The Parti Quebecois recently won the Quebec provincial election, de-throning Jean Charest’s Liberals. For those unfamiliar, the Parti Quebecois are a sovereigntist party. Left wing in nature, their one true goal is to Quebec secede from Canada. In between referenda, they tend to argue for more autonomy (and money and largesse) for the province, and they would be the strongest supporters of the oppressive language laws that Jaybird decries so frequently.
In the recent campaign, the PQ sunk to new lows, attacking religious groups they don’t like and proposing that unilingual anglophones shouldn’t be allowed to run for office. I’ve written numerous times about the bigotry of the PQ, as well as many other Quebec governments and politicians (Charest supports Quebec language laws and the NDP came out in favour of them in the last federal election, selling their progressive souls for official opposition status), but that’s not what I want to focus on right now.
Bill 101 (which contains Quebec’s language laws) is well-established. It’s decades old, and there is an acceptance with it that I find quite uncomfortable. A friend and colleague of mine, Jared Milne, has written much on Canadian unity, and has been a defender, to a degree, of these laws. Jared’s a smart guy, and a true student of Canada, so I give his words a lot of consideration. He argues that Bill 101 is necessary (again, to a degree) to protect the francophone culture in Quebec. A majority in their province, but a minority in the country and on the continent, francophones are, understandably, threatened.
He may be right. Quebec’s traditional francophone culture may be on the verge of disappearing but for Bill 101. But, in a way, I don’t care.It is, of course, sad to see a culture absorbed into a greater whole, losing much of its identity and much that it holds dear. Fears of such a disappearance are rampant in Quebec, and there is a sense among much of the population that Quebecers have a duty to learn French, and, in fact, to be French. It is not merely a bigoted pure laine sentiment; it is common among those who don’t harbour extreme nationalist views. This is how the PQ is able to survive even when hard-line separatism is wanes. middle-of-the-road voters will hold their nose and vote for separatists because they want a government that will protect their preferred culture.
Years ago, Will Wilkinson wrote about fertility panics, and the cultural gamesmanship that goes along with them:
So if you’ve got a conservative, zoological view of cultural preservation which fixes on the importance of high-fidelity copying of inessential aspects of a culture’s history (costumes, holidays, rites, cuisine, skin colors etc.), you’re going to have a hard time of it. But if you care about the essential core of liberal modernity, you should be delighted with how things are going. You’ll eat your szechuan taco pizza and you’ll love it.
This quotation has been on my mind a lot with the cultural wars that are going on in Quebec. Even anglophones in Quebec can buy into the notion that there is something magical about the french language that it must be protected by brute force, lest francophone parents allow their children to be educated in English.
If the French language – supposedly so important it seems to the culture of these Quebecers – is in such a fragile position that future Quebec generations will abandon it if given the freedom, it tells me that the language is not, in fact, that important to the people of Quebec. If we are forcing people to live a lifestyle that they would not choose for themselves, then we are oppressors. If we think that such a lifestyle is of great value, we should be able to let it stand on its own.
I know what the quick response to such an argument is; as an anglophone living in Ontario, it’s really easy for me to say this. However, I am not arguing that the people of Quebec need to adopt any particular lifestyle. I’m not arguing that everyone should just suck it up and learn English. I am arguing that all Quebecers should have the freedom to choose the language in which they will communicate. I am arguing that francophones should be given this freedom. Francophones, being in the majority, will then decide, through their actions, what shape their society will take.
The PQ doesn’t care. The prefer a language to a people.
If the French language – supposedly so important it seems to the culture of these Quebecers – is in such a fragile position that future Quebec generations will abandon it if given the freedom, it tells me that the language is not, in fact, that important to the people of Quebec. If we are forcing people to live a lifestyle that they would not choose for themselves, then we are oppressors. If we think that such a lifestyle is of great value, we should be able to let it stand on its own.
Hmm. While I agree with your overall point, and I certainly have no love for the separatists, this seems to disregard some practical realities. In many ways, a person who’s attended an English school is likely to have an easier time of things. Canada (and North America as a whole) has more anglophone universities than francophone ones, and many more job opportunities for anglophones. There’s a lot of economic reasons for people in Quebec to choose English schooling. If they get a job in an anglophone business, they’ll be speaking English all day at work. In such circumstances, it wouldn’t be surprising if they became more used to learning English than French – not because they don’t value French culturally, but because English is more economically valuable.
It reminds me of the question of disappearing languages among First Nations people – here, but especially in Latin America. Due to the social and economic constructions of Latin American countries, you’re more likely to be able to ‘get ahead’ in life if you speak Spanish rather than Quechua. And if you do ‘get ahead’, most of the people around you will also speak Spanish (and probably English).
The fact that conserving some cultural practices isn’t something that our society economically rewards – that their conservation is, in fact, something we economically select against – doesn’t mean that people don’t actually value them, or that their preservation isn’t worthwhile. What the PQ seem to be trying to do is to provide something of a counter to economic forces. You need a critical mass of French-speaking Canadians in order to ensure that there are tangible benefits as well as detriments to being francophone; they’re trying to preserve that critical mass.
Sometimes freedom of choice means szechuan taco poutine. Sometimes freedom of choice means a Starbucks on every corner and a McDonald’s on every block. Is the latter something we’re willing to embrace in the name of freedom?
It’s easy to sort out the anglophones in Québec. They don’t use the accent grave.
If Canada played its cards right, it would do as Czechoslovakia did in the Velvet Divorce when it let Slovakia go its own way. Soon enough, the Québécois would come around and see reason.
Heh.
I don’t think the Velvet Divorce route would ever really work, not that it hasn’t been floated (and not that it doesn’t have its merits). The idea of separatism has always been a lot more popular than actual separatism.
Oh there’s no danger of literal separatism any more. The First Nations (who can credibly lay claim to the entirety of Quebec north of the band of land around the St. Lawrence that was once delineated Lower Canada) made it abundantly clear that they would, no way, no how, quietly allow themselves to be removed from Canada by the French majority to the south of them. The fits, seizures and fainting that the separatists endured at the idea of their beautiful Quebec being cut up like some roast had separatism on the ropes for a decade. It’s only as time has passed and eased the memory enough to allow denial and delusions that the problem doesn’t exist that the Bloc has resurged.
But really separatism has always been predicated on some knee slapping delusions. The Bloc (and separatists overall) somehow imagine that they could separate from Canada but retain for themselves the use of the Canadian currency, continue to enjoy inclusion in Canadian treaties, continue to receive Canadian transfer payments and continue to expect the Federal government to keep Federal jobs in Quebec. Every time they ever get any serious steam behind their movement a chorus comes up from the rest of the country “What the hell are you smoking???” and then, surprise, separatism loses at the polls.
It’s really more of a con on the rest of the country than a serious movement. But ya got to hand it to them, it’s a mightily useful and successful con.