Richard Riot

On Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, 1955, a riot broke out in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, named after Maurice Richard, the star hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL. Four days earlier, Richard had been involved in a violent on-ice incident where he struck a linesman.

NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended Richard for the rest of the 1954–55 season, including the playoffs. Many Montreal fans, particularly French Canadians, believed the suspension was overly harsh and motivated by Richard’s ethnicity. Outside Montreal, however, the suspension was widely seen as justified and even too lenient.

Riot

When Campbell attended the Canadiens’ first game after the suspension at the Montreal Forum on March 17, his presence sparked a riot that spread from the arena into the streets. The violence caused about $100,000 in property damage, injured 37 people, and led to 100 arrests.

Aftermath

Tensions calmed after Richard publicly accepted his punishment and promised to return the next season to help the team win the Stanley Cup. The incident likely cost Richard the 1954–55 scoring title, a prize he had already won three times earlier in his NHL career, and contributed to longtime coach Dick Irvin leaving the team that off-season. The stark divide between Anglophone and Francophone reactions is often seen as a precursor or early sign of the Quiet Revolution.

Background

Maurice Richard was a dominant player whom opponents frequently provoked during games. Teams reportedly sent players to annoy him with ethnic slurs, hooking, slashing, and holding.

Richard had been fined and suspended multiple times for retaliating against players and officials, including a $250 fine for slapping a linesman less than three months before the March 13 incident. He was seen as a symbol of French Canadians, a hero in a time when many felt like second-class citizens, and was celebrated when he fought against English opponents. Author Benoît Melançon compared Richard to baseball’s Jackie Robinson, noting both represented the possibility for their minority groups to succeed in North America.

In the 1950s, Quebec’s industries and resources were mostly controlled by English Canadians or Americans. French-speaking Quebecers were the lowest-paid ethnic group in the province, fostering a sense that power lay with the Anglophone minority. This discontent had been growing for years.