Posted yesterday at 11:00 a.m.
The anglicization of Quebec
Prancing far ahead in the polls, does François Legault really need to surf in its waters? Before his election, I often went to the barricades in the media to defend him against the salvos of Philippe Couillard, who sought to position him as a racist. Today, I feel somewhat uncomfortable with his statements, which sometimes suggest that he is just there to defend so-called “native” Francophones. I know that’s not the meaning he wants to give to his nationalist slogans punctuated by “our values”, but it is with a feeling of exclusion that many people of immigrant background receive his words. However, defending the language by trying to make immigrants potential identity allies would be much more constructive. I will come back to this idea at the end. Before, I would like to talk about the difficulty that awaits the troops of Legault in the file of the anglicization of Quebec, which is very real.
Yes, the Legault government has undeniably done a good job since coming to power, but its vision on the language issue cannot protect Quebec from anglicization in the long term. We can describe its program as nationalist and talk about pride and defending the interests of Quebec, but the truth is that without the nuclear weapon represented by the separatist threat, the slow fall will be inevitable and it is not laws like the 96 or the others, who will come to the second or even possibly the third mandate of the CAQ, who will prevent the anglicization of Quebec from continuing. In question, any serious provision to protect the French language will be violently contested by a certain Anglophones, who dream of flattening Quebec and making it a Canadian province like the others. Historically, Bill 22 and Bill 101, which was to repeal it under the Péquistes of René Lévesque, caused hysteria and a powerful uprising by those who think that Quebec is a bilingual nation. Social unrest still alive in the memory of political decision-makers who no longer dare to play in such a scenario.
This is why, even today, the mere anticipation of popular discontent and comparable media hype leads the government to cut corners and put holes in the beaver dam supposed to protect Quebec from assimilation. However, in such a dam, a small breach can in the long term send the house he wanted to protect into the torrent.
Even today, everyone agrees that French must be protected. But, when we try to take a step in this direction, Anglophones turn their backs and mobilize time, money and the media to fight and refuse to provide their share of the effort. “We don’t need to learn your language because you have to learn ours anyway. This is the slogan of many of these people. This linguistic supremacism is at the heart of the problem. It is he who makes a good part of the people who vomit on Bill 96 work. Some even push the note so far as to ironically position Anglophones here as a vulnerable minority and martyred by the evil nationalists of the CAQ.
Let me remind you once again that Anglophones in Montreal are, on average, the luckiest “vulnerable” minority on the planet. They have some of the best schools, the best universities, the best hospitals, the best economic power. In addition, they form a minority sample two hours away by car from their great linguistic majority, which has dominated the planet since the industrial revolution. Apart from Quebec, do you know a single nation on Earth where a good part of the immigrants who arrive seek to integrate into the local minority to facilitate their economic integration? Would an immigrant from Pakistan prefer to integrate into the Chinese community of Toronto to improve their chances of social success in Canada? If this situation were to arise, English speakers would be the first to want to take measures to protect their language and their culture.
Will the CAQ dare to do what is necessary?
Between the independence flame offered by the PQ and the cold ashes of the Liberals, the caquistes have chosen to keep embers that warm without the fear of conflagration. This is the situation that mixes realism and utopianism in which we find ourselves today. It was that or a subscription from the liberals in power with a single program: “They are going to organize a referendum!” That said, what alternative solution will François Legault have left if the courts slash his laws that are supposed to defend and protect the particularities of the Quebec nation? What will he do when the federal government tells him again that there is no question of giving Quebec a crumb of additional powers in the area of immigration? Threatening to leave Canada is no longer an option, he will have to swallow his frustration and canadianize quietly, as demanded by all those assemblies outside Quebec that vote on motions and mobilize financial resources to bring the Quebec government to heel. Sooner or later, the Coalition avenir Québec will strike its Waterloo, because between the French and British roots of Canada, the cleavage is obvious and the positions impossible to reconcile, especially on the ground of living together. I even allow myself to bet here that before the end of his reign, Mr. Legault will end up remembering why he was already a separatist.
Without a huge push much more robust than Bill 96 that his government will never dare to give, the plan for the silent anglicization of Quebec put in place by Pierre Elliott Trudeau will continue to progress slowly but surely. With its law on multiculturalism, PET also ultimately wanted to bring Quebec Francophones back to the status of a community like the others; a community that has nothing more to claim than that of the Italians, Chinese or Ukrainians of Canada. He wanted to make Quebec a community that would stop talking about founding peoples, bilingualism, independence and all the other egalitarian or autonomist assertions that have always irritated the media, intellectual and political elite of the ROCK.
By erecting multiculturalism into a religion, Pierre Elliott Trudeau ultimately sought to transform this Quebec wolf who robustly claimed his territory into a friendly poodle, who continues to bark, but gives his paw and shows off when asked.
His plan is on its way, because in the distant future, or not, French-speaking Quebec will inevitably end up becoming perhaps not Louisiana, but a minority community on its territory.
When this sad and irreversible tipping point is crossed, I bet you here that the federal government will then take over from the nationalists and the separatists and will begin to speak with heart about the importance of protecting this Francophone culture, once very rich and creative, but today dying. This will be the beginning of the phase of folklorization of minority cultures, as we know very well how to do in British multiculturalism which inspired that of Canada. Here, we adore the communities in all their particularities, provided that they remain in the minority and firmly planted under the glass ceiling imposed on them by this majority which has always dominated the world.
Let’s say that once Francophones become a minority, we will witness the metamorphosis of our old racing car into a collector’s car. A car that we polish, admire, exhibit and folklorise from time to time in exhibitions, before storing it in the garage until the next festival.
Make linguistic and identity Allies
Since the political courage needed to reverse the trend is unthinkable, even for a government that calls itself nationalist, what solution do we have left? It remains for us to recruit as many allies as possible to slow down the speed of the steamroller of assimilation which is advancing slowly but surely. To do this, instead of his dubious discourse on immigration, François Legault should opt for massive investments in reception, integration and francization programs. I know that some effort has been made by the government in recent years, but we can do better. This brilliant initiative which consists in attracting foreign students outside Montreal by lowering their tuition fees is proof of this. In my opinion, whoever thought of this idea deserves a laurel wreath.
Instead of again pointing this accusing finger at immigration, why not work on adding up and playing with the needle that mends rather than the knife that cuts through the social fabric?
Reaching out to those who arrive and trying as best we can to make them linguistic and identity allies is more constructive than positioning them again at the center of all of Quebec’s existential problems. Mr. Legault likes to talk about integration, but he must be reminded that the first ingredient in an integration process is the desire to do so. However, this desire to re-root comes above all through tenderness and the word that unites, more than through the language that divides or stigmatizes.
Since doing without immigration is not an option, especially for a government that prides itself on being the government of the economy, it is better to work to make allies than to push them to the other side with statements that link the Louisianization of Quebec and immigration. Adopting a discourse that would make the newcomer feel more like a potential solution than the main source of the problem would be much more constructive when the time comes to talk about these issues, however worrying they may be.
Nature according to Boucar is back at Ici Première every Saturday at 11 a.m.