Quebec, the French Language, and Quebecois Identity

[Architype]

Originally Posted by someone123

TPB is also basically low class urban, while if you made fun of rural people they would live in a small village and have a resource based lifestyle. It is supposed to be set in the equivalent of Sackville or Cole Harbour, where people have heavier accents, live in trailers, and mostly work in urban service jobs (or don't work and possibly engage in crime).

It was probably also a lot funnier than the modern Canadian ones from elsewhere even though it's older, although I don't really like the new ones so maybe I'm missing something. For example they made Rita MacNeil harvest weed at gunpoint. They probably don't have that in Corner Gas or that Ontario one.

I probably haven't seen the new ones, not sure if my radar even functions at that level anymore. But I just saw this MSM article touting trailer parks as the answer to the housing crises. Who knew? PS. Don't call them trailers, they are manufactured homes. Never mind the Maritimes, it seems half of Canada's TPs are in BC or Alberta, although it's probably years since I even set eyes on a trailer here.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costoflivin...sion-1.6473997

Buying a mobile home was the best financial decision his family made — just don't call it a trailer
"About half of all mobile homes in Canada are in B.C. and Alberta, according to the study."

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by someone123

This wasn't my interpretation of Trailer Park Boys. I think it was pretty widely accepted by everyday people who thought it was broadly applicable (though part caricature of course) and funny and if anything people in NS tend to exaggerate the hickish tendencies there (e.g. it's the most racist place ever; if only Viola Desmond had lived in Red Deer in the 1940's she would never had suffered from discrimination). The idea that low status stuff can be cool goes back long before TPB.

But I'm not sure if they touched race or consent issues with the same tone and it was from another era at this point.

Yeah, I never even associated Trailer Park Boys even with rural Nova Scotia, which to me stereotypically is very much a place of Margaret MacLachlan with a QUILTS FOR SALE sign hanging from her rural mailbox, or tea rooms in old houses surrounded by flower beds with colourful lupins.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Yeah, I never even associated Trailer Park Boys even with rural Nova Scotia, which to me stereotypically is very much a place of Margaret MacLachlan with a QUILTS FOR SALE sign hanging from her rural mailbox, or tea rooms in old houses surrounded by flower beds with colourful lupins.

Lupins used to be the most visible invasive species, but now it's people from Ontario investing in real estate. The population is much more urban now, but the stereotypes live on.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by someone123

I wonder if the mulleted police officer part could be done in English in 2022 in such an irreverent way (does he still exist?) or maybe the girlfriend. Then again, we are quietly moving past the 2020-2021 cultural moment. Maybe best to just let it go quietly.

Originally Posted by Acajack

I am not actually sure that Anglo-Canada is sufficiently "in-tune" with itself to produce something like this.

There's at least one dig that applies just as well to North American Anglos: the waste minimizer girl who eats local-vegan-organic "except whenever traveling". (So true!!!)

Actually, this one certainly does too:

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Have you ever heard anyone say that in real life (before the song)? I definitely have.

Obviously! Countless times. (Needless to say!)

Can't help but think of beginning FSL learners with this:

"On est au" --> two letters

"ici" --> six letters

=

[harls]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Much more often was "Ici, c'est Québec, et ici on parle français!!" That was common, especially during the 80s.

There are a few stickers posted around my area of town with that. Usually on lamp posts near stop lights, or gas bowsers. So your square head can take the time to process it when you can't go anywhere.

It's no surprise that Père Noël incarnate Jean-Paul Perreault runs the Impératif-français office in the most anglo part of the city. Deep in enemy territory.

He usually has a weekly tirade in the local bilingual paper about some fabricated injustice. Meanwhile, everyone here just gets along.

I made a joke that he probably lost his fucking mind when the Centre Slush-Puppie was named.

[harls]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Yeah, I never even associated Trailer Park Boys even with rural Nova Scotia, which to me stereotypically is very much a place of Margaret MacLachlan with a QUILTS FOR SALE sign hanging from her rural mailbox, or tea rooms in old houses surrounded by flower beds with colourful lupins.

No one in western Canada would associate Trailer Park Boys with anything but Atlantic Canada.

A car is not a 'care'.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by lio45

The question of financial compensation for generational trauma caused by the British Crown is squarely on topic for federal politics!

I demand compensation from the French government for the genocidal actions and intergenerational trauma resulting from the persecution and forced migration of my Huguenot ancestors!!!!!

[ToxiK]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Very true. But this is the historical past. At present, it is probably easier now than ever before to go to an exclusively francophone school in the ROC.

Meanwhile, in QC, LeGeault is doing everything in his power to ensure that only a small minority of native anglophone Quebecers have the privilege of an education in their own tongue. It has probably never been more difficult for a citizen to get an education in English in Quebec.

My, how the worm has turned..........

English provinces can now be "generous" toward the French speaking minorities since the result of making them too small to really have a say was achieved by this "historical past"...

