Sheila Eskenazi & Joseph Graham
English-speaking Quebecers are the second-largest official language minority in Canada after the obvious one of French-speaking Quebecers. In fact, there are more of us (1,103,475, according to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages) than there are francophones outside of Quebec (1,024,198).
But that is not to say that the issues and challenges facing these three groups are the same. The small and widely dispersed francophones spread across Canada outside of Quebec absolutely need the support of law and budgets to guarantee that they can survive and strengthen their language and culture in the North American sea of English. And while the Québécois have similar challenges, they have powers that are not available to the other two groups: a government to call their own at the provincial level, and all parties at the federal level who pander to them for their votes.
While francophones outside Quebec benefit from the force of the Quebec demands for linguistic protection and recognition, Quebec Anglophones have no representation of their interests at either the federal or provincial levels.
As anglophone Quebeckers, we have, throughout our lives, been encouraging bilingualism and acceptance of the minority status of Quebec Anglophones while actively defending and promoting the rights and needs of English-speaking Quebecers in the Laurentians. We struggle to maintain our cultural identity even while we are stuck between the aggressive ethnic chauvinism of a series of Quebec provincial governments and uncomprehending, vote-hungry federal parties and governments.
Many may know the Laurentians through visits to Mont-Tremblant, but they should be aware that Mont Tremblant does not represent the reality of most of the residents of the region. Through the infusion of great amounts of government and private money, it has become an international tourist centre and has been able to work around or ignore many of the language regulations that serve to suppress the viability of the English-speaking population away from that centre.
We are disturbed by the thrust of the new proposals for an updating of the Official Languages Act that ignore the real problems of ethnic chauvinism and the needs and realities of the English-speaking community of Quebec, an increasingly bilingual language minority in Canada. Over many generations, our community has built up schools, universities, hospitals and cultural institutions to serve us and the broader community around us. But we are facing a collapse of support, instigated by an increasingly ethnic-nationalist Quebec government, aided and abetted by the federal government, no matter which party is in power. In a constant pandering for votes, the federal government has ceased to recognize our needs to be protected and promoted in ways that both resemble and are very different from the needs of francophones outside of Quebec.
Over the years, the Anglophone minority has become increasingly bilingual and has accepted its minority status in Quebec. It is our way of contributing to the need to secure the French language and culture. We want to be proud Quebeckers, but our names, or perhaps the subtleties of our accents, ‘other’ us. We have disproportionately little presence in the public service. Our children ensure their futures by leaving. We are treated as people who have unjustifiable advantages when we ask for our rights to be respected. When the elections come, the candidates of all the parties support the majority, leaving us unrepresented in Quebec and in Ottawa. We watch in frustration as our rights are trampled on through mean-spirited legislation and as the federal government acquiesces to capture the support of the majority. Recently, Jagmeet Singh declared that the latest Quebec legislation, Bill 96 and its proposed changes to the Constitution, are purely "symbolic" and will not impact Canadians outside the province. The large minority that we are members of, with a population greater than each of the individual Atlantic provinces (and several combinations of them), are inside this province and we are a real part of Quebec and of Canada.
Our ancestors and contemporaries have helped build the province, but we are asked if we feel welcome here. Who else is ever asked if they feel welcome in their own home? This is our home – we are not guests here, welcomed through the sometime goodwill of our “hosts.” Our history is regularly erased: place names changed, our contributions denied, visible minorities stigmatized, minor irritants introduced until they are normalized and then more are added. This passive-aggressive behaviour on the part of the majority is a form of ethnic cleansing.
The CAQ, through Bills 21 and 96, is making direct, focused attacks on Quebec's minority population. We have been and continue to be subjected to this non-violent ethnic cleansing, choking off all the channels that allow a community to grow and thrive, while witnessing infinite time, thought and money being invested in strengthening French.
The update to the Official Languages Act stresses the need to single-mindedly protect and promote French across the country. The incomprehension on the part of the federal government of what we are dealing with leads to a deep sadness in us. We have become a bilingual minority in Canada, and instead of being celebrated, we are berated. Our children, leaving the province but determined to remain bilingual, find it possible to continue the French education of their children, even in Alberta. Yet, if those grandchildren return here, to Quebec, they will be as ostracised as we are, because their perfect French will have the wrong accent. The situation in Quebec is not one of protecting French but of protecting and promoting one ethnic group at the expense of others. This ethnic chauvinism is the issue, the problem. This is what needs to be addressed.
