Je termine enfin les révisions sur le manuscrit tiré de ma thèse. Une des sections que j’ai eu l’occasion de bonifier, et une de celles sur laquelle j’ai eu le plus de plaisir à travailler, est l’étonnante réponse des banlieues aisées, et en particulier de Westmount, à la crise économique des années 1930. Revisitant les journaux de cette décennie tourmentée, je suis tombé sur cette lettre publiée dans le Westmount Examiner en avril 1935 par un dénommé Bernard Rose et qui témoigne éloquemment d’un chômage qui touche l’ensemble de la société montréalaise et suscite de vives réactions chez ceux qui y échappaient normalement. En voici un extrait:

The Government has shown absolutely no interest in the welfare of the classes mentioned. What it means for an unemployed white collar workers, to be without employment over a period of years; for a retail merchant to lose all he had, and the professional man deprived of the opportunity of earning a livelihood, is only understood and appreciated by those in these classes, and who are the unfortunate victims of the depression. They are really the forgotten man, every bit as much as the unemployed labourer and worker referred to by President Roosevelt, during the last election in the United States.

The victims of the depression referred to, are long suffering. Their situation has not been given any thought by those who regard them as the bulwark against the element that openly states it seeks to destroy society. They are even excluded from the very meagre benefits which are to be accorded workers, in virtue of the new unemployment insurance measure […]