Xref: utzoo can.politics:2046 can.francais:113
Path: utzoo!telly!evan
From: evan@telly.UUCP (Evan Leibovitch)
Newsgroups: can.politics,can.francais
Subject: Re: Notwithstanding clause -- truly a sad day for Canada
Message-ID: <463@telly.UUCP>
Date: 1 Jan 89 16:20:23 GMT
References: <1988Dec13.133220.28851@lsuc.uucp> <4321@hcr.UUCP> <809@auvax.UUCP> <169@ecicrl.UUCP> <433@cs-spool.calgary.UUCP>
Reply-To: evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch)
Distribution: can
Organization: System telly, Brampton, Ontario
Lines: 49

In article <433@cs-spool.calgary.UUCP> freedman@cpsc.ucalgary.ca (Daniel Freedman) writes:
>
>Why does Quebec not forbid English speaking people from moving to
>Quebec?  It seems to me that this is in some sense a more reasonable
>policy than forcing people to use a language that they don't want to
>(they obviously dont want to, since if they did want to, they wouldn't
>need to be forced).

As for now, Quebec cannot restrict people who are legally in Canada from living
where they want. I beleieve one of the major goals behind the move for
independence is the ability to control immigration from the rest of Canada.
But that hasn't kept the province from using every tool at its disposal
from making life hell for those who wish to be unilingual English.

That is, unless they're tourists. Especially American tourists.

I remember some kind of law that requires that children be taught in the
French shool system. To be able to attend, say, Montreal's Protestant School
Board, a child must have parents who can BOTH prove that their 'mother tongue'
is English. As I recall, the intent of this law was to force Canadian
immigrants settling in Quebec to go through French schooling (prior to the
law, most had opted for English).

I'm pretty sure this law is the reason why Montreal, which had a reputation
for being the multi-cultural centre of Canada, has clearly lost that to
Toronto in the last decade. The neighborhood of Duddy Kravitz has been all
but wiped out.

>Since the French have a majority in Quebec, and
>assuming that they have kids at the same speed (or greater) as the
>English in Quebec, then as time goes on the province would become more
>and more French-speaking, thus preserving the language and hence the
>culture.

The threat, as I see it, is that the kids brought up French continue
to see English as the language of power, maybe not in Quebec, but anywhere
else on the continent. Radio stations in Quebec play as much Michael Jackson
as those in Ontario.

I have always found it somewhat frustrating that Quebec has never understood
that English Canada is as paranoid about preserving local culture as it is.
We should be working together to those goals (like a single CBC, not two
factions that don't recognize each other's existence). Instead, I see a
pattern of action which shows Quebec doesn't give a damn for co-operation.

-- 
Evan Leibovitch, SA of System Telly                   "I am most concerned that
Located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario, Canada          nobody will remember me
evan@telly.on.ca -or- uunet!attcan!telly!evan            when I am dead" - Anon.