Racism/cultural prejudice

[Leafy]

Wow, I really didn't know all this went on in Canada. It's opened my eyes. xxx

same! :O

 

[maryp0ppins]

I grew up in the Montérégie so I know with the area well, I was lucky and grew up in a town that was 50% english mother tongue. To be honest I can't see bill 101 lasting forever, it goes against the canadian charter of human rights (most of it), totally agree something needs to be done and I have loads of sympathy for you as I have been in your exact situation!
I think the rest of Canada is totally oblivious as to how hard life is in Quebec for english speaking people.

They are totally oblivious. I honestly had no idea until I moved here. In BC, the right to your own language/culture is well respected and we were so far removed from central/eastern politics that you don't even know. We feel very isolated in the west.

I know the majority is not like this but I just find it outrageous to be so publically supported by media. Like on Radio-Canada's TV special about how 10% of clerks in Montreal could not speak French... none of them were even anglophone, they were all allophones (ie. not French or English), and I'm sure recent ones too, just trying to learn too. Don't we have the right to be given time to LEARN without being shit upon?

Really 50% in Montérégie? Is that like La Prairie or something? I live in the outskirts of St Jean sur Richelieu

Its Greenfield Park, my parents grew up in the Richelieu/Chambly area

 

[aliss]

I grew up in the Montérégie so I know with the area well, I was lucky and grew up in a town that was 50% english mother tongue. To be honest I can't see bill 101 lasting forever, it goes against the canadian charter of human rights (most of it), totally agree something needs to be done and I have loads of sympathy for you as I have been in your exact situation!
I think the rest of Canada is totally oblivious as to how hard life is in Quebec for english speaking people.

They are totally oblivious. I honestly had no idea until I moved here. In BC, the right to your own language/culture is well respected and we were so far removed from central/eastern politics that you don't even know. We feel very isolated in the west.

I know the majority is not like this but I just find it outrageous to be so publically supported by media. Like on Radio-Canada's TV special about how 10% of clerks in Montreal could not speak French... none of them were even anglophone, they were all allophones (ie. not French or English), and I'm sure recent ones too, just trying to learn too. Don't we have the right to be given time to LEARN without being shit upon?

Really 50% in Montérégie? Is that like La Prairie or something? I live in the outskirts of St Jean sur Richelieu

Its Greenfield Park, my parents grew up in the Richelieu/Chambly area

Oh okay I know where that is! I admit sometimes I find myself going out to Brossard just to feel a little more comfy at times And Alex's playgroup is on Taschereau. It's really lovely out here though, I do enjoy it, it's just a dark side that I didn't really know existed.

My dad's family is originally from here too but they moved after the FLQ/car bombing/'uprising' against anglophones started and tbh I don't blame them now.

 

[aliss]

I hear you! I lived in QC for a while, and it was a real eye-opener. I didn't find Montreal so bad, but we lived right bang smack in the centre of the city, which I think tends to be more cosmopolitan than some of the more suburban areas. But I taught English briefly up in Gaspé (waaay up on the coast)... Oh boy oh boy, that was something else I was like some kind of pariah for daring to be employed to teach children English. I left after a few months, for various reasons, but one of them was that I couldn't live with the hostility.

We are seriously considering emigrating back to Canada once I finish my training (if all goes well), but although we loved living in Montreal, there's no way we'd live in QC again Even though DH and I are both anglophone (he's English, I'm Scottish), we wouldn't have any right to send our kids to an English-speaking public school. So either, all of a sudden, they'd be getting educated in French, and Quebecois French at that, which is very different to the language as it's taught over here. Or we'd have to pay for private school. Either way, it just isn't going to work.

I guess we can always take holidays to Montreal

Big hugs for you, it really isn't a comfortable situation at all

I can't imagine what you probably faced in Gaspe! We almost got transferred to Sept-Iles wacko so that's scary!

If you move back and can afford it, I recommend British Columbia. Beautiful beautiful beautiful. All of it is fine, and I even love it here too, but I do miss BC a lot at times. Would love to see ya!

 

[mandarhino]

You aren't entitled to educate your children in English unless at least one parent was educated in English by the state funded school system in Quebec.

I'm descended from a long line of Anglophone Quebecois on my mother's side. She's from the Pontiac though, which is much more English. Course it is also dead on its feet economically as the provincial government never directs any cash there.

I actually have a lot of sympathy for French speaking Quebecois because if they don't keep the language alive, it will die. They are a little sea of French speakers surrounded by 330 million + English speakers. It is pretty amazing that a unique Quebecois culture has managed to hold on so strongly, for so long. But I admit it must be pretty tough living there as an Anglophone.

My DH was shouted at in a restaurant years ago for not speaking French. My French was better then so I yelled at the guy that he was a tourist and to cut it out.