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I demand compensation from the French government for the genocidal actions and intergenerational trauma resulting from the persecution and forced migration of my Huguenot ancestors!!!!!

I want cash from the Russians for the rape, murder and theft inflicted by the Communists on my grandparents and great-grandparents (paternal and maternal) after 1917 in southern Ukraine. Yep, some of my ancestors are counted among the 150 million people killed by Communists in the 20th century.

I'm, uh, not going to hold my breath waiting for compensation.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by Acajack

That's not really true. One of my parents (still alive today) went to school in the 50s and kids were not allowed to speak French, the teacher wasn't allowed to speak French either and all school materials were in English too. In what was then a 100% francophone Acadian town.

7 of 10 provinces banned the teaching of French at one point in their histories.

I think you mean banned as a language of instruction (entire education in French) but not as a language of study (i.e. as a second language?) To a limited degree this treatment may be seen as equivalent to discrimination against indigenous languages, but with considerable differences in context and outcome. AFAIK, French flourishes in the world, while some European languages do not, perhaps language evolution & death due to natural geopolitical forces is a certainty in human existence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ages_of_Europe

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Architype

I think you mean banned as a language of instruction (entire education in French) but not as a language of study (i.e. as a second language?) To a limited degree this treatment may be seen as equivalent to discrimination against indigenous languages, but with considerable differences in context and outcome. AFAIK, French flourishes in the world, while some European languages do not, perhaps language evolution & death due to natural geopolitical forces is a certainty in human existence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ages_of_Europe

In Ontario's case, the ban on teaching IN French (in Catholic schools after Grade 2) would, one assumes, have prohibited the teaching OF French to those subject to the ban.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

In Ontario's case, the ban on teaching IN French (in Catholic schools after Grade 2) would, one assumes, have prohibited the teaching OF French to those subject to the ban.

That is not what I assumed, it would be quite different from having a complete education guaranteed entirely in a certain language.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

In Ontario's case, the ban on teaching IN French (in Catholic schools after Grade 2) would, one assumes, have prohibited the teaching OF French to those subject to the ban.

Don't get me started on the publicly funded religious school board.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Don't get me started on the publicly funded religious school board.

There were no French language public schools in Ontario at the time, afaik.

[ShavedParmesanCheese]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Don't get me started on the publicly funded religious school board.

Hear, hear.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

There were no French language public schools in Ontario at the time, afaik.

Are you really wanting me to get started on religious schools being funded by taxpayers?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

There were no French language public schools in Ontario at the time, afaik.

The Ontario government abolished Regulation 17, which is the "French school ban" that is being referred to, around 1930.

But it only timidly began to expand francophone education after that. The first francophone high schools in Ontario for example only opened around 1970.

I mentioned bans of French schools that most provinces had, and while New Brunswick had one, it was fairly short-lived. I suppose this was due to the province's demographics and the political implications of that.

All of my relatives who grew up in New Brunswick (including some who are 80+) did their schooling in French.

But except for those from Quebec, all of my other relatives who are over 60 pretty much did their schooling in English in the provinces where they grew up.

It's also true of all of my wife's older relatives who grew up in Ontario. With the exception of one who was spotted by a religious order in their youth and sent away to boarding school in a collège classique in Quebec.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Acajack

The Ontario government abolished Regulation 17, which is the "French school ban" that is being referred to, around 1930.

But it only timidly began to expand francophone education after that. The first francophone high schools in Ontario for example only opened around 1970.

I mentioned bans of French schools that most provinces had, and while New Brunswick had one, it was fairly short-lived. I suppose this was due to the province's demographics and the political implications of that.

All of my relatives who grew up in New Brunswick (including some who are 80+) did their schooling in French.

But except for those from Quebec, all of my other relatives who are over 60 pretty much did their schooling in English in the provinces where they grew up.

It's also true of all of my wife's older relatives who grew up in Ontario. With the exception of one who was spotted by a religious order in their youth and sent away to boarding school in a collège classique in Quebec.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia....hools-question

Regulation 17 was implemented in 1912 and affected the first two years of elementary school and limited French instruction to an hour a day. It is effectively repealed in 1927. There were 45 French secondary schools in Ontario in the 1950s.

[Binour]

Here is some information about that topic. Official apologies from the government of Ontario.

https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/3...nch-in-schools

Of course, these apologies has been completely downplayed in the English medias. And the linguistic cleansing has been done, anyway.


Ontario Apologizes for 1912 Law on French in Schools
Regulation 17 Effectively Banned Public French-Language Education for a Generation

Quick Facts
The Ontario government stopped enforcing Regulation 17 after 1927, but it remained formally in effect until 1944.

In 1984, Ontario officially recognized the right of all Francophones to receive French-language education in elementary and secondary schools.

Francophones gained full and exclusive governance of nearly all French-language schools in Ontario in 1998. (Do you realize? 1998 !!!)

Ontario is home to nearly 612,000 Francophones — the largest population in Canada outside of Quebec. In 2015, Ontario celebrated 400 years of Francophone presence in the province.