Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal

Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal is one of the oldest surviving units of the historical regiments of the Canadian army. It celebrated its regimental centenary in 2000.

It is also one of the few regiments from French Canada, having its roots in the French part of Montreal in the 19th century.

Best known for having been one of the victims of the ill-planned Dieppe Raid, Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal was put back in shape and later obtained battle honours in seven major engagements in World War II.

The regiment was also involved in several engagements in World War I in Europe, and the interventions of 1885 in the North-West Rebellion in Canada, where it also obtained battle honours.

During all these engagements and the peaceful periods between them, the barracks language was French and the command language was English, following the tradition of several "indigenous" or "native" regiments of the British empire. Recruits knew that they would have to learn a set of basic English commands for training and fighting purposes, while their daily life could go on on in French. When World War I and also when World War II erupted young French speaking Quebecois flocked in great numbers to volunteer for service to the Crown within Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal (and a few other "bilingual" regiments like it), because they expected that in this unit they would not be mocked or otherwise hindered because of their language or their religion. Many of them had to be turned back, because there was not enough room within a single regiment, and because the nascent Canadian army refused any serious expansion to the "bilingual" regiments or the formation of other regiments of the same kind.

The Latin motto of the regiment is "Nunquam retrorsum", which can be roughly translated as "Never retreat".