Discrimination in Quebec... and Canada!

It's not hard to find anglophones in Quebec who feel that they are the victims of discrimination. The more hysterical ones will even make comparisons with Nazi Germany or Apartheid South-Africa. The source of this discrimination, they say, is the Charter of the French Language, also known as Bill 101. Quebec, of course, does have language laws but do they really constitute discrimination? Why do francophones in Quebec feel that they need these laws? In order to achieve a rational understanding of something, we need to understand the context, the bigger picture. Let's take a look.

I know It may come as a shock to people raised on a Heritage Minute, sanitized pablum version of Canadian history but Canada's history is not a Disney movie. In fact, to some, it is more of a Stephen King novel. When I come across one of these hysterical Quebec Anglos with their shrill accusations of "racism" and "oppression", I like to remind them of the following laws that were passed by English Canadians and the British before them:

1916 - Province of Manitoba: The Thornton Act, by abolishing bilingual schools, completely ends the teaching of French in the province

1912 - Province of Ontario: Circular of Instructions Regulation No. 17 and No. 18. Forbids the teaching of French above the first two grades of elementary school.

1890 - Province of Manitoba: Official Language Act banning French, formerly an official language in the province. Premier Greenway diminishes the rights to French school, abolishes its use in the Parliament and in the Courts of the province. The act was declared unconstitutional 90 years later!

1877 - Province of Prince-Edward-Island: The Public School Act puts an end to the teaching of French in schools.

1871 - Province of New Brunswick: The Common School Act imposes double taxation measures against French Catholic schools.

1864 - Province of Nova Scotia: The act on public schools suppresses all subsidies to Catholic and French language schools.

1840 - Great Britain: The Parliament of Great Britain adopts An Act to reunite the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and form the Government of Canada which places the former Franco-Catholic majority of Lower Canada in an artificially-created position of minority in a new Parliament inside which they were purposely under-represented. The French language is banned in the Parliament, Courts and all other governmental bodies of the new united province. French is explicitly banned in a constitutional text of law.

Confronted with these facts, the hysterical Anglo will generally shrug and say that that was the past. It's not like that now. This is true but the Anglo will rarely reflect on the meaning or consequences of these laws. He will see them as some aberration in Canada's otherwise glorious history of wonderfulness. I think a more honest reading of Canadian history shows that these laws were not an anomaly but were a central part of English Canada's policy of containment and assimilation with regards to French. 

Most people have heard of Lord Durham's report, you know the one where he recommends the assimilation of francophones through massive immigration, but don't seem to make the link with subsequent events, like the laws mentioned earlier. The objective of all this was clearly to stop French from spreading. No second French-speaking province was to be allowed to take root... and it worked. Millions of Quebecer are today Americans because of these polices. A truly bi-national, bilingual Canada could have existed but it was intentionally prevented for coming into being.

The situation in Quebec was not much better for francophones. Prior to the 1960s, we find a typical colonial setup. If you were Francophone you were generally relegated to the lowest rungs of the economic ladder. In some companies, even the position of foreman was exclusively held by Anglophones. Many parts of Montreal were as English as Toronto and your chances of being served in French were about the same as in Toronto. Before Bill 101, Montreal was basically an English city where the majority spoke French. Also, about 90% of immigrants to Quebec ended up as Anglophones. francophones had basically accepted their subordinate position to Anglophones for decades until the 1960s.

Many things changed in Quebec in the 1960s. One of which was the economic prospects of francophones. This was largely due to people like Jacques Parizeau who created organizations like la Société générale de financement and la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec which made capital generally available to francophones for the first time. This completely changed the economic landscape in Quebec. Quebec was no longer the fiefdom of a small group of wealthy Anglo oligarchs.

Many anglophones like to attribute the impoverished state of francophones before the 1960s to the influence of the Catholic Church. While it is true that the Church was certainly guilty of leading Quebecers up the garden path for a long time, I believe their importance in Quebec society was directly proportional to their usefulness to the Anglo oligarchs of Quebec. In any case, once Quebecers had a way of improving their lot, they completely abandon the Church so it's not likely that it was the Church that was really holding them back.

So, as we can see, politics have always dictated language policy in Canada, usually against francophones. For a long time, Anglophones had a lot of power over francophones in Quebec and the result was English mansions in Westmount and French slums in St-Henri. Then, francophones in Quebec used democratic institutions to regain control of their destiny which lead to a lot of positive changes for francophones AND the dreaded language laws.

Are Quebec's language laws justice or revenge?

First, let's consider a few facts:

1. The sign legislation does not violate the freedom of expression which is destined to protect the pluralism of political, ideological and artistic expression and is only remotely related to commercial signs.
2. Anglophones in Quebec continue to do business in English. The sign legislation does not prevent anglophone merchants from advertising in English on radio and television and in newspapers, weeklies, neighbourhood publications and mailings.
3. Bill 101 does not threaten the continued existence of the historical institutions of the anglophone community, the schools, universities, hospitals, social welfare centres and community organizations.
4. If at least one of your parents went to English school, you can go from day-care to University entirely in English in publicly funded institutions. If neither of your parents went to English schools, you can still do the all-English education but your primary and secondary school education will be done in private schools.

Conclusion: The integrity of the Quebec anglophone community is not endangered.

Quebec's language laws may be a nuisance to Anglos in Quebec but they are not discrimination. Like Affirmative Action in The US, they are designed to correct an historical injustice. The problem here, of course, is that most white Americans do acknowledge the injustice done to Black people in the US, whereas most English Canadians refuse to accept that they are responsible for any injustices done to anyone, francophone, native or anyone.

Quebec is the only place left in North America where it is still possible to live and work in French. We have laws to make sure that this will continue into the future. Personally, I think independence is a better option than laws. The demands of Anglo-Quebecers seems to be that Quebec should stay a province of an English-speaking country and abandon all protection of its language. I fail to see how anyone can see that as anything other than a demand for cultural genocide for the last viable community of French-speaking people in North America. A people who have inhabited this continent for over 400 years.