In this paper we extend the historical record of French-English differences in labour market compensation for Quebec by providing evidence on early 19th century Montreal. Our focus is on the market for apprenticeships. We make use of the detail in apprentice contracts signed between individual masters and apprentices to isolate ethnic differences in compensation. We find evidence of sizable ethnic differences in the composition and level of apprentices' compensation, most of which points to an 'English' premium. We also find some evidence of a decline in the penalty associated with French ethnicity, but this trend reverses direction in the late-1830s. Finally, we show that most of the differences are associated with master's, not apprentice's, ethnicity.