Quebec, the French Language, and Quebecois Identity

[JHikka]

He speaks English his opinion must be wrong

The French did a lot of colonizing, too. Very strange position to take to lament English as being a colonizer's language but to pretend the French did not do the same, or to imply one was worse than the other.

[jamincan]

Just to offer a slightly different point of view from the French-speaking part of Canada, a cycling friend of mine, who is Quebec-born-and-bred, old-stock Canadian, asked on social media "who in the actual hell is complaining about this, and would they please go screw themselves?"

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by jamincan

Just to offer a slightly different point of view from the French-speaking part of Canada, a cycling friend of mine, who is Quebec-born-and-bred, old-stock Canadian, asked on social media "who in the actual hell is complaining about this, and would they please go screw themselves?"

People who have too much time on their hands, I'm guessing.

There was one infamous year in New Brunswick where they received something like 14 complaints about language (French use or lack thereof) in the province and half of the complaints were filed by the commissioner in charge of overseeing the complaints themselves.

[niwell]

English is undoubtably the “most colonial language” but French is a very close second. You could probably argue the French style of colonialism was in fact worse than the English, though to me that would be a pot/kettle kinda discussion (let’s not even get into the dark horse that is Belgium!).

I do actually have a few Quebec based francophones in my social media circle and this hasn’t come up at all as far as I can tell. It probably matters to some, but there’s also some tilting at windmills from a few of our illustrious media elite.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by JHikka

He speaks English his opinion must be wrong

The French did a lot of colonizing, too. Very strange position to take to lament English as being a colonizer's language but to pretend the French did not do the same, or to imply one was worse than the other.

Pay no attention to those Vietnamese speaking countries behind the curtain!

[Acajack]

In other news, Michèle Lalonde, the author of the (in)famous poem Speak White, died yesterday in Montreal.

I've never actually been told that to my face, though my wife has a couple of times.

[Zeej]

Originally Posted by Acajack

In other news, Michèle Lalonde, the author of the (in)famous poem Speak White, died yesterday in Montreal.

I've never actually been told that to my face, though my wife has a couple of times.

A family friend of mine and his business partner were told to 'speak white' in a Vancouver elevator some decades ago. Not a lovely experience I'm told.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Pay no attention to those Vietnamese speaking countries behind the curtain!

We're only sixty years removed from the Algerian War of Independence and the atrocities committed by the French there.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Acajack

In other news, Michèle Lalonde, the author of the (in)famous poem Speak White, died yesterday in Montreal.

I've never actually been told that to my face, though my wife has a couple of times.

De nombreuses fois, des gens sont venus vers moi pendant que je marchais dans la rue dans une conversation en anglais avec un ami, et m'ont dit avec colère "ici, c'est Québec, et ici nous parlons francais!"

à ce jour, je suis tragiquement brisé émotionnellement

there are fucking narrow minded assholes in all parts of Canada. I intensely dislike anti-Quebecois sentiments. I abhor the proverbial fat English salesladies at Eaton's. Nobody should be afraid to speak their mother tongue anywhere in Canada (that is not the same as saying one should always expect to get service in one's mother tongue, however).

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

De nombreuses fois, des gens sont venus vers moi pendant que je marchais dans la rue dans une conversation en anglais avec un ami, et m'ont dit avec colère "ici, c'est Québec, et ici nous parlons francais!"

à ce jour, je suis tragiquement brisé émotionnellement

there are fucking narrow minded assholes in all parts of Canada. I intensely dislike anti-Quebecois sentiments. I abhor the proverbial fat English salesladies at Eaton's. Nobody should be afraid to speak their mother tongue anywhere in Canada (that is not the same as saying one should always expect to get service in one's mother tongue, however).

Oui les Québécois francophones sont certainement capables d'être intolérants aussi.

[Zeej]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

De nombreuses fois, des gens sont venus vers moi pendant que je marchais dans la rue dans une conversation en anglais avec un ami, et m'ont dit avec colère "ici, c'est Québec, et ici nous parlons francais!"

