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The French term pure laine (lit. 'pure wool' or 'genuine', often translated as 'old stock' or 'dyed-in-the-wool'), refers to Québécois people of full French Canadian ancestry, meaning those descended from the original settlers of New France who arrived during the 17th and 18th centuries.[1][2] Terms with a similar meaning include de souche (of the base of the tree, or root)[3] and old stock as in "Old Stock Canadians".[4]
Many French-Canadians are able to trace their ancestry back to the original settlers from France—a number are descended from mixed marriages between the French, Scottish and Irish settlers.[5] Unions sharing Roman Catholic faith were approved by the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec. Many English emigrants in the region, especially after 1763 when Quebec was ceded to Britain, were ultimately assimilated into Francophone culture.
The term is associated with nativism and ethnic nationalism in Quebec, and its usage has been criticized for excluding immigrants from Québécois identity and culture.[6][7]
- ^ "pure laine". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ Hopper, Tristin (20 September 2015). "Taking stock of 'old stock Canadians': Stephen Harper called a 'racist' after remark during debate". National Post. Toronto. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
"pure laine" (pure wool), a term to describe someone whose lineage is 100 per cent derived from New France settlers.
- ^ Fear of a Black Nation: Race, Sex, and Security in Sixties Montreal. Toronto: Between the Lines. 2013. p. 255. ISBN 9781771130103.
- ^ Tu Thanh Ha (13 March 2015). "Of wool and old stocks: When is a Québécois not a Québécois?". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
- ^ "Québec History". Québec City Tourism. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
- ^ Agnew, Vijay (2005-01-01). Diaspora, Memory and Identity: A Search for Home. University of Toronto Press. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-8020-9374-5.
The term pure laine ('old stock', literally 'pure wool') is sometimes taken to be synonymous with Québécois, a term ... and belonging in recent years in Quebec; many find the idea and its linking with Québécois identity and culture to be racist
- ^ Kelly, Jennifer (1998). Under the Gaze: Learning to be Black in White Society. Fernwood Pub. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-895686-21-0.
So we find that this new racism is produced as part of a general political move that aligns "race" with national and cultural ... a challenge that posits "ethnic groups" as interlopers—not the "pure laine"—who have no right to participate.