Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
I think what me and many others find odd or even suspicious is how much relative "noise" the various alleged "mistreatments" in Canada seem to get. Especially when considers the gravity of the situations at play.
Aside from the temporary blip that came from the Idle No More protests, the aboriginal issue (broadly defined) generates far less noise from year to year on a national level than the issues with Quebec anglos.
I would venture to say that roughly two thirds of the public discourse in Canada (non-political) on the issue of "minority treatment" focuses on Anglo-Quebecers. Probably a quarter deals with aboriginals. The rest would be visible minorities of various origins (e.g. violent death rates for young black men in Toronto). Francophones outside Quebec aren't even on the radar in English Canada, and even in Quebec they only register a small blip.
This over-representation of the Quebec language issue and how it relates to the province's anglo community might actually be one of the reasons that there is some fatigue about their alleged plight in the rest of Canada. Perhaps many people are just sick of hearing about it, and while they may not agree with what Quebec does, they also don't see it as a big deal relative to other problems other people face. And of course there is always the "why don't you move" argument...
But the fact that "English in Quebec" does get so much attention I think probably speaks to a quasi-"chosen people" status for anglos, a group "that thou shall not touch", or at least not question their dominance and right to never be inconvenienced in living their lives exactly as they see fit (part of which includes in their language across the board).
|
Well; let's deal with your surmisals as presented.
The native issue gets assigned a value (perhaps unfairly or incorrectly) based on the perception it's not being perpetrated upon them by the Fed/Prov (Canadians at large) governing body, but rather in large part, because their OWN people are responsible for the disbursement of funds and other resources allocated to them by the taxpayers of Canada.
We pour money into those communities and watch while they aportion it out to a small cabal of leaders who live in luxury compared to the rest of the band they profess and DEMAND the right to represent. We cave to their demand for self governance then watch dismayed while they squander the money on new Cadillac Escalades on reserves with 5 miles of roadways or six figure salaries for twenty leaders representing 5,000 residents. Zamboni governance, if you will.
Handouts without accountability!
"They" demand a "keep your hands off our kids" due to past injustices but then allow a significant number of them to sink into a miasma of despair with glue/gasoline sniffing and suicide rampant THEN scream at US for this terrible happenstance. Parental responsibility and community integrity is not issued to them via a government handout. That battle cry of "cultural maintenance" without any real attempts being made to assign it a relevant value to the detriment of instilling within them a sense of pride of accomplishment of attaining a skillset that will see them into the 22nd century of a competing world.
Wringing our hands has shown to be futile.
Stepping in and attempting to instill responsibility has shown to be futile.
Holding them accountable has shown to be futile.
Watching from the sidelines is the role they demanded we take so we are relegated to do so while they ghettoize themselves beyond any semblance of a once proud people. Giving them more is always the cry from sympathizers. We will undoubtedly ultimately give them enough to virtually guarantee their complete extinction.
Quebec English are on the other hand, being agressively pummeled by an opposing force that is duely elected and a recognized political party sitting in our Houses of Parliament that has adopted a discriminatory number of policies directed at a manufactured villain who are conveniently a part of their electorate they're supposed to be representing.
Did the English ever
demand that signage be posted only in english through enacted legislation? Why then are they perceived as villains perpetrating some terrible injustice towards the French speaking Quebecers only. Anything that transpired within that Province in the last hundred years happened though the ebb and flow of normal social intercourse.
Elected parties have in large part become popular through their avowed and openly stated purpose to bring the English to their knees. What kind of platform is that for a modern democratic country to even allow?
I opine these differences are what accounts for the depth and breadth of the "outside" focus on the Quebec Bill 101 situation versus the "aboriginal plight".
Now I acknowledge you started your post with stating "you and others are suspicious" with the word "especially" used as a descriptor and I put it to you thusly:
Why would you be "suspicious" of people seeing what they perceive to be an injustice perpetrated against a minority by a recognized political party elected to perform that very function within ONE Province?
Are not our "perceptions" worthy of equal traction as your "suspicions"?
Your suggestion that we are merely rushing to defend a "quasi chosen" few with the prejudicial addendum of "not question their
dominance" or "maintaining their right to live their life without inconveniencing them" is just one more obfuscation, when THROUGHOUT this and many other threads discussing this topic the single outstanding theme has always been: "
equality of language rights".
This thread is perhaps more indicative of the relevance of the discussion due to the stupid and illogical reasoning of maintenance of a cultural equality through the imposition of signage rules that state outight; "we will maintain our equality of culture and language by forcing
inequality of lettering size and postioning of that lettering within the sign".
Does correcting a perceived injustice by creating another perceived injustice seem a valid or workable concept to you?
Surely you can put your suspicions into perspective and see the inconsistancy with that type of reasoning leading to even more outrage over time.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
