"Ici on gagne à parler français" -- it was a Government of Québec campaign in 2011, to promote the use of French language when doing business. But Madame Pauline Marois has inflamed this campaign in an apparent attempt to kill the English language in Québec.
From trying to wither English classes in Québec schools to forcing mandatory French communication in Québec businesses, the health industry, service industry, and prompting acts like Métro employees putting customers in headlocks because they spoke English -- there are obvious problems. Québec's Bill 101 Article 46, which states that an employer can't require employees to have knowledge of a language other than French, isn't helping. And Bill 14 will make it worse. Our social harmony is being uprooted.
Oui, je me souviens, on parle français. But we speak other things, too. Dogs woof; Immigrants don't get their native languages sucked out of their grey matter after clearing Canadian customs; and sure, there might just be some of Shakespeare's language heard in the QC as well.
I was born, raised and live in Québec -- I always write it with an accent regardless of what language I'm writing in. I also pronounce it as such, and not "cue-beck" or "qua-beck". I am not francophone but learned English and French concurrently. Living in predominantly English-Québec communities, English ended up being my dominant language. English people make light of the fact that I say things like "close the light" rather than "turn off", and French people still confuse me with slang sentences that don't quite translate like "Swing la bacaisse dans le fond de la boîte à bois." Sometimes, I've been told that I have an accent in both languages.
My ancestors were among those who discovered La Nouvelle France; "Drouin" was my paternal grandmother's last name. Since my maternal side is Italian and Anglo-Saxon, however, all my life I've been reminded by Québec pure laines, that I am not Québecois and will never be one of them.
As a child, I remember the very judgmental caterpillar asking Alice in Wonderland who she was, and I feel, at the ripe age of 35, the language gun of Madame Marois, wants me to make an identity decision based on whether I ever want to speak English in the streets of the province of Québec again. There are vigilante groups emerging tapping people on the shoulder as they walk down Rue Saint Catherine in Montréal while having a private conversation in English, being told "ici on parle le français." Waiters and others who work in the service industry are also refusing to serve people with an English tongue.
My head screams all the curse words I know in both languages when I hear things like these. Oui, je parle français -- but if "ici" means everywhere that I go, I am being asked to abandon the Anglo side of my identity. Is Madame Marois going to penalize French Québecois for using English words from time to time as well? Like "tapis welcome"? Couldn't we consider an evolution of language and culture? Even the Vatican has evolved the rules of God, so couldn't Madame Marois do the same with language?
My family, including my three children and their Nova Scotian stepfather -- who is doing his best to absorb and adhere to Québec culture -- speak both languages at our Gatineau home. It is exclusively French everyday from 5:30-7:30 p.m. and my four-year-old is akin to the Québec language police, reprimanding anyone for any illegal language activity during that time.
She mixes both languages in each sentence generally speaking anyways, so unless you're bilingual you might have a hard time understanding what she's saying. My older children tolerate being teased at their French school for mixing up a masculine and feminine article now and then. And I bit my cheek rather hard when told by a teacher that my children would never be as good in school as their classmates because they didn't dream in French.
The crux of my argument is this: I put a lot of effort into preserving the French language and culture in my family's life -- because I love my country within my country. But the Anglo-Franco, Canada-Québec schizoid identity is very onerous to own, and I certainly get no credit for it from French supremacist Madame Marois, whose credo seems to be that Anglos should be wiped out of the province and the province should be torn off like a limb from its Canadian body.
A recent Ipsos Reid Poll shows that half of Canadians outside of Québec don't care if Québec separates, so my Canadian compatriots have resentment towards me as a Québecoise as well -- am I overdramatizing when I say that it sometimes feels likes I have no country or countrymen to turn to?
In 2011, I ran in federal politics for the Conservatives in Gatineau, standing proud Tory blue and proud Québecois fleur de lis. Some campaign posters were vandalized with Bloc Québecois logoed tape across my mouth, there were some threats, and someone once spat at me when I approached them with an "Ici pour le Canada" sticker on my coat. I wish the culprits had known what I learned as Director of Communications for a Cabinet Minister -- the constant and determined push that the Harper Government makes to ensure that Québec, the French language, and the French people are always represented, stood up for, and respected in every event, announcement, activity, and so on -- whether a Cabinet Minister likes it or not.
I love Québec and I stand up for it. I wish I could say that my petit nation thought I was the ideal Québecois. But no, I feel like Madame Marois wants to turpentine the Anglo off of me or have the French Québecois alienate and exile me. There are many of us Québecois who are not pure laine, but Québec is the only place that is home to us. If people of all religions, of all races, of both genders can live together in harmony in this province, why can't Anglos and Francos?
I am Québecoise, and je me souviens. I remember and appreciate Québec language, traditions, ancestry...and I remember and appreciate the importance of a responsible provincial government. I've kept my end of the bargain, can the Québec government now please keep theirs?
Follow Jenn Gearey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JennGearey
Repeat, 100 times,...it is not my responsibility to protect/ pay for their dialect.
It is theirs.
It is not my fault they are self destructive, self victimizers.
It is theirs.
repeat til cured of their blame shame game.
