The many immigrants who arrive in Canada are grouped according to their origin, their language and their religion, thus creating a multicultural mosaic within Canadian society. This situation is not displeasing to governments who see diversity as one of Canada’s strengths, in the context of a desired strong increase in immigration.
In fact, Canada is increasingly seen as a community of communities. We are no longer in the perspective of two founding peoples, one English-speaking and the other French-speaking. The concept of a bicultural Canada is dead. In 1971, the government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau adopted the Multiculturalism Policy, which recognized the contribution of various cultures to Canadian history and society. This policy sought to manage Quebec nationalism as well as the country’s growing cultural diversity.
Multiculturalism was subsequently enshrined in the Constitution as a fundamental characteristic of Canada. The patriation of the 1982 Constitution marks the arrival of the Canadian Charter of Rights, section 27 of which provides that “any interpretation of this charter must be consistent with the objective of promoting the maintenance and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians “.
Diversity and bilingualism
This reality is all the more acceptable since outside Quebec, the linguistic integration of ethnic minorities does not pose a problem. Communities are formed and maintained over time while adopting English as the language of public communication. But this is not the case in Quebec, where language transfers are not systematically towards French and where the integration of immigrants into the dominant French-speaking culture is not guaranteed.
Making Quebec an area as French-speaking as the rest of Canada is English-speaking seems less and less possible insofar as Canada practices only imperfect bilingualism in federal institutions and where the Charter of Rights is regularly invoked to limit the scope of measures to protect French adopted by the Government of Quebec. Thus, the Act respecting the secularism of the State (PL21) and the Act respecting the official and common language of Quebec, French (PL96) provoked an outcry in English Canada and in Quebec’s English-speaking minority. They have been called xenophobic and racist laws.
The question that must be asked is the following: why does the celebration of cultural differences in Canada not also apply to the cultural difference in Quebec? We seem to value community particularisms, to the point of presenting them as a wealth and an asset for the country, but when it comes to the exercise by Canada’s main cultural minority of its right to preserve its language, nothing is going well. more. Why ?
Diversity and Democracy
The protection of minorities is one of the fundamental democratic principles. The majority should not use its strength to oppress groups that are not part of it or that stand out from it. It is this principle that the charters of rights make it possible to respect. Both the Quebec and Canadian charters give individuals the power to oppose public measures that would prevent the normal exercise of their prerogatives as citizens.
Canadian practice shows, however, that this opposition can lead to excesses, with citizens contesting any initiative that seems to them contrary to their rights and in particular to their religious freedom, a freedom that is supposedly superior to all others. In doing so, some individuals may oppose the desire of the majority to have Quebec recognized as a secular society and to ensure that the wearing of religious symbols is not compatible with the exercise of certain positions of authority. public.
In this confrontation between collective rights and individual rights, the primacy of the latter seems increasingly assured. Affirming that Quebec is a secular French-speaking society and taking steps to ensure that it remains so today seems to go against Canadian sensitivities and values. All means, financial or legal, will be good to prevent this Quebec particularism from developing.
Diversity and Identity
While the maintenance of the French-speaking nation of Quebec in the English-speaking North American ocean will always be fragile and all the studies show that the place of French is in decline today, not only in Canada, but also in Quebec itself, it is it is legitimate for the only French-speaking government on American soil to seek to guarantee its survival and development.
Language is the main vector of Quebec identity. Its history, its territory and its culture also contribute strongly to this. If the Canadian identity and the importance that diversity seems to hold in it cannot accommodate a different Quebec, how can the ideals of one and the other be reconciled?
Quebec also needs immigrants, but to preserve its identity, it must implement measures to define a common public space that respects newcomers and the French-speaking majority. To achieve this, hospitality, openness and tolerance are as necessary here as elsewhere. Multiculturalism and the cult of diversity that exist in Canada are causing a clash of values and a misunderstanding of the Quebec nation that can only lead to a dead end. In fact, we are already there.