Derogating History to the DustBin Again
What's that neat little phrase again...it happened, get over it. Right. Aggrieved Quebecois are at it again. French Canadians continue to apply outraged pressure whenever they feel they have been unfairly treated. And anything can be construed by French Canadians as unjust. Particularly anything having to do with the culture, traditions and above all, language of Quebec. As a result of which the federal government took steps to safeguard the French language in perpetuity within Canada declaring the official bilingual character of the country.
And the provincial government of Quebec went one better enacting legislation that placed any language other than French at a distinct disadvantage in that province, and with its draconian usage laws not only imperilled the place of English-speaking Quebecers in their shared society, but their own economic well-being with the pull-out of nervous corporate head offices and long-time Quebec citizens, seeking stability and peace elsewhere in the country. Perversely, Quebec is the only province within confederation where English-language usage is not protected by law.
And it's happening again. Language sabre-rattling discontent makes for nervous investment in Quebec. Immigrants who have chosen to settle in that province whose mother-tongue was French and those for whom it was not, and who represent a foreign culture, societal mores and religion seen as oppositional to Quebec's core values are becoming increasingly restive, worried about their future in a province whose majority residents view their differences with suspicion.
To those residents from abroad for whom the change in country of residence has exacted enough of a toll through an unsettling need to migrate, comes an additional headache. The pointed references to their home-grown foreign social and cultural traditions held up as unacceptable practises in Quebec. Along with their faltering stabs at learning a new language. Do it, else move elsewhere is the message they're receiving, loud and clear.
In a way can't blame the good people of Quebec. Their insistence on re-structuring 'reasonable accommodation' in a manner that makes them more comfortable could be related more to the fact that they have become increasingly alarmed at the incursions of exotic habitudes sometimes offensive in this society, than racial tension. Hard to tell the difference, sometimes. But Quebecers are offended and disenchanted with the dress code and values challenges differentiating immigrants from the mainstream culture.
French Canadians are sensitive to anything that even remotely sullies their history and their future prospects for language dominance in their singular province. They do have a reason to chafe at the prospect of diluting their language and customs through the incursion of increasing numbers of immigrants. Yet these immigrants spell the future success for economic viability in a country whose citizens are not duplicating their numbers by birth.
So relax, give them time. It's simply not the French Canadian way, unfortunately. What is their way is a blathering insistence that their version of history prevail. Which is why yet again complaints have been brought forward, this time against the National Capital Commission which has sought to bring the celebration of history to the notice of the residents of the National Capital Region.
Portraits of individuals who had a historical hand in the formation of the national capital have been placed on display at the Sparks Street Mall; Queen Victoria who selected Ottawa as the nation's capital, for example, and Sir John A. Macdonald, our first prime minister. Along with Lord Durham, British colonial governor whose crystal ball happened to be out of commission at the time when he argued that French Canadians were bereft of history and culture.
His idea at the time was that French Canadians would benefit greatly by assimilation into the English-speaking population. Oops, that incautious observation, logical at the time, and quite in step with prevailing opinion overall at the time has given birth to current protests. Launched by the head of the French-language lobby group Imperatif francais. Demanding the poster depicting Lord Durham be summarily removed and an apology offered to French Canadians.
The portrait, along with those of others of that era, has been on public display for six months, performing the function for which the display was planned. Lord Durham carefully described how the potential of future rebellions against the British fact in North America could be resolved before they occurred, and that was through the expedience of assimilation. A tried and true remedy which history ancient and more current have proved extremely useful.
"If French Canadians came together under a British system of government controlled for a time by England, they would learn proper ways and become anglicized." This was a matter of concern at the time, no less than it is now, after all this one and a half centuries of amalgamating Upper and Lower Canada into a single geographic entity. It happened. A reflection of the times. It is history.
Yet the NCC saw fit to swiftly accede to the complaint. "The NCC acknowledges that the recommendations put forth by Lord Durham at the time are considered inappropriate for many and certainly controversial", stated a NCC spokesperson. "We in no way intended to offend anyone and have subsequently removed the panel in question." So much for historical integrity and respect for reality.
Odd it most certainly is that a French-language watchdog can find fault with the historical record of fact, that a 1839 report written in response to rebellions that took place two years earlier, leading to the then-reasonable conclusion that assimilation could solve the issue is now anathema. Yet those very same French-speaking people are now insisting that new immigrants hasten their assimilation into the French-Canadian lifestyle, language, culture.