Are you taking language classes? Can you tell your DH to tell his mother how hurtful you find the comment? Your son will wind up being fully bilingual soon enough, which will be a great start for him. My cousins from mixed English / French marriages grew up saying things like that's red and jaune coloured.

 

[Eala]

I think there's a fine line between defending your language and being offensive to those who don't speak it. I'm all for preserving culture, but when that translates into outright hostility towards Anglophones, it's not right.

Aliss - I know someone who was placed as an English Language Assistant in Sept-Iles... She lasted the year, but I think it was just sheer stubborness which got her through. I would never, ever go back to Gaspé, even for a visit. Shame, as it was a beautiful area. But yeah... I kept expecting to hear banjo music following me about the town I'd love to move somewhere like BC, sadly I don't think they are one of the provinces where there's a nursing shortage. At the moment, Alberta is looking fairly likely, but again it'll depend on the situation when I graduate It'd be fab to meet you too. We do plan a trip back to Montreal at some point (though heaven knows when) for the rose-tinted spectacles tour - I'll let you know if it ever goes beyond dreaming

 

[aliss]

You aren't entitled to educate your children in English unless at least one parent was educated in English by the state funded school system in Quebec.

I'm descended from a long line of Anglophone Quebecois on my mother's side. She's from the Pontiac though, which is much more English. Course it is also dead on its feet economically as the provincial government never directs any cash there.

I actually have a lot of sympathy for French speaking Quebecois because if they don't keep the language alive, it will die. They are a little sea of French speakers surrounded by 330 million + English speakers. It is pretty amazing that a unique Quebecois culture has managed to hold on so strongly, for so long. But I admit it must be pretty tough living there as an Anglophone.

My DH was shouted at in a restaurant years ago for not speaking French. My French was better then so I yelled at the guy that he was a tourist and to cut it out.

Are you taking language classes? Can you tell your DH to tell his mother how hurtful you find the comment? Your son will wind up being fully bilingual soon enough, which will be a great start for him. My cousins from mixed English / French marriages grew up saying things like that's red and jaune coloured.

I totally understand & agree about keeping the language alive, my son is basically Quebecois himself, as I know he will be bilingual but he has a French name, French family, friends, school etc. I want him to be proud of that. And I think they (the Quebecois) should be proud of their culture and they are. However, this particular article in my paper went right on the offensive and was an FU to the anglophone community in QC (which is non existent in this particular town so I suppose they didn't think anyone would read it ).

I was taking language classes but LO got booted out of daycare so I had to quit Will restart again in January. I try SO HARD. As a language teacher myself I am 100% respectful and try as hard as I can, and truthfully everybody in person is so kind and welcoming, it's what lurks behind closed doors that hurts, I don't know why but it does

I have told my MIL herself, along with FIL's girlfriend. They have no comprehension of language acquisition (apparently they know more than me, someone who has a degree in language teaching) so they don't believe me

 

[aliss]

I think there's a fine line between defending your language and being offensive to those who don't speak it. I'm all for preserving culture, but when that translates into outright hostility towards Anglophones, it's not right.

Aliss - I know someone who was placed as an English Language Assistant in Sept-Iles... She lasted the year, but I think it was just sheer stubborness which got her through. I would never, ever go back to Gaspé, even for a visit. Shame, as it was a beautiful area. But yeah... I kept expecting to hear banjo music following me about the town I'd love to move somewhere like BC, sadly I don't think they are one of the provinces where there's a nursing shortage. At the moment, Alberta is looking fairly likely, but again it'll depend on the situation when I graduate It'd be fab to meet you too. We do plan a trip back to Montreal at some point (though heaven knows when) for the rose-tinted spectacles tour - I'll let you know if it ever goes beyond dreaming

Really? I thought there was a nursing shortage there, my girlfriend got hired in her 3rd year to start after she finished year 4 of nursing school, LOL!

 

[mandarhino]

There are a lot of nasty people about. That one article is probably not reflective of anything other than some particular people with a hobby horse. Probably the type of person that if it wasn't the French language they were so het up about, they'd have annoying and prejudiced views about something else. Though I do realise there are quite a few of them in QC!

It is a good way to get a good dig in at immigrants without appearing to be totally & completely racist by using the cover of concern about their language skills.

This attitude is also down to people's insecurity and isn't likely to be personal in any way. I agree it too often comes across that way though.

My mother's home town is near Shawville, where they are notorious for having run the language inspectors out of town on several occasions. They are prejudiced in a whole other way though and some in the town are unwilling to accept that they also need to adapt.

Things have gotten better over the years though I think. Back in my mother's generation it was apparently common in French / English marriages in that county (normally Irish Catholic / French Catholic) to raise half the kids speaking English and half speaking French! Don't think that would happen today because it would just be assumed that the kids would be bilingual.

I hope you feel more settled soon. It's so rough when you're not comfortable about where you live.