(i am cote - my moms side is Drouin).
my parents are both french canadians thrue and thrue, but having grown up in Southern Ontario, i am franglais
not really belonging to either side and as such, i am one of meny (not so lucky) who can see and understand the french / english rivalry in Canada for the lame duck it really is.
but shame isnt a language thing, you can spot the lack of it by any mode of qualification
But whining about not being able to force employees to speak White or to force businesses to communicate in English isn't a winner politically, so the anglosupremacists prefer to talk of their "rights"... While not being able to say which right of theirs is violated exactly. Their real aim is to make Montréal English and then to extend English presence until English becomes the primary language in which business and politics are done. Theirs is Durham's dream of assimilation. That's why they are so frustrated by laws that make immigrants learn the language of the majority (as is the case EVERYWHERE in the world).
Thank you for this article, which reminds us of the need to keep defending the French language and the contempt anglosupremacists have of us who refuse to assimilate in their society.
It disturbs me to read in media or listen to relatives and friends from western Canada the anti-Quebec sentiments; most of of which are baseless and are only used by politicians/governments to further their own agendas. The fact that this young woman ran for the Conservative Party in the last election is a red light in itself . The Conservative Party is famous for its divide and conquer tactics, of which they played to the hilt during the last election. Quebecers were told and promised one thing; Westerners another and both were played against each other. And when the media starts to whip up this frenzy day after day, is it no wonder people start believing the distorted "truths" they are presented with.
Harper was right by saying Quebec is A NATION.
P.S. It is spelled Quebec, maybe you should have spent a little more time listening in school, that way you could have mastered at least 1 language... I wouldn't dream of you even thinking of learning a second one and yet that is what is expected of all French speakers and immigrants.
Myself, I am a French-Quebequer exiled in BC who has done the effort of learning English to be able to communicate. Do I ever get a clap in the back for doing so? Do any of the French Canadian who speak English everyday get any credit for adapting to the majority's language? Very, very rarely, but we do get some dirty looks whenever we speak French amongst ourselves and it is considered rude to do so in the presence of an English speaker. So why shouldn't it be rude for English speaker to not try to speak French in front of us? Isn't that a double standard?
Maybe Marois is scared for her language, maybe she is going too far with her campaign, but this ridiculous anti-frenchi propaganda you are doing here Jenn doesn't do any favors to anyone! I was in Quebec just 2 months ago, I was talked to in French and English and it seemed to me like the old war between the 2 is on the verge of dying. Maybe the hatred you feel isn't related to your language after all?
If you don't like that, I hear France is looking for tax payers.
Someone mention xenophobe in this forum...
I mostly agreed with you until you put politics into it, though I disagreed by you putting everyone in the same basket.
I am really "pure laine" Quebecer. For 400 years, my family has been in Quebec. Yet I am fluently bilingual. Ironically, I happen to speak English mostly to allophone people who settle here.
I agree with you, many "champions" of the French language are actually xenophobic who can't live in a bilingual world. They feel threatened, and those goes on badly on English speakers (the others get sympathy instead...if they try to learn French). They see the English as conquerors yet. The all-comprising Americanization of the world is no stranger to this either and strikes a particular cord here.
I wish both people would get along. And they do get along well in many places. But radicalism doesn't solve problems and antagonizes people. I also see English speakers who declare themselves victims because they don't want to learn French when they live in all-French environments. I wouldn't think of speaking only French in Saskatoon...
Why do all PQ claim to have 4 hundred years of family in Quebec?
I'm not defending people insulted if you talk to them in English first in Québec. They're xenophobic and fearful. I will speak the language of easiest communication for all involved, either French or English. That should be the case for all people.
So I'm not saying you should speak French all the time in Québec....but if the people you're speaking too don't speak English, you better try French in the end... Makes for easier communication, the key for all understanding.
I now feel that Quebec doesn't want me, though. I am expected to respect the French language and heritage, and if I didn't I would be reprimanded. It is applauded, however, when Quebecois refuse to use English, insult anglophones, and try to keep anyone else from speaking English as well. If this behaviour - and the condoning of it - continue, I am less certain of what my own views on another referendum will be.
I feel hated because I speak English. It is difficult for me to tell how widespread these incidents of harassment of anglophones are, but it makes me reluctant to bring my two daughters, who have very little French, to Quebec. That makes me sad.
I found it suprising that anglos don't understant Quebec resentment against anglish canada. And it's not just in the past. Contempt is still alive. The reality is that Quebecois are not at home anywhere but in Quebec. I've been everywhere in Canada and I don't feel it's my country. That's what made me a independantist. I fell more at home in the U.S. than in ROC. That's sad but it's a fact.
''when Quebecois refuse to use English, insult anglophones, and try to keep anyone else from speaking English as well.''The Quebecois living in montreal has to deal daily with English speakers who have this exact same attitude towards french that you condone against English. Yet that fact is rarely brought up in huffpost canada.
Do come with your daughters most Quebecois who see you try to make an effort in french will be quite understanding and will even switch to english if they can. Don't believe the anti-french hype you read you will be quite safe. The real problem lies with those from both the French/english side who are unwilling to make an effort. Bigotry exists in all peoples of all countries and cities don't forget that.