal of Quebec’s tercentenary in 1908.
One of themost interesting observations on this topic comes from David Ross McCord(1844–1930), who discussed the two mottos in his Historical Notebookaround 1900:
However mistaken may be the looking towards France as a disintegratingfactor operating against the unification of the nation – it may be perhapspardonable – no one can gainsay the beauty and simplicity of Eugene Taché’swords “Je me souviens.” He and Siméon Lesage have done more than any twoother Canadians towards elevating the architectural taste in the Province. IsTaché not also the author of the other motto – the sentiment to which we willall drink a toast: "Née dans les lis, je croîs dans les roses." Thereis no disintegration there.
This passagefrom the founder of the McCord Museum proves beyond doubt that there the twomottos are distinct, with completely different meaning. How, then, did theycome to be combined, at some point between 1900 and 1978, giving rise tointerpretations so far removed from Taché’s intended meaning? The matterremains a mystery.
A Simple, Inclusive Motto
The story ofQuebec’s motto is remarkably simple. The motto was born of the personalinitiative of the architect of the Quebec’s Parliament Building. It simplyexhorts Quebecois of all backgrounds to remember their history. Those who havetried to co-opt Taché’s words as a call for revenge or fodder for theconstitutional debate were surely unaware that it is inscribed for the ages onthe façade of the Parliament Building, beneath the statues of Wolfe andMontcalm.
Gaston Deschênes, Historian
NOTE
1. Colombo's Canadian Quotations,first ed., 1974.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Albert, Madeleine et Gaston Deschênes, «Une devise centenaire: Je me souviens»,Bulletin de la Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée nationale, 14, 2 (avril 1984): 21-30.
Deschênes, G., «Le sens original de la devise du Québec: commentaire sur l'analyse de Jacques Rouillard»,Bulletin d'histoire politique, 14, 2 (hiver 2006): 257-261.
Deschênes, G., «Un dernier commentaire sur la devise du Québec?»,Bulletin d'histoire politique, 16, 1 (automne 2007): 325-326.
Deschênes, Gaston, «La deviseJe me souviens», dansLe Parlement de Québec, histoire, anecdotes et légendes, Sainte-Foy, Multimondes, 2005: 300-315.
Rouillard, J., «Réplique à Gaston Deschênes: La devise du Québec»,Bulletin d'histoire politique, 13, 2 (hiver 2007): 233-237.
Rouillard, Jacques, «L'énigme de la devise du Québec: à quel souvenir fait-elle référence?»,Bulletin d'histoire politique, 13, 2 (hiver 2005): 127-145.
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