David Vermette

Enfin! Aujourd’hui voit le lancement de la traduction française de mon livre. En 2015, j’ai dit que l’objectif était de le publier en français comme en anglais et que je voulais que Les éditions du Septentrion soit l’éditeur de cette traduction. Après neuf ans, le voici ! #AmFr

@VincentGeloso That's a stretch. I grew up with Québécois people outside of Québec and I often tell people that one of the clearest cultural differences b/w my family and our neighbors is that for us the British were enemies while for others they were friends, allies, the mother country even.

I keep telling people that Québécois are British people who are Catholic and speak French. In fact, they are the most British people who ever Britished in the history of Britishing

@Agedo_Memoria On peut tout lire à ce sujet dans ce livre. septentrion.qc.ca/catalogue/une-…

"La diaspora canadienne-française constituait la principale cible de cette organisation" Dans les années 1920 au Maine, le KKK, alors très puissant (jusqu'à 150 000 membres), était radicalement anti-canadien-français catholique, qu'il considérait comme une menace culturelle et politique. Les règlements anti-français finirent par être abolis en 1960. (source article Jean-François Nadeau "ledevoir")

@mbockcote The arrogant and condescending replies and comments on the article at the G&M site tend to prove the author's point.

Ah oui, qu'on ne se comprenne pas mal, je suis dans le Globe à l'invitation du Globe, évidemment, invitation dont je suis très honoré.

I am going to be on the NPR radio call-in show "Maine Calling" tomorrow (3/23) at 11 A.M. to Noon. We will discuss immigrants to that state and the reception they received there. I'll be speaking to the Franco-American story there, of course. mainepublic.org/show/maine-cal… #NPR #Maine

But those who were there will recall that the whole period from the oil embargo of the early 70s, through stagflation, and into the nadir of the early 80s was grim as hell and everyone was wondering if young people had a future. ("Go into computers!" said your parents.) (3)

The problem with the generational battle over "who had it worse" is that younger people don't rate the real ups and downs that happened over the decades. They think that the whole period from 1945 to 2000 was like a happy 1950s sitcom where everything was easy and wonderful. (2)

The graphs showing housing prices vs. real income are missing a variable: interest rates. In 1981, rates rose to near 19%. It was incredibly expensive to borrow money back then. And 1981-82 also saw 11% unemployment and inflation at 10%. The worst economy since the 1930s. (1)

One of the lessons of the Little Canadas story is that, in a French-speaking place, it must be economically viable to speak French. An economically vibrant francophone community is a safeguard of the language. If you work in English Mon-Fri the pull can be irrestible.

There were attempts at repression but that's not why the Little Canadas dissolved. The mills moved elsewhere. Economics called those neighborhoods into existence and when the cheap labor was no longer needed away they went. The F-As followed jobs where English was the language.

@SpockPQC @AlexClouti86748 @RemiFrancoeur1 The "quarter million francophones" (c. 1930) number counts only the Canadian-born. There were many more than that, since U.S. born kids spoke French for a couple generations here. It's credible that there were a million or more French speakers in those states 100 ys ago.

@SpockPQC @AlexClouti86748 @RemiFrancoeur1 Remi's ancestors built your country as much as yours did. The Franco population of New Hampshire was not tiny at one time. One half of all the foreign born people in NH were of F-C origin and there were more than quarter million francophones in New England. It's valid analysis.

Le français ne disparaît pas d’un coup. Il s’efface d’abord du quotidien, puis du quartier, puis de la mémoire. Dans ce texte, je raconte ce que j’ai vu dans mon Manchester natal — et pourquoi j’ai choisi le Québec. À lire ici : open.substack.com/pub/remifranco…

I was interviewed for this CBC article about the recent legislation re: "lost Canadians" and have a couple of (accurate) quotes in it. cbc.ca/news/canada/mo…

@michaelbd Wrote about it here for anyone who is interested. Includes the broader history of the backlash against the French-Canadians in New England. barakabooks.com/catalogue/a-di…

Went down a little rabbit hole. In the 1920s Maine arguably had the largest percentage population as members of the KKK in New England- 23 percent of the state. Hardly any blacks in the state. The organization was focused on keeping down French Canadians.

@PAHoyeck Freud

Who is a non-philosopher who should really count as an honourary philosopher?

Numero six on the list of my publisher's top ten best-selling titles for 2025. #AuthorsOfTwitter #Quebec #books #francoamericans #History

@Lianne_R @15thCenturyLiz @zenahitz That's fantastic. Glad you found it! You'll find some interesting things about Lewiston in there. My folks were French-Canadians who came to Brunswick and Biddeford, ME.

@DavidVermette @15thCenturyLiz @zenahitz Oh wow - I'm so glad Zena shared your tweet. I can't wait to read your book. These are my people! - my great grandparents were French Canadians who crossed the border to work in the mills in Lewiston, Maine.

I knew a stockbroker who taught himself Homer at NYPL in his spare time and became a Homer scholar. but it is definitely not typical.

If you're an indie scholar who wants to be taken seriously by PhDs then prove you can do the job. 1) Cite your sources impeccably. 2) Address the existing literature. 3) Try to get legit academics to review your work (or parts of it). 4) Don't be a crackpot. #scholarship