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Not much has changed here. If I say, bring up grievances with English-speaking progressives, they dismiss it as whining and that my experiences are invalid, such a sense of feeling of dread of the dominant culture is only something like, black people feel, I'm just being a "whiner" (but, when black people protest police brutality and say "Black Lives Matter", these very same people say "All Lives Matter", dismissing black folks as well).
English-speaking people who are right of centre, well, they're more honest and I know contempt is to be expected. Can get along w/ them a little better. Though with the Trudeau victory their hostility shows up on my Facebook feed and the ****'s pretty offensive (is it lost on them, that English is his first language and many francophones loathe his old man?)
Funny I was waiting for years for Harper to be out of office then it happens and I see this crap and, after the initial happiness of the election results, I get bombarded with what people really think of people like me and it's pretty damn depressing.
Generally, the only non-francophones I hang around with here are people of colour, Blacks, Latinos, Aboriginals, Arabs, South Asians, mostly.
The place outside Quebec I go to the most often is Ottawa obviously, and it's allegedly pretty good for francophones (especially if you are non-assertive about French!). A majority of my closest relatives actually live in Ontario in Ottawa and its environs. Most of them say it's perfectly fine for francophones but almost all of them are non-assertive. In the sense that almost the only time they use French when out in public is when they pick up and drop off their kids at the local French school. Everything else they do in English. So if you live this way in Ottawa, sure, virtually no one there will give you a hard time if your name is Pierre Tremblay or Vernon D'Entremont , or even if you have an accent TBQH. But if you are going around all day addressing everyone in French (or even speaking it too loudly in some cases) and demanding French service (even in places where they are supposed to offer it), then yes you will encounter hostility and life will not be so pleasant.
On this topic, I guess it can be said that some ghosts and vestiges of the bad old days are still around, but that overall Canada has become orders of magnitude more compassionate, more harmonious, and enlightened about "others" in the last few generations. I like that trajectory! It's improved even in the last ten years. I have faith that we can build an even better future, where we won't be perfect to each other, but where people like you will have less occasion to feel down. This is grassroots, organic, cultural change that we all play a part in, so do your best to create the best Canada that can be, and I'll do mine! Together, we can be a part of making tomorrow better then today, just as today is better in the respects we're talking about then yesterday was.
I do generally agree with you that things have gotten better. Still some work to do though!
It's pretty common over here, it shocks me to hear it happens in Ontario, though.
I am pretty used to this kind of crap. The main reason I don't drink alcohol is because a little bit of a French accent comes out when I am drinking. I don't feel safe letting it known because of some hostile people.
I've been heartbroken to see stuff from people I thought were my friends coming on my Facebook feed in the past few days, too. Feeling very depressed today, actually. Really down.
So from what I gather some people are reacting to Trudeau's victory with hostility as if it was some kind of ''Frenchy'' takeover?
I guess it could be expected but I can't say that I would have predicted it would be much of a ''thing''.
That saddens me again.
FYI here in Gatineau and environs (about 85% francophone) all three NDP MPs - all of them French Canadians - were defeated by three fluently bilingual anglophone Liberals. My new MP, Steve MacKinnon, is originally from Charlottetown. Another new MP is a bilingual university professor originally from BC, William Amos. And the new MP for Hull-Aylmer is a bilingual black (West Indian I assume?) Montrealer by the name of Greg Fergus.
Not much has changed here. If I say, bring up grievances with English-speaking progressives, they dismiss it as whining and that my experiences are invalid, such a sense of feeling of dread of the dominant culture is only something like, black people feel, I'm just being a "whiner" (but, when black people protest police brutality and say "Black Lives Matter", these very same people say "All Lives Matter", dismissing black folks as well).
English-speaking people who are right of centre, well, they're more honest and I know contempt is to be expected. Can get along w/ them a little better. Though with the Trudeau victory their hostility shows up on my Facebook feed and the ****'s pretty offensive (is it lost on them, that English is his first language and many francophones loathe his old man?)
