From the archives: Cholera epidemic sparked immigration debate

This story was first published on Aug. 18, 2002, in the Montreal Gazette.
England is declared to be held accountable to Lower Canada for having wilfully introduced the cholera among us. … England to be charged in these days with such cold-blooded cruelty as to export pestilence to her Colonies! What has England done, that she has so far lost her hitherto unstained character?
The Gazette, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 1832
On the face of it, the charge was a monstrous one. It truly would be cruelty an