Anti-Trump group plans rally June 24 to celebrate Maine-Quebec Friendship Day
By Susan Schwartz
A rally celebrating June 24 as Maine-Quebec Friendship Day is to take place at the state capitol, in Augusta, and its principal organizer wants Quebecers to know 'we in Maine value our relationship with the people of Quebec.'
'We believe it's very important that the people know how much we value and love them and love Quebec and Quebecers,' said Louis Sigel, who lives in Gardiner, just outside Augusta.
The rally, to begin at noon and last about 90 minutes, is intended as an opportunity to celebrate the relationship of Maine residents with their Quebec neighbours, and also 'to protest against tariffs and the attitude of our federal government to cause friction with Canadians, who we care about a great deal,' Sigel said.
'We really want the people in Quebec to know that we don't like the government in Washington and what they are trying to do. We strongly believe in free trade. We think the agreement of free trade with Canada should be abided by and we especially have a strong feeling for Quebec.
'We want to emphasize that we are not like the people in Washington and certainly we are not like (United States President Donald) Trump. Tariffs are absolutely the worst possible economic policy for Maine,' Sigel said. 'We are protesting the attempts to destroy our democracy and establish a monarchy under Trump.'
The rally is being organized by Indivisible, a progressive movement and organization formed in 2016 in response to Trump's election to a first term.
Sigel, 81, is the lead organizer for Indivisible for Kennebec and Somerset counties. He said he has asked for a resolution from the legislature establishing June 24, Fête nationale, as Maine-Quebec Friendship Day and a proclamation from Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
Indivisible held rallies in Augusta on International Women's Day and May Day. In addition to a permit for the rally on June 24, it has permits for rallies on July 14, Bastille Day, and on Aug. 18 celebrating the 105th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guaranteed women the right to vote.
'And we intend to have a rally almost every month to fight this government until we have Democratic control in Congress,' Sigel said.
Maine's state legislature has a strong Franco-American caucus, he said.
'The largest ethnic minority in Maine is franco, especially in St. John Valley, along the border with New Brunswick, and there are families on both sides of the border who are related,' Sigel said. 'Every summer, there is a big Acadian festival in Madawaska, which is right on the border with New Brunswick ... Edmundston has a jazz festival and people go back and forth across the border.'
There is a strong Franco-American presence in Maine, descended from the St. John River Valley Acadians, who settled in the north of the state after being expelled from the Maritimes by the British, and French-Canadians who came from Quebec in the 19th century seeking better employment opportunities, mainly in the mills, and stayed.
Sigel, who majored in Chinese studies at Yale University and earned a PhD in history from Harvard University, spent much of his university teaching career in Australia. On returning to North America in the early 1980s, he taught in Missouri and Kentucky before being hired at Colby College in Maine to replace a professor on a sabbatical; he loved Maine and decided to stay.
For more than a decade, he has owned a house on Île d'Orléans, an island in the St. Lawrence River near Quebec City and one of the first parts of the province to be colonized by the French. A large percentage of French-Canadians can trace their ancestry to the island's early residents.
Sigel enjoys the winter carnival in Quebec City and the Festival d'été de Québec, and also appreciates the changing colours of leaves in autumn. He especially loves the food on Île d'Orléans.
'I think Quebec is the nicest place in North America,' he said.
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