“Hello Rima, I hope you are doing well. I just had dinner with Jasmyne and we thought of you. »
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
In the photo that appeared on my phone with this message, a teacher and her former student, seated at the restaurant, all smiles.
She is Jasmyne Savard, a French teacher in Trois-Rivières. He is Adis Simidzija, a Bosnian refugee. He did not speak a word of French when he arrived in Quebec. He is now an author, publisher, doctoral student in literature and founder of the organization Des livres et des refugiés-es, which uses the French language and culture as vectors of integration. No doubt what François Legault would call an “anecdote”.
They found each other through a column where Adis paid tribute to the francization teacher of her 9 years and expressed the wish to see her again.
Their moving reunion had taken place by Zoom one day in January, pandemic obliges. Since then, Jasmyne and Adis see each other regularly for a coffee, a dinner, a chat1.
An hour after seeing this touching message, passing in front of the terrace of the restaurant Damas, I saw a familiar face. “Rajah?! »
Raja is my cousin of Syrian origin who became a cardiologist. Another “stories”…
When he arrived in Quebec, Raja was first in the reception class. A little over a year ago, he told me that he would like to find the teacher of his 5 years old who taught him French, Lison Dubreuil, to thank her…
My first searches were fruitless. I found an Mme Lisette, but no Mme Lisa. I proposed to Raja to combine his quest with that of Addis in a single chronicle.
Finally, it is the team of Second chance who took over with Raja and allowed him to regain his Mme Lison in a poignant report2.
And who was sitting across from Raja in the restaurant? Mme Lisa in person.
“It’s amazing…I just said your name,” Raja told me.
– I am a witness, it’s true! “, added M.me Lisa.
It was the first time they had met since filming Second chance. I told them about Adis and his message telling the same story almost at the same time.
We looked at each other speechless, moved by this synchronicity.
How many “anecdotes” of successful francization like those of Adis and Raja are there in Quebec?
How many “anecdotal” cases like mine, allophone in statistics, francophone in fact?
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Francization students in the class of Marie-Ève Gervais, at the Saint-Jérôme high school
How many cohorts of immigrant students who, thanks to “so nice ladies” like Mrs.me Jasmine, M.me Lison or Mme Marie-Ève, whom I was talking about on Saturday, live in French while speaking other languages at home3 ?
How many Tomas Sierra, immigrant of Honduran origin, who staged the show of the class of Mme Marie-Ève inspired by the theater of Robert Lepage, who contribute to the francization effort even if French is not their mother tongue?
How many Quebecers like Liberal MP Saul Polo, first described as an “anecdote” by François Legault, speaking their mother tongue at home and working in French4 ?
An anecdote, according to the dictionary, is a curious little fact. A detail that cannot be generalized and has no scope.
Exactly how many are needed to no longer be seen as anecdotes and to be promoted to the rank of full-fledged Quebecers?
“If all the men and women who enrich Quebec every day could come together and assert their presence, we could become the Yvettes of 2022”, believes retired judge Pepita G. Capriolo, who was deeply hurt by the remarks of Prime Minister François Legault.
I thought she was tossing around the idea of a joking “stories” rally. But no. “I found it so, so insulting. So no, it’s not a joke! »
Born in Italy to an Italian father and a Bulgarian Sephardic mother, Pepita G. Capriolo had learned a little French at home, thanks to her Sephardic Jewish grandmother who lived with her and for whom French remained the language. educated people in his community. “She said, ‘You can’t grow up without learning French.’ »
When she arrived in Canada in 1966, at the age of 12, the young Pepita could not enroll in French school. “Because I was Jewish. So I was “Protestant”… I ended up in English school. »
But she was lucky. “I was lucky enough to arrive at the same time as a large number of Moroccan Jews who had also become ‘Protestant’ when they arrived, because of the religious school boards. »
She thus had the good fortune to go to a public school of the Protestant School Board, which, seeing that it was unthinkable to send all these Francophones in French as a second language, created a parallel program of French as a first language. “We brought in Protestant teachers from France or Moroccan Jews to teach French as a first language. »
Subsequently, Pepita G. Capriolo studied at McGill University and completed her master’s degree at Oxford. “But I have always worked in French! »
Her children, who are Bill 101 children, all went to French school. “But we speak English at home. So, we are very anecdotal anecdotes! »
The ex-judge Capriolo therefore proposes to open the ball with a great movement of indignant “anecdotes”.
“I would be ready to start: an Italian immigrant, speaking Italian, Ladino and English at home, I worked in French as a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec for 20 years. Am I another anecdote? »