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"RELATIONS BETWEEN QUEBEC AND THE CANADIAN
FRENCH-RELATIONS BETWEEN QUEBEC AND
THE CANADIAN FRENCH-SPEAKING COMMUNITY
FOR THE YEAR 2000 AND BEYOND"
NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS AT
A SYMPOSIUM
AT A SYMPOSIUN ON THE ESTATES-GENERAL
IF FRENCH CANADA AFTER 30 YEARS
UNIVERSTY OF OTTAWA
NOVEMBER 8, 1997
Ms. Bureau, Mr. Leblanc, Mr. Brassard, Mr. Brien, Ms. Lanteigne, colleagues from
the House of Commons - I see at least two: Mr. Bélanger, Mr. Ménard -
colleagues from the University - I see a number of familiar faces and it's nice
to see you again - representatives of the press, ladies and gentlemen, when the
organizers of this symposium were kind enough to invite me, I must admit that
when they talked about the Estates-General, it made me think more of the French
Revolution than the Quiet Revolution. Mr. Brien said he was too young, Ms.
Lanteigne said it reminded her of 1967, Expo year - for me as well, I was 12
years old, it was Expo year - and so I called Vincent Lemieux, and I asked him,
what does that make you think of, the Estates-General of French Canada? So he
said, listen, I especially remember that your father had really insisted that
John Trent do his doctoral thesis on it, but he never completed it. So the
conclusion is that, if there are some empty seats here today, it's John Trent's
fault.
Now, we're told that it was a time of rupture
between Francophones in the other regions of Canada and Francophones in Quebec.
Mr. Leblanc has quoted an extraordinarily categorical statement by Ms.
Bissonnette in that regard, but I must tell you that it's not true, that
Francophone Quebecers don't want to break with the Francophones in the other
provinces and feel a strong solidarity with them. One proof of this is that,
among Francophone Quebecers, those who advocate Quebec independence immediately
feel uncomfortable when people talk to them about that topic, and try to give
themselves a clear conscience, either by claiming that the cause of French is
done for outside Quebec, or by saying that the withdrawal of Canada's
Francophone province would not weaken Francophones outside Quebec, a theory that
is so preposterous that one has to wonder whether those who defend it really
believe in it themselves or are merely trying yet again to give themselves a
clear conscience.
Because there really is solidarity between
Quebecers and other Francophones in Canada, you were right to call this round
table "Relations between Quebec and the Canadian French-speaking community
for the year 2000 and beyond", and that's what I'm going to talk about, by
trying to identify the similarities and differences between the situation of
Francophones living in Quebec and Francophones living elsewhere in Canada. From
there, we can perhaps identify trends for the next century.
So, what are the similarities in the situation of
Francophones in Quebec and other Francophones in Canada? First of all, there is
the global context, which is the same for all us Francophones. The French
language is a prestigious international language, but it is in decline. We
talked today about the debate on the situation in Vietnam, the country that is
hosting the Francophonie and that has legislation, that has laws that prohibit
the use of French. So it is clear that French is in decline.
Moreover, we live in a world where, for the first
time in human history, the number of languages in the world is decreasing rather
than increasing. The forces of assimilation are increased tenfold by modern
means of communication. We also live in a world where a language other than
French is by far the most used in international exchanges, the modern Esperanto,
the Esperanto of business, the Esperanto of science, culture and the Internet.
And that language is also the dominant language on our continent, the English
language. It is also the first time in human history that a quasi-continent,
North America without Mexico, is so unilingual. But we're talking about the very
language that is predominant in the world.
And so this is the situation all of us are in, as
Francophones in Canada, whether we live in Quebec or elsewhere. So the challenge
we've had in this century, that of thriving in French, will be the challenge we
have in the next century. It is a sizeable challenge for us, because we know
full well that language is much more than a means of communication. Language is
an opening on a whole cultural universe, a way of life, and that language thus
characterizes us profoundly.
To help us take on this challenge together, we,
Francophones in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada, share two assets. The first
asset is that we are more educated than before. It is an observable fact that
when one has more education, one is more attached to one's language, one is more
motivated to pass it on to one's children.
This is a very important change that we must use
to our advantage, in particular to ensure that we master modern means of
communication, rather than making them into Trojan horses for our assimilation.
On the contrary, the Internet, for example, can break the isolation of
communities and ensure that all Francophones have much more direct means of
communication.
