macadian

A voice of sanity...surprisingly enough...

el_richo

How is it racism?

shelley748

Well if you look back through the thread someone accused me of posting pathetic racist comments, so I felt obliged to apologise if I have offended someone.

However as I pointed out before, I am NOT racist- so thank you for all of those who backed me up!

montreal mike

It was accurate reporting. This is the law here where French is give prominence. It bothers, even infuriates, some; to others it is a non issue. It is no longer a big deal and the subject has been debated to death.

On a more gruesome note I recall many years,ago, on April 1st, an English radio station reported, in all seriousness, that forthwith all gravestones had to be in FRENCH ONLY. Many fell for this hoax.

BristolUK

I can remember a row about a bar that was on a street corner. The English sign fronted the main street while the French sign was on the side street and there was an argument that the English sign was more prominent. Ironically, when travelling on the main st - as most people would - one is more likely to notice the sign on the side street (face on) rather than the English sign that one would need to turn to look at and probably look up at as well.

Wasn't there also a Trivial Pursuit variation (History, I think) that was only made in English language so it was banned from sale in Quebec?

Gald to hear it's no longer such an issue.

Love the French Gravestones April fool. I must look it up.

montreal mike

This business of the everlasting purity and deserved prominence of the FRENCH LANGUAGE has, at times, been carried to extremes in its pettiness, something I find it highly amusing, but hardly upsetting. Here is a quote from a CBC report

* 1996: A woman warns the owner of a Quebec pet store she might get in touch with language authorities because Peekaboo, the parrot she wanted to buy, didn't speak French.
* 1999: The Old Navy chain is asked to rename its stores "La Vieille Rivière." It never happens.
* 2000: The owner of an Indian restaurant is told he's breaking the law by having coasters for "Double Diamond," a British beer.
* 2001: Some people express disappointment that race-car driver Jacques Villeneuve calls his restaurant "Newtown."
* 2005: Language authorities say they will investigate complaints that Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay's party used the word "Go" on its posters and pamphlets, as in "Go Montreal."
* 2007: Imperial Oil says it will keep its Quebec-only "Marché Express" name for its Esso gas stations after protests against a proposal to change the name to "On the Run," as they are known elsewhere in North America.
* 2007: About 50 people protest outside a Second Cup outlet to demonstrate against the words "Les cafés" being dropped from "Les cafés Second Cup" at some of the chain's outlets.
* 2007: Language activists decry that callers to many Quebec government offices are told to "press nine" for English before instructions are delivered in French. Some of the departments have since changed the message to put English at the end.

TrishP

I think one of the issues is that canada is supposedly a bilingual country, yet the only truly bilingual province is NB. Living in Ottawa and not being particularly fluent in French makes life hard at times, options for job mobility limited, etc. I'd even looked at several courses at Ottawa U and had to give up the notion as they were taught ONLY in French.

montreal mike

One of the greatest myths of the modern age is that Canada is somehow a bilingual country.

To the Anglos such a statement is confusing.

To the Francophones, outside of Quebec and NB, it is a great irritant to be told this.

bandit

Interesting post!!!

I'm a first Generation Canadian from Montreal to Irish parents. I attended a 'French' school for the years I was there.... I have heard many stories through my parents about their lives, and nothing has EVER been said about being subject to 'rascism' or ugly words.

However my mother in Paris ordering food in French (Quebec french) was ignored and thereafter laughed at....!!!

I myself when arriving to the UK was bullied and made fun of for having a N American accent.

I lived also in the UK and was subject to many and Irish joke.

Some parts of Wales - esp in the North, speak only Welsh, or at least as their first language. Seems fair to me.... Why shouldn't they, and frankly as a dying language I would encourage it.

The UK also has many areas, in the north and midlands where English isn't the first language and soooooooooooo much money has been spent by councils enabling schools to fund different language schools (and religions)

Having lived in the middle east for many years, I have ALWAYS felt that if you live in someone else's country, then you meet their laws and etiquette, and not impose yours on them.... I do have issues with the migrant population not intergrating with any city which they now call home - be it in the UK or Canada.....

Bx

Auld Yin

from The Canadian Encyclopedia
In October 1978, Premier Lévesque declared in the National Assembly that Québec had to transform radically its union with the rest of Canada, and that sovereignty and association should come about "smoothly and simultaneously." In what came to be called the White Paper on Sovereignty-Association (La nouvelle entente Québec-Canada), the péquiste government claimed that "sovereignty is indissolubly linked with association." The document went on to describe the doctrine more fully: it foresaw a common monetary system with the rest of Canada, coupled with a reorganization of the tasks of the present Bank of Canada into new common institutions, including a central monetary authority. It also presupposed a joint free-trade zone and a common external tariff (though each of the 2 communities could protect its own agriculture). It allowed for the free passage of goods and persons between Québec and Canada, and a variety of special agreements concerning jobs and immigration. A community council, composed of an equal number of ministers from each side and presided over alternately by a Canadian and a Québecois, would settle any disputes that might arise. Three other Québec-Canada institutions were proposed: a committee of experts to serve (under the council) as general secretariat to the community; a court of justice consisting of an equal number of Québec and Canadian judges with exclusive jurisdiction over the interpretation and workings of the association treaty; and a joint monetary authority responsible for the management of the single exchange rate, but not for the debt of the 2 sovereign partners (each would handle its own). Sovereignty-association, in the view of the White Paper, was not an end in itself, but a means by which Québec could freely direct its own affairs. Québec would thus enjoy the economic advantages of the federal union and the benefits of political independence.

montreal mike

It is no secret that some Parisians tend to look down on the Quebecois, considering them almost as an inferior species. This is pure ignorance as how can one reasonably expect the descendants of French settlers to sound precisely like the inhabitants of present day France. Likewise the French spoken in Haiti differs appreciably from the Parisian variety, but it is French nonetheless.

montreal mike

Well it never materialised. I doubt it ever will.

Ironically if Quebec were ever to 'go it alone', it wouldn't be long before it would want to get back in.

I recall the joke making the rounds at the time about this 'sovereignty association' arrangement which was that Quebec on one hand wanted a divorce but on the other hand still wanted to retain the priviledges of the boudoir.

Since this is a family type forum I won't elaborate.

dbd33

Linguistic snobbery in French goes way beyond that, as I'm sure you know. My children were educated in French in Toronto and, while it was important that they not sound as if they came from Quebec, it was considered vitally important that they not sound as if they were Ontario francophones. Hence they'd often be required to pronounce give away phrases such as "twenty-five rabbits". Weirdly, the exemplar of proper elucidation among the school staff was from the Belgian Congo.

dbd33

Canada, of course, sells itself as the home of multi-culturalism, a doctrine under which all languages and cultures are equal. Thus an immigrant to Canada who failed to maintain his home language and culture, one who didn't consider himself a SomewhereElse-Canadian, would be failing to meet the expectations of his new home. People who want to integrate should go to the UK or to the US; it's not the done thing here.

montreal mike

Does not surprise me.

I have met a few people from the ex French / Belgian colonies. Their French is very much the Parisian variety. Quite a contrast from those from Haiti.