Answer: The photo caption indicates that this shot was taken outside
4040 St. Antoine, in Little Burgundy, which was known as the
Aquinas Hall. It was used by a variety of groups, from Scottish bowling leagues,to Irish boxing clubs to young stage actors and existed at least between 1934 and 1949. I can find no mention of it becoming a hangout for local fascists, but that's what it became for a while.
4 comments:
February 22, 1934
Canadian Jewish Congress Charities Committee National Archives
— Three men standing in the doorway of the Aviation Club (Club d'Aviation Canadien), which is one of the Nazi meeting halls in Montreal, QC, Photographer Unknown, c. 1939,
Submitted by Graham Smith proud owner of TWO copies of Montreal - The Unknown City - by Kristian Gravenor
I don't know what street it is on, but my aunt's 2nd husband (I never considered him to be my uncle), would tell stories about being a 1930s believer in Adrien Arcand's "Canadian Socialism" and meeting at the Club d'Aviation Canadien to "solidify and promote support for the National Socialist causes to glorify our nation"
This photo from the link:
http://www.italiancanadianww2.ca/tour/year/1934
Judging from the grimy buildings, the "Club d'Aviation Canadien" could either be in the east end or perhaps Verdun.
Indeed, back in the 1930s there was a Fascist meeting hall at 4032 Wellington which, compared with the photo, bears a similarity, but it is not the same location.
Canadian Fascist leader Adrien Arcand ran rabid throughout Canada freely spouting his diatribes until he was arrested on May 30, 1940 for "plotting to overthrow the state". This, of course, after WWII had already begun.
Arcand's party newspaper, Le Patriote, had its offices at 1725 St. Denis. Reading through its online archives today is like receiving a free course in hate as well as the absurd. If the articles weren't so ridiculous, they might even be considered humourous.
I like Arcand's Wikipedia description: staunch federalist, anglophile, steadfastly opposed to Quebec nationalism. I bet some PQ-haters wished such a bogeyman counterpart still existed.
The comments against students this last spring were sometimes borderline fascist too. ("Line them up, beat them up, put them in prison till they capitulate") Things don't change across the angry slice of the society.
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