French Canadian SIR,—In his article on " Stampede Tine "
in the Spectator dated August 7th, Mr. Desmond Henn allows to pass unchecked a seriously misleading contradiction. When he says, in reference to the somewhat indeterminate state of. Canadian national pride, that " . . . the intransigence of certain racial groups has prevented agreement on either a flag or a national anthem . . " he speaks no more than the truth. But to say that the Coronation drew Alberta'sattention away from its Wild West, preoccupation " . to the heritage which it shares with the rest ea Canada . . " is to suggest that over three and a half million French Canadians regard the institution of the British monarchy in the salve light as do the Albertans.
Through ignorance or indifference English Canadians tend to forget that their French-speaking brothers were once a conquered people. After exploring almost half the continent and establishing permanent settlements on its two major waterways, the French in North America were beaten by Britain and abandoned by France. Their " heritage " is a Canadian one, for they were the first Canadians. Indeed, many of them still refer to themselves as "Canadiens " and to the rest of Canada's inhabitants as " les Anglais," undistinguished from that group of people who are known as
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