On November 16, 1976, in my final year of law school at McGill, I woke up to the realization that the Quebec I knew had changed forever.
Posted at 10:00 a.m.
While my classmates and friends, my family (long established in Quebec) and many pillars of my community were seized with fear and planning their departure from Quebec, I chose a different path that day- the. I invited friends and classmates to participate in a brainstorming session.
Three days later, the embryo of an organization that became Participation Québec was formed. Participation Québec’s mission was twofold: to bring together Anglophones who wanted Québec to continue to be their home; and second, to communicate to the francophone majority that there were indeed anglophones ready to work with them to build a fairer society.
Participation Québec organized many important events over the next two years, including hosting the first public event at which Camille Laurin addressed the English-speaking community. In addition, there were private meetings with Claude Ryan from To have to and public meetings with Francophone students, including one in the presence of Gérald Godin.
An English-speaking Quebec without caricature
Our message was that there was an English-speaking Quebec different from the caricatures constantly attacked by Quebec nationalists and that this minority was ready to learn and work in French. The English-speaking community had a constructive role to play in building a more democratic Quebec, a Quebec that wanted to see itself as the heir to the great values of “liberty, equality and fraternity”.
Over the past 45 years, there has been a radical transformation in the socio-cultural and economic dynamics of Quebec. Along with a historic shift in the role of Francophones at the highest echelons of the Quebec economy and a huge increase in the French capabilities of English-speakers in Quebec, Quebec has become a center of innovation in new media.
Bill 96 does not at all reflect the current reality of Quebec and goes against the fundamental Western values that are shared by the vast majority of French and English Quebecers.
As a supporter of democratic values and a lawyer, I believe it is unacceptable for the Office québécois de la langue française to have the right to search private data without any judicial control. We have to wonder why a government that claims to promote the rights of francophones should eliminate access to the Quebec and Canadian charters of rights that have long been the pride of human rights defenders in Quebec.
It also surprises me that if the government fears that young francophones spend a lot of their time on the Internet listening to English programs, it becomes the fault of the anglophone community in Quebec.
Promote living together instead of division
Quebec has changed enormously over the past 45 years; 70% of the community has become bilingual. The old myths of unilingual saleswomen at Eaton’s are outdated, but still seem to be ingrained in the brains of today’s political leaders. The saddest part of this nationalist bill is that it will bring embarrassment and economic entrenchment.
When I think back to what Participation Québec tried to accomplish 45 years ago, I retain a strong sense of pride. We were able to put forward a program that promotes living together and which has since been adopted by the vast majority of Anglophones in all regions of Quebec.
This feeling is reciprocated on a daily basis by millions of French-speaking Quebecers. The current government’s electoralist political agenda is creating a dangerous division. The injustice imposed on our minority community will be judged by the verdict of history.