Xref: utzoo can.politics:2029 can.francais:108
Path: utzoo!attcan!lsuc!ecicrl!clewis
From: clewis@ecicrl.UUCP (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: can.politics,can.francais
Subject: Re: Notwithstanding clause -- truly a sad day for Canada
Message-ID: <169@ecicrl.UUCP>
Date: 28 Dec 88 20:01:55 GMT
References: <1988Dec13.133220.28851@lsuc.uucp> <4321@hcr.UUCP> <809@auvax.UUCP> <230@electro.UUCP> <2521@looking.UUCP> <560@cavell.UUCP> <165@ecicrl.UUCP> <1736@maccs.McMaster.CA>
Reply-To: clewis@ecicrl.UUCP (Chris Lewis)
Distribution: can
Organization: Elegant Communications Inc. (CRL Division)
Lines: 45

In article <1736@maccs.McMaster.CA> gordan@maccs.UUCP () writes:

>Yes, there are lots of Chinese-only signs in Chinatown, but if you want
>to make a valid comparison, you would have to imagine half of Metro
>Toronto being Cantonese-speaking (say, everything west of Yonge).  You
>would further have to imagine the rest of the country and the continent
>(other than roughly six million people in southern Ontario) as being
>Cantonese-speaking.  Furthermore, Cantonese would be the worldwide
>language of commerce and popular culture.

>Now you have a valid comparison.

>What would the English-speaking majority of the tiny enclave of southern
>Ontario do under such circumstances?  Hard to say.

It's actually quite easy to say: 

By what right can the rest of the province dictate what language business
is conducted in within Toronto?  Or vice-versa?  Especially if the majority
within Toronto is something else?  All you would be doing is forcing
a few million people within Toronto to conduct business in a language other
than they want to.  You want to create animosity?  Civil War?

If such a thing were to happen, well, what could I *reasonably* do to *force*
other people to "use" my culture?  Absolutely *nothing*.

Languages, cultures and ethnicity *evolve* damn it, and if one can't survive
on it's own, sorry, but bye-bye.  Even if it's my own.

Everybody's going to should "that's easy for you to say!  Yours won't."
Does that deprive me of an opinion or invalidate one?  Nope.  Especially
since there is just as little likelyhood that the French-Canadian culture
will disappear.  Or Canadian-Ukrainian, Canadian-Jewish or any other of 
the rest of the hyphenated cultures that are not disappearing either, even 
though they don't have the ability to create such laws.

If Ukrainians, Poles, Jews, Chinese, Japanese etc. can keep their cultures
alive without such laws, why can't the Quebecois?  Are they afraid that
without being forced nobody would think the Quebecois culture was worth 
keeping?  They only sell themselves short...
-- 
Chris Lewis, Markham, Ontario, Canada
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