So reads a sticker before entering a local large mall.
Translation: We conduct business in French here.
Urban translation: And don't you forget it.
I rarely discuss the language issue in this province. I simply stand diametrically opposed to the arcane laws that trample on individual liberty. It's a philosophical choice. Nothing against the tyrants in Quebec City. Either you stand with liberty or you don't. We don't in Quebec. We think (or at least convinced ourselves) we do. I say this understanding full well the justified fears Quebecers feel about their language.
And French is without doubt a beautiful language worth preserving here.
However, I'm not interested in giving into cultural nationalism. It's overkill here. It's also contradictory. Poll after poll, Quebecers feel they should have the right to choose where their children go to school - in any language. Yet, Bill 101 prevents this from happening; mostly against new immigrants and French-Canadians. More stunning, my Quebec friends don't seem aware of the extent of the law and how it impedes their decision making powers.
With that, here's how I interpreted the sticker: petty and parochial.
Guess what?
I don't spend my money at Carrefour Laval. It's as simple as that.
My money is good enough but not my mother tongue?
I love when the government pleads I spend MY money in Quebec during an economic environment under duress but turns around and plasters lame stickers.
Am I over reacting? Possibly. Indeed, it's rare a Quebecer won't try and speak English - and it's true for the reverse.
Usually, this is how it works: I get to a cash and speak French (while this is normal we're also keenly aware there can be a nationalist lurking about ready to pounce on you if you don't. They're paranoid and so are we. Meh.) to the cashier. With my partner, whoever it may be at the time, we speak English to each other. Heck, even Italian. Sometimes the cashier switches (you know, because they're displaying respect and professionalism) or they don't. Either way I don't care. But I do appreciate when they try.
Most of the time, Quebecers act bigger than a sticker. Contradictions, contradictions.
So, the sticker is the work of an insecure government bureaucracy. The people seem a tad more secure in my view.
In the end, it just rubbed me the wrong way. The vibe I got wasn't good. We should be better than this.
All this to say, we shop in Vermont, New York and Ontario. If anything, for peace of mind.
Ici ont commerce en Francais.
Superbe. Bon pour vous.
But my money doesn't recognize language.
Great post. Nationalism and multi-ethnicity are so interesting. In the twentieth century, the world was ravaged by them, but Canada has always impressed me as doing a fair job of controlling and mitigating them. It's a shame that they're still manifested sometimes with pettiness.
ReplyDeleteQuebec/Canada does a decent job of controlling its nationalist urges but it's the odd pettiness, as you point, which annoy.
ReplyDeleteCanada has pulled it off. I still don't know how.
Which of course brings us to the melting pot theory versus multicultural policy.
But that's a whole other bag of P.E.I. potatoes.
Very good post. This language and culture thing is a big issue. I don't know if French Canadians are very similar to the French in France, but in the latter they tend to solve language problems with bureaucracy too etc. From your post it seems in Canada it is the same. It is though understandable why generally francophone people are worried. French was the common language of culture in the world only one century ago, and now it is shrinking so much. They just try to do something about it. But it is not with laws that you impose a language. It doesn't work that way. Also Mussolini tried with laws to exclude foreign words from Italian and he basically failed. One of his successes: autista, which superseded the French chauffeur.
ReplyDeleteI know that philosophically you are 100% for liberty. One devil’s advocate question, for the sake of dialectics. What about the endangered species? And aren’t endangered languages and culture similar? Though probably bureaucracy is not the answer.
I didn't know your mother-tongue was English. I thought it was Italian, at least in your infancy. But the way your write shows you master this language well.
First, MOR. As usual, I appreciate your gracious kind words.
ReplyDeleteMaster? Not sure. But, my mother tongue is indeed technically Italian. I spoke only Italian until I was four, followed by French.
I ended up in English school because of the way the laws are set up in Quebec. You see, in the beginning Italian immigrants did want to send their kids to French school but Quebec discriminated (literally pulling Italians out of class) against them. So, Italians being the go-getters they are, proceeded to build their own school system on the Montreal-Irish model.