But that is not to say that the issues and challenges facing these three groups are the same. The small and widely dispersed francophones spread across Canada outside of Quebec absolutely need the support of law and budgets to guarantee that they can survive and strengthen their language and culture in the North American sea of English. And while the Québécois have similar challenges, they have powers that are not available to the other two groups: a government to call their own at the provincial level, and all parties at the federal level who pander to them for their votes.
While francophones outside Quebec benefit from the force of the Quebec demands for linguistic protection and recognition, Quebec Anglophones have no representation of their interests at either the federal or provincial levels.
As anglophone Quebeckers, we have, throughout our lives, been encouraging bilingualism and acceptance of the minority status of Quebec Anglophones while actively defending and promoting the rights and needs of English-speaking Quebecers in the Laurentians. We struggle to maintain our cultural identity even while we are stuck between the aggressive ethnic chauvinism of a series of Quebec provincial governments and uncomprehending, vote-hungry federal parties and governments.
Many may know the Laurentians through visits to Mont-Tremblant, but they should be aware that Mont Tremblant does not represent the reality of most of the residents of the region. Through the infusion of great amounts of government and private money, it has become an international tourist centre and has been able to work around or ignore many of the language regulations that serve to suppress the viability of the English-speaking population away from that centre.
We are disturbed by the thrust of the new proposals for an updating of the Official Languages Act that ignore the real problems of ethnic chauvinism and the needs and realities of the English-speaking community of Quebec, an increasingly bilingual language minority in Canada. Over many generations, our community has built up schools, universities, hospitals and cultural institutions to serve us and the broader community around us. But we are facing a collapse of support, instigated by an increasingly ethnic-nationalist Quebec government, aided and abetted by the federal government, no matter which party is in power. In a constant pandering for votes, the federal government has ceased to recognize our needs to be protected and promoted in ways that both resemble and are very different from the needs of francophones outside of Quebec.
Over the years, the Anglophone minority has become increasingly bilingual and has accepted its minority status in Quebec. It is our way of contributing to the need to secure the French language and culture. We want to be proud Quebeckers, but our names, or perhaps the subtleties of our accents, ‘other’ us. We have disproportionately little presence in the public service. Our children ensure their futures by leaving. We are treated as people who have unjustifiable advantages when we ask for our rights to be respected. When the elections come, the candidates of all the parties support the majority, leaving us unrepresented in Quebec and in Ottawa. We watch in frustration as our rights are trampled on through mean-spirited legislation and as the federal government acquiesces to capture the support of the majority. Recently, Jagmeet Singh declared that the latest Quebec legislation, Bill 96 and its proposed changes to the Constitution, are purely "symbolic" and will not impact Canadians outside the province. The large minority that we are members of, with a population greater than each of the individual Atlantic provinces (and several combinations of them), are inside this province and we are a real part of Quebec and of Canada.
Our ancestors and contemporaries have helped build the province, but we are asked if we feel welcome here. Who else is ever asked if they feel welcome in their own home? This is our home – we are not guests here, welcomed through the sometime goodwill of our “hosts.” Our history is regularly erased: place names changed, our contributions denied, visible minorities stigmatized, minor irritants introduced until they are normalized and then more are added. This passive-aggressive behaviour on the part of the majority is a form of ethnic cleansing.
The CAQ, through Bills 21 and 96, is making direct, focused attacks on Quebec's minority population. We have been and continue to be subjected to this non-violent ethnic cleansing, choking off all the channels that allow a community to grow and thrive, while witnessing infinite time, thought and money being invested in strengthening French.
The update to the Official Languages Act stresses the need to single-mindedly protect and promote French across the country. The incomprehension on the part of the federal government of what we are dealing with leads to a deep sadness in us. We have become a bilingual minority in Canada, and instead of being celebrated, we are berated. Our children, leaving the province but determined to remain bilingual, find it possible to continue the French education of their children, even in Alberta. Yet, if those grandchildren return here, to Quebec, they will be as ostracised as we are, because their perfect French will have the wrong accent. The situation in Quebec is not one of protecting French but of protecting and promoting one ethnic group at the expense of others. This ethnic chauvinism is the issue, the problem. This is what needs to be addressed.