à ce jour, je suis tragiquement brisé émotionnellement

there are fucking narrow minded assholes in all parts of Canada. I intensely dislike anti-Quebecois sentiments. I abhor the proverbial fat English salesladies at Eaton's. Nobody should be afraid to speak their mother tongue anywhere in Canada (that is not the same as saying one should always expect to get service in one's mother tongue, however).

Been on the receiving end of this too. It really does go both ways.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by whatnext

That the anger toward her nomination comes mostly from Quebec is both surprising and not surprising.

And if it were the other way around (nomination of a GG that only speaks French), the anger toward that nomination would come mostly from Anglo-Canada and it would not be surprising.

[Marshsparrow]

Tomorrow will be a great day for Canada, Quebec and Indigenous ppl - long overdue... Mary will do the part of GG well (hopefully dignity can return after J Payette's absolute screw up).

Hoping those 450+ complainers see hope and promise through GG Simon and hoping she makes good on her word to learn french.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/rich...come-1.5522669

[kwoldtimer]

According to CBC, the swearing in will be in English and Inuktitut (!). If I were conspiracy-minded ...

[dleung]

Originally Posted by lio45

And if it were the other way around (nomination of a GG that only speaks French), the anger toward that nomination would come mostly from Anglo-Canada and it would not be surprising.

Too much projecting for you lol. The rest of us would understand the rationale behind nominating a GG who only speaks Inuuk and French, even if far less practical than Inuuk and English in representing the monarchy

Obviously this was an exception for an exceptional person

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by dleung

The rest of us would understand the rationale behind nominating a GG who only speaks Inuuk and French...

There would be an uproar in the west, smirking derision in Ontario and the Maritimes by those who care or are even aware of it, and the more genteel Laurentian elite would have their scribes write columns worth of carefully worded protestations about how impractical and politically inopportune it would be.

Anglo-Canadians are pretty much unquestionably the most easy-going, accepting and progressive people in the world, but we're not total pushovers or without our prejudices.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by rousseau

There would be an uproar in the west, smirking derision in Ontario and the Maritimes by those who care or are even aware of it, and the more genteel Laurentian elite would have their scribes write columns worth of carefully worded protestations about how impractical and politically inopportune it would be.

Anglo-Canadians are pretty much unquestionably the most easy-going, accepting and progressive people in the world, but we're not total pushovers or without our prejudices.

Yep. Also, I guarantee there'd be at the very least 500+ complaints from Anglos right now.

[Marshsparrow]

Originally Posted by lio45

Yep. Also, I guarantee there'd be at the very least 500+ complaints from Anglos right now.

Well as a % of population that's still lower than the current 450 ppl who have too much time on their hands

[Al Ski]

Originally Posted by dleung

Too much projecting for you lol. The rest of us would understand the rationale behind nominating a GG who only speaks Inuuk and French, even if far less practical than Inuuk and English in representing the monarchy

Obviously this was an exception for an exceptional person

Look, this 'controversy' was a media construct pure and simple. 400 complaints? You could just as easily find 400 people on P.E.I. who believe the world is flat or 400 people who were angry over a concert that they had attended

I'm a Montrealer and I don't know anybody - not one single person, Franco or Anglo, who is even aware of this great 'controversy'.

Virtually nobody in Montréal, Québec or Canada care about the GG - at least until the squandering of public funds of Their Uselessness becomes apparent after they retire.

Although come to think of it, 400 is probably about 350 more than the number of Montrealers who care about their 'skyline'..

I think that people who invest so much of their personal feeling of self-worth into the state of their city's skyline should really ease up on people who have an opinion, legitimate or not, on somewhat important issues.

If I were to really try I could probably find one person who had at least an opinion on the GG appointment.

I'd probably have to work much harder to find anyone who devoted even a tiny fragment of their mind towards their 'skyline'.

In other words, people who actually live on the ground, not vicariously through drone photos of 'bunches of buildings' on the internet.

This site is such a weird mix of really interesting discourse on important matters which is overshadowed by the overwhelming importance given to matters of 'skyline' which is so weird.

Because skylines are not important at all.

Cities with prominent skylines are usually the least agreeable cities in which to live, a sign that something has gone terribly wrong vis à vis planning, transit, what have you.

[Hali87]

This is literally an architecture forum lol.

If it annoys you that people are interested in architecture then what are you doing here?