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.
What's really fun is to extrapolate beyond the assumption that the two people will exhibit the same behaviour (francophone in Red Deer using English and anglophone in Saguenay using French).
Let's assume now that each tries to use their own language in their new home. How would they fare? How happy would each of them be?
Interesting tidbit: 15% of anglophones in Quebec City speak only English. But only 2% of francophones in Ottawa speak only French.
I, of course, will accede to your experience in duality.
I take issue with only that aspect that serves to describe one being much more usurious than the other, as surely anyone moving from one locale to another would judge being made to feel unwelcome solely due to heritage, rather than simply a lack of available official services, being far more egregious.
You have probably not been confronted with moving into a Quebec, predominantly separatist, enclave from anywhere else in Canada. I can assure you, that would be far more uncomfortable than coping with the lack of services en-francais. You would be very hard pressed to find any location in the ROC that would welcome you with open hostility due solely to you being from anywhere in Quebec.
That's a micro-phenomenon you are describing right there. There are a few communities like this but most are not. The vast majority are not.
But the micro-phenomenon shows what is possible if people want it that way.
I agree that the vast majority are not but it doesn't have to be that way. I lived through the period of ethnic, non-Anglo Canadians being ashamed of their last names and their accents, to their grandchildren enrolling in language schools and programs in an effort to learn the language that their grandparents had not passed on because they wanted their children to have opportunities.
But the micro-phenomenon shows what is possible if people want it that way.
I agree that the vast majority are not but it doesn't have to be that way. .
Sure. But in the absence of effective and deliberate self-isolation, this only serves to delay a greater integration into wider society. Even most francophones outside Quebec face community erosion (sometimes significant) in spite of the fact that their language is official and they have kindergarten to post-secondary education options in French, generalized product labelling in their language, various media in their language and a good measure of public services (depending on where they live) in their language.
Sorry to disagree with your analogy of it not being 1763 as it is not even 1967 anymore and there are any number of memories of being treated rudely and with open hostility while vising EXPO.
There are any number of memories of being cautioned by owners of business's along St,Denis and other streets, to not be heard speaking English during St, Jean Baptiste day celebrations, especially while a parade is going by, as late as the recent past decades.
I've heard and experienced them all first hand; perhaps YOUR memories differ; that's nice for you.
It's now 2014.....what has changed? I'm open to updates.
But the micro-phenomenon shows what is possible if people want it that way.
I agree that the vast majority are not but it doesn't have to be that way. I lived through the period of ethnic, non-Anglo Canadians being ashamed of their last names and their accents, to their grandchildren enrolling in language schools and programs in an effort to learn the language that their grandparents had not passed on because they wanted their children to have opportunities.
I can also remember those days when attending school with Hungarian escapees from Russian tyranny were admonished by their parents to not even be heard communicating with each other during school for fear of shame.
There were many immigrants arriving during those years from various European countries either due to post war or heightened tensions from the growing cold war era. I recall a lot of them sharing the common belief that they should abandon public use of language, traditional dress or other cultural markers.
The shame should have been on all of us for somehow giving them the overbearing feelings they must have had, to admonish their children thusly.
Probably a never to be repeated opportunity missed during a period when we should have all had enough of isolationistic displays of overt nationalism.
There are any number of memories of being cautioned by owners of business's along St,Denis and other streets, to not be heard speaking English during St, Jean Baptiste day celebrations, especially while a parade is going by, as late as the recent past decades.
I've heard and experienced them all first hand; perhaps YOUR memories differ; that's nice for you.
It's now 2014.....what has changed? I'm open to updates.
Once again, your fear of Francophones is exagerrated, overdramatic, and above all, unjustified. It is really difficult to even have a logical debate on the topic of Quebec when perspectives are so warped by fear and prejudice.
All that is only if Montreal remains part of Quebec. if Canada is divisible, so is Quebec.
Montreal is the birthplace of the separatist movement and is consistently more separatist in elections then either Quebec City or Gatineau. Moreover, UN jurisprudence on the subject does not support that notion so it's a bit of a federalist fantasy. Even if, say, the West Island could separate, it probably wouldn't do anything more then threaten as the people living there depend on the rest of the metro area economically, there is no political umbrella under which all of those municipalities could act together, none of them are majority native Anglophone despite the impression you might get, and at the end of the day people are very connected in a myriad of ways with the rest of the city and province. At the same time, the Cree have reconciled with the Quebec government so the situation with them would be pretty different from 1995. So all of this argument it moot. It may have been relevant in 1995 but if it happened this year? Nah, I don't believe it would go down that way in 2014.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.