Xref: utzoo can.politics:1967 can.francais:65
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!alberta!myrias!ncc!augate!auvax!charlesv
From: charlesv@auvax.UUCP (Charles van Duren)
Newsgroups: can.politics,can.francais
Subject: Re: les quebecois sont plus gentils?
Summary: so true!
Message-ID: <809@auvax.UUCP>
Date: 18 Dec 88 17:14:13 GMT
References: <1988Dec13.133220.28851@lsuc.uucp> <4321@hcr.UUCP>
Distribution: can
Organization: Athabasca U., Alberta, Canada
Lines: 43

In article <4321@hcr.UUCP>, stacey@hcr.UUCP (Stacey Campbell) writes:
> In article <1988Dec13.133220.28851@lsuc.uucp> dave@lsuc.UUCP writes:
> >Is it my imagination?  (Or are they more friendly because they
> >detect a non-quebecois using French?)
> 
> In a similar vein, a Quebecois separatist who lives next to
> a friend of mine in des Laurentides fails to understand English
> when spoken by a Canadian.  I have found that his comprehension
> improves dramatically when speaking with an Australian (it certainly
> can't be the accent!).
> 
We had a different experience. We lived in Quebec from 1974-1978 when Quebecois
consciousness was reaching new heights. Our Ontario high school French was a
distinct political liability. Many of our Quebecois friends were bilingue, but
would not deign to help us improve our knowledge of French by speaking it with
us. Any part of a group conversation involving us would be carried on in
English (or rather, "anglais", which can be made to sound quite unfriendly).
The root of this attitude seemed to be that just speaking French, even with
the correct political sympathies, would never make us Quebecois (very much
like the Maritime notion of being "from away" unless you can trace your family
back some number of generations).

This is not a complaint. I fully understand the connection between culture and
language in Quebec. I am as an Alberta resident, however, becoming distinctly
aware of the difference between Quebecois and French-Canadian. I am very much
afraid that any move on Quebec's part to pursue the notion of distinct society,
which it almost inevitably must do, will abandon French minorities in the rest
of Canada to assimilation of the remnants of their culture. This apprehension
is not eased in the slightest by the rumours of understandings between Devine
and Bourassa, for instance, about treatment of their respective linguistic
minorities. The French minorities in the West are no match on their own for
the Gettys, Devines, and Zalms and the right-wing populism they represent. 
The Franco-Ontarions and Acadians may in the long term fare no better, except
that the latter have at times been an identifiable political force in
provincial politics. Quebecois must take into account their brethren in the
diaspora.

> Stacey Campbell, HCR Corporation, {lsuc,utzoo,utcsri}!hcr!stacey

Charles van Duren
TIP Project, Athabasca University
Athabasca, Alberta
albert!auvax!charlesv