Funny I was waiting for years for Harper to be out of office then it happens and I see this crap and, after the initial happiness of the election results, I get bombarded with what people really think of people like me and it's pretty damn depressing.
Generally, the only non-francophones I hang around with here are people of colour, Blacks, Latinos, Aboriginals, Arabs, South Asians, mostly.
That really sucks.
I really pity people who can't separate the person from the "thing". If you dislike someone for what they've done, then dislike the act. I can wind up disliking or loving Trudeau 2.0, but it will be because of his actions, not because of his heritage.
So from what I gather some people are reacting to Trudeau's victory with hostility as if it was some kind of ''Frenchy'' takeover?
I guess it could be expected but I can't say that I would have predicted it would be much of a ''thing''.
That saddens me again.
FYI here in Gatineau and environs (about 85% francophone) all three NDP MPs - all of them French Canadians - were defeated by three fluently bilingual anglophone Liberals. My new MP, Steve MacKinnon, is originally from Charlottetown. Another new MP is a bilingual university professor originally from BC, William Amos. And the new MP for Hull-Aylmer is a bilingual black (West Indian I assume?) Montrealer by the name of Greg Fergus.
I'm surprised too. Certainly I haven't see that at all IRL in BC so far among non-Trudeau supporters, although I haven't been on facebook at all, and even if I were I don't think I know anyone who would say stuff like that. Criticisms of him have been about his policies or experience, not his ethnicity, but I'm sure Souriquois is not lying.
My parents' generation had their hands rapped with a ruler if they were caught speaking their mother tongue among themselves. It didn't matter if it was recess and my mom said there were always tattletales so that if you forgot yourself, someone would go running to tell the teacher. Few if any children would have known English when they started school. I myself learned English in school or just before - I can't remember and my mom doesn't remember either.
Speaking of fusion's multicultural bubble, I saw an interesting thing at the supermarket nearest my small town: a white man, in his 60s, began speaking to a Filipino couple who were also in the checkout line and speaking among themselves in their language, in their language. After he had finished with his groceries, the Filipino couple began laughing among themselves and it was clear that they had been very surprised to find themselves spoken to by someone not of their community in their language. I have no idea how well he spoke it, but the three of them seemed to be understanding each other. It was nice to see. 25 years ago you almost never saw anyone here who wasn't white.
Speaking of fusion's multicultural bubble, I saw an interesting thing at the supermarket nearest my small town: a white man, in his 60s, began speaking to a Filipino couple who were also in the checkout line and speaking among themselves in their language, in their language. After he had finished with his groceries, the Filipino couple began laughing among themselves and it was clear that they had been very surprised to find themselves spoken to by someone not of their community in their language. I have no idea how well he spoke it, but the three of them seemed to be understanding each other. It was nice to see. 25 years ago you almost never saw anyone here who wasn't white.
You're from Manitoba, right? I read on the Internet that Tagalog has replaced French as the second-most-common language in that province.
You're from Manitoba, right? I read on the Internet that Tagalog has replaced French as the second-most-common language in that province.
There are lots of Filipinos, even outside Winnipeg, and the descendants of boat people from back in the '70s. Many churches sponsored them and that was the start, really, of non-whites in this area. I didn't call it Tagalog, although it probably was, because the Philippines have more than one language. I would say that some Filipino language or the other is very commonly heard in the stores.
You're from Manitoba, right? I read on the Internet that Tagalog has replaced French as the second-most-common language in that province.
That's not true. French has more speakers in Manitoba than Tagalog. But German has more speakers than French in the province. French is third. German also has more speakers than French in Alberta and Saskatchewan. French is between third and fifth in those other two provinces I'd say.
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, or even if you have an accent TBQH. But if you are going around all day addressing everyone in French (or even speaking it too loudly in some cases) and demanding French service (even in places where they are supposed to offer it), then yes you will encounter hostility and life will not be so pleasant.