And the provincial government of Quebec went one better enacting legislation that placed any language other than French at a distinct disadvantage in that province, and with its draconian usage laws not only imperilled the place of English-speaking Quebecers in their shared society, but their own economic well-being with the pull-out of nervous corporate head offices and long-time Quebec citizens, seeking stability and peace elsewhere in the country. Perversely, Quebec is the only province within confederation where English-language usage is not protected by law.
And it's happening again. Language sabre-rattling discontent makes for nervous investment in Quebec. Immigrants who have chosen to settle in that province whose mother-tongue was French and those for whom it was not, and who represent a foreign culture, societal mores and religion seen as oppositional to Quebec's core values are becoming increasingly restive, worried about their future in a province whose majority residents view their differences with suspicion.
To those residents from abroad for whom the change in country of residence has exacted enough of a toll through an unsettling need to migrate, comes an additional headache. The pointed references to their home-grown foreign social and cultural traditions held up as unacceptable practises in Quebec. Along with their faltering stabs at learning a new language. Do it, else move elsewhere is the message they're receiving, loud and clear.
In a way can't blame the good people of Quebec. Their insistence on re-structuring 'reasonable accommodation' in a manner that makes them more comfortable could be related more to the fact that they have become increasingly alarmed at the incursions of exotic habitudes sometimes offensive in this society, than racial tension. Hard to tell the difference, sometimes. But Quebecers are offended and disenchanted with the dress code and values challenges differentiating immigrants from the mainstream culture.
French Canadians are sensitive to anything that even remotely sullies their history and their future prospects for language dominance in their singular province. They do have a reason to chafe at the prospect of diluting their language and customs through the incursion of increasing numbers of immigrants. Yet these immigrants spell the future success for economic viability in a country whose citizens are not duplicating their numbers by birth.
So relax, give them time. It's simply not the French Canadian way, unfortunately. What is their way is a blathering insistence that their version of history prevail. Which is why yet again complaints have been brought forward, this time against the National Capital Commission which has sought to bring the celebration of history to the notice of the residents of the National Capital Region.
Portraits of individuals who had a historical hand in the formation of the national capital have been placed on display at the Sparks Street Mall; Queen Victoria who selected Ottawa as the nation's capital, for example, and Sir John A. Macdonald, our first prime minister. Along with Lord Durham, British colonial governor whose crystal ball happened to be out of commission at the time when he argued that French Canadians were bereft of history and culture.
His idea at the time was that French Canadians would benefit greatly by assimilation into the English-speaking population. Oops, that incautious observation, logical at the time, and quite in step with prevailing opinion overall at the time has given birth to current protests. Launched by the head of the French-language lobby group Imperatif francais. Demanding the poster depicting Lord Durham be summarily removed and an apology offered to French Canadians.
The portrait, along with those of others of that era, has been on public display for six months, performing the function for which the display was planned. Lord Durham carefully described how the potential of future rebellions against the British fact in North America could be resolved before they occurred, and that was through the expedience of assimilation. A tried and true remedy which history ancient and more current have proved extremely useful.
"If French Canadians came together under a British system of government controlled for a time by England, they would learn proper ways and become anglicized." This was a matter of concern at the time, no less than it is now, after all this one and a half centuries of amalgamating Upper and Lower Canada into a single geographic entity. It happened. A reflection of the times. It is history.
Yet the NCC saw fit to swiftly accede to the complaint. "The NCC acknowledges that the recommendations put forth by Lord Durham at the time are considered inappropriate for many and certainly controversial", stated a NCC spokesperson. "We in no way intended to offend anyone and have subsequently removed the panel in question." So much for historical integrity and respect for reality.
Odd it most certainly is that a French-language watchdog can find fault with the historical record of fact, that a 1839 report written in response to rebellions that took place two years earlier, leading to the then-reasonable conclusion that assimilation could solve the issue is now anathema. Yet those very same French-speaking people are now insisting that new immigrants hasten their assimilation into the French-Canadian lifestyle, language, culture.
Labels: Peculiarities, Social-Cultural Deviations
posted by Pieface @ 5:28 PM
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