LETTER FROM MONTREAL
When he announced the creation of the first Musée National de l'Histoire du Québec (National Museum of Quebec History) on April 25, the province's Premier François Legault (Coalition Avenir Québec, nationalist, center-right) made no secret of his vision for the future institution. He described it as "a place that makes Quebecers even prouder to be Quebecers." Located in the austere building under renovation at the Camille-Roy Pavilion of the Seminary of Quebec, where the Province's first university was founded in 1852, the museum will open its doors in the spring of 2026.
"This is where it all began 400 years ago, with the explorers [Jacques] Cartier and [Samuel de] Champlain, our nation's founders," said the head of government while presenting the project in the provincial capital. Taking on the role of a curator, he outlined precisely what he intended to see honored in the future museum: The "great men" and a few "founding" women, such as Jeanne Mance, a pioneer of New France who established the first hospital in Montreal in 1642, and Marie de l'Incarnation, a 17th-century missionary who was dedicated to the education of young girls and the evangelization of Indigenous peoples.
He also listed among those who deserved a place in this pantheon of Quebec pride, artists (Gilles Vigneault, Robert Charlebois, Céline Dion), authors (Michel Tremblay, Danny Laferrière), athletes and even companies "like Bombardier or HydroQuébec," symbols of Quebec's economic success. However, the issue of the Indigenous peoples was only addressed with a brief statement: "We also have the presence of Indigenous nations who have helped us," he merely said. He deemed it more essential to emphasize the need to primarily celebrate the French language, because "in a context where we were surrounded by a sea of English speakers, it's quite an achievement that we still speak French!"
Barely unveiled, the intention behind the new museum has sparked outrage among some members of Quebec's historian community. "It's nothing more and nothing less than a return to the dusty national narrative that emerged here in the 19th century. This runs counter to everything being done today in historical research and museology," said Camille Robert, a lecturer in the history department at the Université du Québec à Montréal. "This vision of history is not only outdated, it's also dangerous," said Catherine Larochelle, a history professor at the Université de Montréal, "because this narrative around a people whose language and culture are exclusively French feeds a sense of identity that's totally at odds with our current collective identity."
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