La Revanche des berceaux

La Revanche du berceau ("the revenge of the cradle") is a term for demographic threat via high birth-rates among a minority, specifically associated with French Canadians.

The phrase originated in Quebec before the First World War, according to John Robert Colombo's "Colombo's Canadian References."[1] It suggested that although Anglo-Canadians dominated Canada in the 19th century, the higher birth rate in Quebec promised that French-Canadians would resist British immigration and discrimination.

The implication was that it would not be possible to discriminate against francophones if they were to remain important in number and compete with the English-speaking Quebecers allowed to moved to Quebec while French-speaking immigration was forbidden. The phrase literally suggests, however, that French Quebecers might somehow avenge or reverse the Conquest of New France by Great Britain in 1759.

Since the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, however, Quebec has demonstrated a sub-replacement fertility rate, causing anxiety about the future of the culture and people of Quebec.

See also

References
  1. Colombo's Canadian References, Oxford University Press, 1976, p.444.


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