In the Quebec government’s approach to institutions in the English-speaking community, it is difficult to avoid the impression that there is ignorance, and distrust, behind its actions. Prime Minister François Legault’s attitude towards the English-speaking community is an open secret; in his memoir, he recounted his street battles with the young anglophones of the West Island, and, in his first political speech as a candidate, he reassured the members of the Parti Québécois riding association of his obsession with the English.
Mr. Egault has already spoken of the Coalition Avenir Québec as a modern version of Maurice Duplessis’ Union nationale, and there is no shortage of points of comparison. Like Duplessis, he created his party by bringing together nationalists and conservatives. Like Duplessis, he has difficulty accepting criticism, denouncing journalist Aaron Derfel, of The Gazette, when he discovered the unlivable conditions in the CHSLD Herron.
His caucus has only two deputies from the island of Montreal, and only one anglophone; a mirror, 70 years later, of Duplessis’ electoral influence. (In fact, in 1954, Duplessis won six seats on the island of Montreal, three times as many as Legault in 2022.)
This obsession is sometimes marked by fear. In his 2018 election campaign, he said he “reconciled with Canada” but expressed fear that “our grandchildren will no longer speak French” because of immigration. During the same campaign, he admitted that he believed that an immigrant could become a Canadian citizen in a few months, while it takes three years.
As for reconciliation with Canada, we have already seen better. Clearly, Canadians are seen as foreigners. Rich foreigners, on the other hand, who can finance Quebec universities by paying almost six times more than Quebec students to enroll in Quebec universities, at McGill, Concordia or Bishop’s. (Students arriving from France will continue to pay the same tuition fees as young Quebecers.)
This gesture follows others which reveal a negative attitude towards the English-speaking community, as if this community did not have the right to manage its own institutions and that it only existed thanks to the benevolence of the French-speaking majority. So the government has already canceled funding for the expansion of Dawson College, limited enrollment in English-speaking CEGEPs of students who did not study in English and imposed a three-course requirement in French for students anglophones in CEGEP — which disrupts credit planning and the organization of teaching staff.
But all these were just hors d’oeuvres. The main course was announced last week. Instead of considering English-speaking universities as an asset for Quebec, they are perceived by this government as a liability, as a threat to the cultural and linguistic health of the majority.
On the contrary, McGill is one of the most respected universities in North America and the only Canadian university that is well known in the United States. Concordia is a bit like the English-speaking counterpart of UQAM: it is often the university of the first generation to pursue post-secondary studies. And Bishop’s plays a special role as a small university with an innovative and intimate culture.
We often like to say in Quebec that the English-speaking minority is the best treated in Canada. But there is no province, except Quebec, that has made a systematic effort in recent decades to weaken minority institutions. In Ontario, we are building a new French-speaking university, the Université de l’Ontario français, which welcomed its first cohort in September 2021. In Manitoba, St. Boniface College has become Université Saint-Boniface. In New Brunswick, the University of Moncton celebrated its 60th anniversary this year.e birthday.
Historically, patronage was not part of the French-speaking tradition in Quebec. In his memoir My great libraries. My archives, my memories Librarian and archivist Guy Berthiaume shares how he worked to make his mark in the field of fundraising campaigns for Quebec’s French-speaking universities. “Professional, systematic and assertive fundraising was, until the early 1980s, absent from French-speaking universities and it was still the subject of a lot of prejudice in intellectual circles,” he writes.
On the other hand, English-speaking universities have been working on it since the beginning of their existence. There is, and always has been, a strong effort to create a sense of belonging and community among their graduates.
Now they are paying the price for their success. Instead of being valued and respected as national and international centers of attraction, they are treated with contempt, like cash cows for the university network. What a shame !