History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 268

movement. In agriculture they have been pioneers in dairying, beet growing, tobacco
culture, and market gardening.
Everywhere Belgians have made important contributions to intellectual life, education,
religion, and arts and letters. In Quebec their role in the domains of university
research, biotechnology, aeronautics, and computer science has been most
significant. The Quebec episcopacy looked to Belgium for religious orders to promote
new educational and cultural initiatives and for solutions to the challenges arising out
of modernization. Belgians have been active participants in Catholic services to other
immigrant communities, such as the Ukrainians, Poles, and Hungarians, and in
missionary work among the Metis and native peoples.
It is significant that Belgians did not feel the need to build a network of institutions to
maintain their identity in Canada. They apparently perceive no inherent contradiction
between devotion to Canada and respect for one’s roots. A crowd still gathers for the
Independence Day parade through the streets of Montreal each 21 July, as it does for
the May Day procession led by the banner of Our Lady of Flanders each year in
Windsor, Ontario. In Manitoba, the pole archery tournaments at Sainte-Amélie and the
pigeon races at Saint-Boniface have become increasingly popular. In Ontario the
Langton fair and the tobacco harvest festivities in Delhi still attract enthusiastic
crowds. These are some of the occasions on which Belgians still display their
community solidarity.
The acceptance of Belgians by both mainstream communities in Canada derives from
the fact that they were initially perceived as “preferred immigrants,” their heroic image
as resisters of foreign invasion and occupation in 1914–18 and again in 1940–45, their
rapid integration into the dominant society, their success generally as settlers, and
their outstanding contributions in fields ranging from music and pedagogy to
agriculture and engineering. Whatever judgment may be passed on Canadian
immigration policies that categorized peoples as “preferred” and “non-preferred,” as
long as such classifications were in use Belgians fell into the “preferred” category.

268