Now that my Olympic hangover is over and the snow has stopped for a time, I think it is time to get back in the game. The side I have chosen to be on in this case is Support Another which I have found as an outsider to embody everything I have loved about being a Canadian. This site has demonstrated not only religious tolerance but acceptance of other religions and cultures and languages and I support it. It is true that I am an outsider. Like I have stated before, I am a white Scandinavian, english speaking man in my sixties who lives in North Western Ontario. My area is as diverse as there is anywhere with about twenty percent having a mother tongue in French, sixty five percent in English and the rest Finnish, Norwegian, Hindi, Chinese, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Ukrainian, Iranian, Russian and Romanian. Did anyone see what I missed? You should have been shouting. It is the same the Quebec Charter has decided to dismiss as unimportant and not traditional to Quebec. I did not mention the twenty percent of First Nations people that make up Northwestern Ontario nor did I mention that about five percent of the population speaks only their language. Have you ever seen a first nations woman in traditional dress? They look like they are wearing the hijab. That is the original tradition of Quebec. It is true they were beaten to become Catholic and discard their own ways but they refused to dress like a white to this day.
The french who live around here mostly came from Quebec but left during the Union Nationale Government of the fifties and sixties when the nationalist movement began to grab power. What they saw in Quebec they did not like and that was a small group of entitled Quebecer who were wealthy, young and mostly educated in France began to take power. In that group was created the FLQ. A small but widely supported group of terrorists who actually held the country hostage until then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau put an end to that.
My fellow North Western Ontario neighbors who left Quebec in the late fifties and sixties because they began to see the change in Quebec society. And what they saw was a rise in the entitled young of the time who were trying to rewrite history and vowed to separate Quebec from Canada. Now to do that they needed to remove certain elements of society even though they had been there as long as they had. Target groups were the Italians and Irish. Now the question is why the Italians and Irish? They were white, catholic and very western so what could possibly be the problem. They even wanted to assimilate into French Quebec culture. It seemed like a win win but they were not welcome in some circles and were even not allowed to enroll their children in French schools. Does anyone know what their crime would be? Well it is like this. They were seen to be federalist and not a group who could be convinced to vote for separation even though on occasion they strongly voted for the Union Nationale. Their pedigree also was not french. In the late sixties and seventies it became anyone who spoke English became a target with bill 101 resulting in the erosion of Quebec multi cultural society and Montreal in particular as a second rate city from one of the worlds great cities which it was in the mid seventies.
They also became fed up with this idea that some in the separatist movement that only Francophone Quebecers are “pure lain” (pure wool...ie. Real Quebecers) The result of that absurdity was that families even though they had lived their for over two hundred years still were not considered equal to a Francophone family if their linage was not french and white. Just ask a Haitian if they feel equal in Francophone Quebec if they were in a service industry like being a taxi driver. Calls would come in asking for a “un bon chauffeur” (a good driver) which meant the caller was asking for a white driver and it was acceptable to do that. There is an underlying racism of all things not french in some parts of Quebec which has become very common place as was evident in the Drainville committee and the testimony of Genevieve Caron who was disturbed when in Morocco by people wearing these disguises, taking off their shoes when they entered a Mosque and praying on all fours. You have seen this type of institutional racism in places like Herouxville with their Standards resolution in 2007 for new arrivals with a similar declaration in the City of Gatineau.
In a recent survey almost half of all english speaking Quebecers and about eleven percent of Francophone Quebecers want to leave or have thought about leaving Quebec in the last year. I ask this question with all sincerity. With all that is wrong in Quebec why is there not a public inquiry to discover what to do about this real issue rather than pander to this bill 60. Even former premier P.Q. Jacques Parizeau has said that for the first time in thirty years he is worried about the economy and that should be the issue. Are they listening? No they are not. Are they interested in creating a secular society only to ensure the freedom and security of everyone. Clearly not. How many Muslim women feel threatened by people around them because they are wearing a hijab? And finally on this rant when will the traditional Quebecer begin to actually listen to the first nations people who actually were the traditional peoples of what is now Quebec? We all know the answer. Never because it is not about security or traditional values it is the pandering and the manipulation of the lowest common denominator in society for political gain. In this case the separation of Quebec from Canada. And the only way to do that is to stir up so much hate and distrust they can get their support because they will attempt to convince the populace that only in an independent Quebec can their security be guaranteed.
I put to you that the issue has little to do with the hijab but because you are not seen as true Quebecers. You are not pure lain. Just like the Jews, Italians, Irish, Hindus and Haitians before you. You are not seen as being on their team. You are seen as a federalist.
Is this a hard line? Yes it is. Is this the truth? Yes it is. Please verify all my assertions. History does not lie. What can be done about it? You must form or join a unified political alliance that does not bend to even negotiate a watered down version of this bill. This bill proposal must be defeated period. If the Quebec Liberals do not take that stand,(I am a card carrying liberal by the way) join the NDP if they do or any other party to defeat this bill. Your vote carries weight and must be used to defeat the PQ in the upcoming provincial election and by the efforts of Support Another in raising this issue. Anything anyone suggests I should be doing please feel free to suggest, comment, debate and otherwise. I will welcome it.
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