 As a French Roman Catholic ethnic and religious minority in the British Empire, Lower Canada was first in the British Empire to grant Jews full civil and political rights in the Act of June 5, 1832, after the debate over Jewish Trois-Rivières resident Ezekiel Hart.Journalist Normand Lester wrote three polemic volumes of "The Black Book of English Canada" in which "Quebec bashing" is denounced and acts of discrimination, racism and intolerance, towards people who were not white Anglo-Saxon Protestants are itemized.The books have been criticized for their lack of proper source references, and for their tendency to treat as revelations incidents and facts that although not extensively written about in French are actually well known and acknowledged in English Canada.