Italians were pragmatic. They asked themselves: what's the language of culture and commerce? And they learned both. Soon, upward social mobility for Italians was such that Quebecers were annoyed they were being passed and they proceeded to try and remove Italians from English school. But they (along with others) rebelled in what is called the St. Leonard Riots. The result is that us Italians have the right to send our schools to English school while the French can't.
I agree you can't legislate these things. The endangered question you ask is one that I wrestle with. It helps to keep one honest.
Intervening on behalf of an animal or race is noble. Sometimes I wonder if we should just let history take its natural course. But if we must intervene, then it must be with the least impact on others.
For example, in Quebec laws are in place to protect the language. That's fine. But it need not spill into exaggerated places like the OLF (language police) and silly stickers. This impedes on the civil liberties of others.
A true libertarian wouldn't accept any of it.
I admire Quebec because they fight for what they think is right. If only the rest of Canada would grow balls like that in defense of Canadian interests. Here, we're all talk no action.
Ok. Gotta run. I didn't edit or reread this so forgive me if it's scattered.
The endangered question you ask is one that I wrestle with.
ReplyDeleteSorry if I keep bugging you with this concept of the pros and cons . You'll be surprised, but your vision of Liberty (which I consider of Anglo-Saxon origin in the economical field and of French origin in the political, I may be wrong) I keep wrestling with too in my mind a lot.
This being the beauty of discussion.
I like being kept honest.
ReplyDeleteJust one last thing. Too a Quebecer the sticker is a mere reminder. They don't see it as insulting. But this is not the perception on the other side of the fence.
Problems arising when you keep your ethnicities, unlike the USA. I prefer if some roots are preserved though.
ReplyDeleteMe too. But as you can see, it's not easy. In fact, my cousins in Calabria tell me they feel Brussels will destroy all the small cultures withing each country in Europe. They see the EU as one big intrusive suprastructure.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you have your thoughts on that.
I like your post. I first discovered "Ici on commerce en français" at the Apple store (micro boutique 10/trente) at that mega mall on the South Shore. I know French is the language of business in Quebec, I don't need my face rubbed in it.
ReplyDeleteI would be dubbed a racist of I put up a sticker that said "I do business in English." Such is the double standard of Quebec.
I didn't complain to the store, but I did write to Apple Computer and told them I wouldn't be spending my money at that location..
Good for you.
ReplyDeleteRespect is a TWO-WAY street. Something that still eludes us. Quebec still suffers from self-victimhood syndrome.
Until this changes we'll see more of this nonsense.
I agree. It has been awhile since I've been exposed to this kind of petty racism, and I had hoped it was fading away. No such luck.
ReplyDeleteOnly in Quebec would businesses make an effort to alienate a segment of their customer base. I will be watching for those signs now, and not spending my money where I find them.
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ReplyDeleteI myself am an allophone of European descent (Poland), and I can relate to everything wirtten on this board. The nationalist politics of Quebec are petty and annoying, and stem 100% from insecurity.
ReplyDeleteThe way I see it, Quebec language polictics have very little to do with the protection of the French language, and more with its imposition on the rest of us. The French remember the times when they were "les maites du monde", and have longed for those times ever since they lost the status of world supremacy.
This is what this whole thing is about in Quebec. The French language is NOT in danger. It's their egos that are hurt!!!
I think we're all on the same boat on this one. Ironically, their laws serve to hold them back. They'll need an Awakening Revolution.
ReplyDeleteWell put.
Welcome.
Yes. Whatever good the Quiet Revolution did in bringing this society from obscurity and into the light, there needs to be another quasi-revolution that will temper this society a little and put things in perspective. The perspective being that their linguistic community of 7 million people is surrounded by over 300 million English-speakers, their only metropolis (Montreal) is diverse and full of non-Francophones, and that English is the world's universal language. In addition, there are two other languages on the two American continents, Spanish with almost 300 million speakers (Central/South America + Mexico + parts of the US) and Portuguese with close to 200 million speakers (Brazil). So with not even 10 million, some humility would be advised.
ReplyDeleteIt is so simple, yet they still don't get it. Their arrogance overrides common sense.
Is it arrogance? Maybe. Arrogance does entail some insecurity I suppose. I use parochial.
ReplyDeleteIt stuns me how the elites get to educate themselves and family in English but have the guts to deny that same right to the population!
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