Tag: language debate

Why one student believes that our differences should ultimately unite us

Quebec is a province of political strife. I think that’s been made obvious in recent months. As long as I can remember, English and French were seen as two different species of people in Quebec. They mostly live together peacefully, but when push comes to shove, it’s always French pitted against English. That is why Quebec is stalled as it watches its neighboring provinces flourish.

In Quebec, there are a few who laugh at what is going on, deeming it ridiculous and childish. They laugh at the OQLF and their mission, they laugh at the so called Charter of Values that will supposedly unite Quebec, and they laugh at the anglophones who refuse to learn French. These are the bilingual citizens; and with any luck, they’re the ones that will save Quebec.

Quebec has been blessed with an opportunity: we are a French province within an English country, with an enormous allophone population. These are factors that are blissfully ignored by closed-minded, unilingual people that bring this province down. They fail to see the potential that Quebec could have. Imagine a Quebec where everyone embraced bilingualism, and where everyone would speak two languages. Is this difficult to achieve? Absolutely not.

I learned to speak English, French, and Greek before going to elementary school. I didn’t know or cared why (or how) I knew three languages, I just knew them. It was only when I got older that I realized what knowing more than one language could mean. I was marketing myself without even knowing it. It has also allowed me to look at the political situation in Quebec from a neutral eye and try to understand the mindset of the ongoing conflict, and how it can be resolved without another referendum.

“As Canada teeters on the verge of fracturing, I am sometimes subject to fits of sentiment about this cockeyed country I grew up in and still call home. Impatient with our two founding races, I wonder why, instead of constantly picking at the scabs of their differences, they couldn’t learn to celebrate what binds them together,” wrote esteemed Canadian novelist Mordecai Richler, a Montrealer with a particular interest in Quebec’s language policies, in his book Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! Requiem for a divided country.

Anyone who has grown up and lived in Quebec loves Quebec. They’ll always complain about it, though. But despite the oppression felt by both sides, they still call it home. So for people that are trying to make it something its not, why not just let it be? Let Quebec flourish in two languages, and let us anglophones live in peace. Quebec will always be unique, whether it’s a country or a part of Canada. Every allophone and anglophone living in Quebec would kid themselves if they said Quebec didn’t have their own unique culture. However, this unique culture is also the drive behind separatist Quebecers. Sure, maybe Quebec was meant to be a country. But after having preserved the French language, and even having it flourish within Canada, separating now would only be a greedy, idealist win that would ruin Quebec.

I can’t stand watching the province I grew up in be consumed by so much negativity towards the so called other side. Instead, let’s encourage everyone to learn Canada’s two official languages and watch this province flourish. Lead by example and who knows, maybe the rest of Canada will speak French one day.

As a Montrealer of Greek origin who is fluent in Greek, French and English, I look at Quebec and all the incidents that have occurred in the past few months and I ask myself this one, simple, question: what the hell is going on?

But there’s another question Anglophones and Francophones should be asking themselves: why can’t we embrace bilingualism in this province? Why can’t we accept that Quebec is a province of two official languages and both will be equally represented from now on? Why do we insist on pointing fingers at each other and accusing the other side of undermining the other’s language?

Since the election of the PQ government, things have seriously worsened. The Office quebecois de la langue française found new life after receiving unnecessary funding from the provincial government and have put it to absolutely no use by attacking restaurants like Buona Notte, ultimately making a fool of themselves and of the PQ in the process. These are old school techniques that the younger, more open-minded generation of Quebecers simply don’t understand or appreciate.

We’ve come an extremely long way since the creation of Bill 101 and the last thing we need is for Premier Pauline Marois to reignite that good-for-nothing fire. No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you push, Quebec has unofficially been branded a bilingual state since then and all you’re doing is tainting your already-tarnished image straight out of politics.

The younger generations of anglophones and francophones in this province have accepted the fact that Quebec is and will be an open-minded province that is accepting of two official languages. There certainly remains an older generation of anglophones and francophones who are extremely bitter towards each other, but like it or not, they will disappear as the next generation comes along.

What really presses my buttons, however, is the fact that Quebec has the potential to be the greatest province in Canada if we set our mind to it. Imagine a Quebec where everyone is bilingual and most are trilingual considering the fact that we already are a melting pot of diverse cultures. Imagine the businesses we could attract, the growth we could instigate and the money we would save by exterminating useless organizations like the OQLF, by not researching the possibility of separation from Canada and by stopping the creation of discriminatory bills such as Bill 14.

I am a bitter Quebecer and I’ve had enough. Not bitter against the French or the English exclusively, but bitter against the tension that still lies between the two after all these years. To all who still have a problem, grow up, embrace your neighbour and work on living in a bilingual Quebec, and not a unilingual one.

Whether its being forced to order pasta and other foods in French, or be forced to walk if I can’t buy a metro ticket in French, so be it. I will walk, straight out of this province, to the excess of open-minded provinces and states that surround Quebec. Just like so many did after the referendum. Quebec is coming dangerously close to that once again. It’s time for the younger generation to step up and put an end to this.