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In the 1830s, Lower Canadians of British and (French) Canadian origin founded various charitable and social societies. On December 19, 1834, the English of Lower Canada established the Saint George's Society of Montreal and the Saint George's Society of Quebec on October 12, 1835. The Irish of Lower Canada founded the St. Patrick's Society of Montreal in 1834 also. The Canadiens founded what would become the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society on June 24, 1834. On February 6, 1835, the Scots of Lower Canada established Saint Andrew's Society of Montreal . The German Society of Montreal was also founded in 1835.
Although similar societies also existed in other parts of British North America or the United States, the societies of Lower Canada were created in a different context. Indeed, the British societies all adopted a political stance opposing the Patriotes's demands.
The Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society was established to stimulate the patriotic sentiments of the French Canadian and promote the progress of the nation. It has been active in the social, cultural, educational, political, and economic spheres. The society was instrumental in the creation of the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal , the École des Hautes Études Commerciales de MontréalMontreal's cole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales is Canada's first management school and was founded in 1907 by the Chambre de commerce de Montreal. HEC Montreal, as it is also known, is affiliated with the University of Montreal and is considered to be one, the Monument national , and the Société nationale de fiducie . In 1899, it created the Caisse nationale d'économie and contributed to the Chambre de Commerce de Montréal .
The society awards annual prizes for various achievements. The Bene merenti de Patria silver medal is awarded for patriotism since 1923. There is also the Ludger-Duvernay prize for literature(1955), the Olivar-Asselin prize (1957) for journalism, the Calixa-Lavallée prize (1962) for music, the Victor-Morin (1971) for theatre, the Esdras-Minville prize (1978) for social science, the Maurice-Richard prize (1979) for sport, the Léon-Lortie prize (1987) for science and others. The society has also created many organisms to assist in its mission, notably the La Fondation du Prêt d'Honneur (1944) and the Fondation J.-Donat-Langelier (1988).
Initially, the society adopted the maple leaf as it emblem, and its Quebec City branch was the first promoter of the song O CanadaO Canada is the national anthem of Canada. The music was composed by Calixa Lavallee, and the original French lyrics were written by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier, as a French-Canadian patriotic song for the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society. It was first perform as symbols of the French Canadian nation. Ironically, those have now been taken over by English CanadaEnglish Canada is a term used to describe either: the anglophone residents of Canada or the Canadian provinces other than Quebec and, sometimes, New Brunswick, in which French is an official language of the provincial governments. See Canada Canadian cult as national Canadian symbols (a bilingual version of the song eventually became the national anthem of CanadaCanada historically the Dominion of Canada is the second-largest, and northernmost, country in the world. It is a decentralized federation of 10 provinces and 3 territories, governed as a constitutional monarchy, and formed in 1867 through an act of Confe in 1980) and are now seen as contrary to the ideas of the Société and many Quebec nationalistsQuebec nationalism is the subject of many international studies together with the contemporary nationalism of Scotland, Catalonia and others. This article aims at presenting an historical overview of the evolution of Quebec nationalism from its origins un.
The society had local branches in all the major French Canadian communities in Quebec, the other Canadian provinces and the United States. It has however changed considerably over the centuries. When it was born, the French speaking inhabitants of Quebec and Canada constitued the only large group wishing to see Canada become an independent country from the British EmpireThe British Empire in the early decades of the 20th century, held sway over a population of 400 500 million people (roughly a quarter of the world's population), and covered nearly 30 million square kilometres, (roughly two-fifths of the world's land area. The Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society was an expression of this desire, in all its activites.
During the 20th century, the Saint-Jean-Baptiste eventually focused its action in Quebec, the homeland of the French Canadian people. It is now one of the strong proponents of the independence of Quebec from Canada.
Presently, there are 14 sections of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal in the Greater Montreal Area. The societies are tied to the Mouvement national des Québécoises et des Québécois (MNQ), which also counts 14 affiliated Saint-Jean-Baptiste societies or sociétés nationales in the rest of Quebec.