The common is eroding | The Press

The editorial team of The Press is pleased to welcome David Santarossa among its regular collaborators. A secondary school teacher for several years, he will publish a first essay in the fall that will focus on contemporary identity debates.

A few days ago, Statistics Canada published figures showing a decline in French in Quebec. We see here a trend that has been observed since the beginning of the 2000s, and if nothing is done, we cannot imagine the trend reversing – it is in fact likely to accelerate.

Such figures have worried a large number of Quebecers. We care about French, because it carries a culture and works while representing our collective identity. By transmitting this language to our children and to newcomers, we seek to perpetuate a way of life, a tradition and a memory.

During the Quiet Revolution, and perhaps until the 1995 referendum, this desire to transmit and establish a French national reference was carried by politicians, the media and public institutions. However, this desire seems less shared today.

Rather, the era puts diversity and inclusion at the heart of its concerns. How ? By valuing particular identities that have historically been discriminated against. For example, we highlight Black History Month or we seek to have more racial diversity in companies.

The way is sometimes consensual (immigration fair, music festival, etc.) and other times frankly open to criticism (request for censorship, positive discrimination, etc.), but the intention to integrate newcomers remains virtuous . There is also no doubt that a majority of Quebecers share this intention.

What annoys them, however, is that the enhancement of these identities is often done to the detriment of the common reference. This is particularly the case when we see that more and more immigrants are choosing English and that efforts to ensure the survival of French are always condemned by the very people who say from the rooftops that they are concerned about diversity and ‘inclusion.

But if there is no unity in this diversity, it is difficult to understand how this would be a strength. A coagulant is necessary for all these beautiful people to speak and hear each other.

French in Quebec is this coagulant. The identity marker of language is also interesting for our time: it is universal and everyone can claim it, unlike racial identities which are exclusive and have hermetic borders.

Admittedly, the Quebec of the 1960s is not the same as that of 2022. Today, we observe more cultural, sexual and religious diversity. But it is precisely because Quebec is more and more fragmented in its identity markers that we must work to maintain the common. French therefore acts as a link between the two cardinal values ​​of the time, diversity and inclusion.

Despite this undeniable advantage of French, its weight is receding everywhere and this does not seem to upset the preconceptions of those who call themselves defenders of diversity.

Let us remember that, when the Statistics Canada figures were published, Dominique Anglade refused to express concern – at about the same time, his youth wing said that he saw the imposition of French courses in English-speaking CEGEPs as an “ambush for success “.

On the side of Quebec solidaire, we are still waiting for any reaction. Sometimes silence speaks louder than the most eloquent of speeches.

French is not just a communication tool, it allows us to make society, in particular by being the place of our shared culture and citizenship. The decline of French, the rise of English and the enhancement of particular identities to the detriment of collective identities, all of this will and is already having the effect of eroding the common. There is no reason to be happy about it.