Young Francophone leaders in a minority situation are out of breath and they do not hide to say it in the documentary Emptying your bag, a tired French-speaking youth. Facing the camera of journalist Rose Nantel, they confide their exhaustion from being too often alone at the front, and from seeing the Francophonie lack inclusiveness.
While Quebec is attacking Anglicisms in a major advertising offensive on a falcon “ sick », some French-speaking militant members outside the province prefer not to make the language of Shakespeare a scapegoat. The Fransaskois, Franco-Albertans and Acadians met in the context of the Radio-Canada report are “bilingual and proud,” notes Rose Nantel. English, they say, is not a threat to their language, she continues.
Their vision of English, but also of the place that should be given to a plurality of French speakers — whatever their accent, their level of French, their origin or their educational background — clashes somewhat with that of the generations past. And if young activists like Janie Moyen, from Saskatchewan, are exhausted, it is partly because today’s Francophonie is not entirely representative of this plurality.
Young people have a “completely different vision of the Francophonie”, narrates Rose Nantel; the latter believe that the Francophonie is “stagnant”, she said in an interview. “The Francophonie that I want to see is ‘Do you speak French? You’re in“”, sums up the activist Janie Moyen. “For many immigrants in the Francophone community, we see a kind of gap between those who are considered Franco-Albertans and those who are considered to be other,” notes Ahdithya Visweswaran, an Indo-Canadian immigrant and Franco-Manitoban from immersion.
Battles to restart
But this generation is also tired of having to try to win battles they thought they had already won, as is the case in New Brunswick, where the provincial government considered abolishing the French immersion program. “Instead of seeing new avenues of language rights, we are still fighting in court to preserve our gains,” explains New Brunswicker Pascale Rioux-Doucet.
Young people are still ready to fight for the protection of French, but the vision of the Francophonie that they seek to defend and the way of doing so seem to be different from those of previous generations. “That doesn’t mean we don’t like what other generations have done, but we have to change,” says Janie Moyen. The director of the documentary, Rachel Dugas, explains that several experts agree that institutions must also evolve.
The report produced at lightning speed with aplomb will certainly elicit reactions in Francophone minority communities. Documentary filmmakers Rachel Dugas and Rose Nantel hope that their production will lead to a more open Francophonie, which will improve the reception of young people like Ahdithya Visweswaran in the community. “I have already heard that young people from immersion dilute the Francophonie,” said the latter, holding back tears. “It’s hard to hear. The strength of the Francophonie comes from diversity,” he says.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.