The Jews of the Province of Quebec have nothing to fear from the anti-Semitic agitation led by several French weeklies, as long as the present Quebec government is in power, declared the Provincial Premier L. A. Taschereau in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Premier Taschereau made his statement in reply to an inquiry whether the recent anti-Semitic propaganda carried on by several French newspapers in connection with the adoption of the bill giving the Jews the right to separate schools in Montreal is to be taken seriously.
Premier Taschereau said “as a matter of fact the agitation is not meant against the Jews, but against our government. There is no reason whatever for the Jews to fear any serious results from this propaganda. It is not the first time that such papers, inspired by our political enemies, have tried to utilize anti-Semitic agitation for political purposes.
“The Jews can rest assured that the anti-Semitic papers will disappear as quickly as they came and it is therefore best, in my opinion, to ignore them entirely. It is natural that our Conservative opponents should use the passing of the school bill as a weapon against us Liberals, but we do not worry at all. We did our duty towards Jewish fellow-citizens and it is only fair that the Jews should have the same rights to supervise the education of their children as Catholics and Protestants have, rights guaranteed by the constitution of this Province.”
Asked about the authority of the Jewish school commission to be created, Premier Taschereau declared that in case negotiations between the commission and the Protestants fail the Jewish commission can immediately establish separate Jewish schools without the need of going back to the government and asking its consent for the recently adopted bill guarantees this right. He said too that the government will appoint the Jewish commission upon suggestion made by any Jewish group and not, as had been assumed, upon the recommendation of the Jewish members of the legislature.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