While Canada is a world leader for the use of
French on the Internet, only 3% of communications on the Internet are in French,
and one third of that comes from Canada. That's because the governments of
Canada and Quebec, and also the Government of New Brunswick, have a
responsibility in this field, which is to promote French in new means of modern
communication. Other governments need to get involved as well.
The second asset is the rise of the liberal
values of openness and pluralism. Linguistic pluralism is increasingly seen as a
strength, as something to be promoted, rather than a problem, something to be
eliminated. It is difficult to measure the extent to which this is a new
phenomenon. To quote the linguist Jacques Leclerc:
"The centralizing authoritarianism which
consists of unilaterally imposing a single language throughout a territory and
ignoring linguistic pluralism [...] was standard practice in the 19th
century."
For various countries, entry into the modern era
has been accompanied by active policies of assimilation, including public
schooling.
If Canada is seen in international comparisons as
one of the most tolerant countries, the most open to the world, it is certainly
because Francophones and Anglophones have had to learn to live together.
And thus, a majority of our Anglophone fellow
citizens, in poll after poll, support official-language policies that would have
been unthinkable at the time of Confederation or in Wilfrid Laurier's day. And
so the French language has made a breakthrough over the past thirty years into
the common institutions of this federation and its rights have been considerably
strengthened, both in legislation and in the Constitution. One need only compare
the Constitution Act, 1867 and the Constitution Act, 1982 to see the extent to
which the rights of the French language have been strengthened. And so immersion
schools are a phenomenon that is here to stay, and the new generation of
Canadians is the most bilingual in our history, and all that progress, while not
enough, to be sure, which must still be pursued much more, is undeniable and
unparalleled in the world.
So our bilingualism, our openness to two
international languages, is more and more an economic asset. The statistics
speak for themselves: it pays to be bilingual in Canada and it pays for Canada
to be bilingual in the world. I will quote Jean Laponce, one of the greatest
world specialists on linguistic policy:
"The predominance of the English and French
languages puts Canada in a privileged position among the industrialized
democratic nations that are at the very heart of the global communications
system."
Francophones living outside Quebec are a
threefold minority. They are a minority within their continent, within their
country and within their province or territory. They live with Anglophone fellow
citizens who are a threefold majority: within their continent, within their
country and within their province or territory.
But as Mr. Leblanc has said, those communities
are rising to that challenge. There are difficulties. We must not paint a rosy
picture, there is assimilation, but nor must we artificially inflate the rates
of assimilation. Those communities have the capacity to use a network of
institutions that is unparalleled in comparison with what previously existed,
and there is thus a way for them to look to the future with confidence, despite
the tremendous challenges they must grapple with.
The situation in Quebec is a unique context. Both
linguistic communities must accept that they are each both a majority and a
minority, and that is what makes the unique character of Quebec society, a
character that is perhaps unique in the world. The Anglophones are a majority
within their continent and their country but a minority within Quebec, and the
Francophones are a majority within their province but a minority within their
country and on the continent. Anglophones therefore accept, and must accept more
and more, that Francophones have a right to linguistic protection against
English. Such irreproachable democracies as Belgium or Switzerland have much
more stringent policies of territorial unilingualism than there are in Quebec or
in Canada as a whole.
The Francophones, for their part, accept and must
accept more and more that, even though Quebec Anglophones are a majority within
the continent, they are not living in an abstract continent; they live in the
Gaspé, in the Eastern Townships, in the Montreal region, and, as minorities,
they have rights as well.
That balance to be struck between Francophones
and Anglophones is unique. Are they capable, Quebec Francophones and
Anglophones, of striking that balance? Of course they are, and they will be able
to bring about greater and greater harmony, I am sure, while respecting the
Quebec and Canadian charters. Nevertheless, the danger of secession, the
secession debate is greatly hurting their harmony and their ability to find
agreement. If you want to find the surest way to divide Quebecers, ask them to
renounce Canada. If you want to strengthen their solidarity among themselves,
ask them to keep their solidarity with all Canadians, including French-Canadians
in the other provinces.
In conclusion, those who are asking us to
renounce Canada to be Quebecers cannot see the century we are entering. It will
be the century of plural identity. Mobilizing Quebec and all of Canada in
support of the French-speaking community will be essential for the cause of
French in the world. In the same way, at a more individual level, being at the
same time Quebecer, Francophone, French-Canadian and Canadian will be more than
ever a remarkable complementarity, which we must preserve for ourselves and for
our children.
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