La Nation Québecoise

I've returned home at a strange time. My body skipped from summer to winter very quickly and is throughly confused by the change. A couple weeks ago, I watched the final game of the Grey Cup series and my poor head couldn't wrap itself around it. How was it the finals already? My good friend Ralph had finally stepped down as king of Alberta and the race was on to see who could replace the drunken, poorly educated, homophobic red-neck. Paul Martin had left the Liberal party following some sort of tantrum after his party lost to the Conservatives in last year's election, and so they too were striving to find a replacement. The smoking ban finally passed in Montreal and I sat in a smoke-free bar feeling as though something was missing. The ability to see exactly what I was touching in our seedy downtown bar was nearly enough to chase me back to the airport. The famous Park Avenue that runs North/South in Montreal directly in front of Mount Royal is about to be renamed Robert Bourassa Avenue- much to the chagrin of all Montrealers, including the Bourassa family. I'm sure poor Mordecai Richler is rolling over in his grave. I question why Park needs to be renamed when the merger of the boroughs (une île, une ville campaign) left the city of Montreal with seven streets called de l'Église (Church Street). Why not rename one of them? I'm sure the post office would be happy. Another overpass nearly collapsed in Laval, but the city feels that priority should be given to renaming a famous street. Montreal's biggest English language library is facing closure due to lack of support, but our tax money is going to change the name of a street that no one agrees with (see links to sign the petition to save the library). These are just some of the changes that met me when I got off the plane at Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport (yet another expensive name change).

In several postings this year, I've pondered the question of Canadian identity. I've contemplated even provincial identity- a question that haunted me even before I left Alberta. Albertans readily accept people from all parts of Canada- except Quebec. Québécois are always the 'other'. Born in Montreal and raised with as much of the Québécois culture as my anglophone parents could muster, I've always been a little confused about Canada. The problem was further confused when I was tossed into a francophone program at school with other equally confused children. In English, we don't have a word for native English speaker, so we borrow the word from French. Anglophone and francophone have found their way into the day to day speech of every Montrealer, regardless of what category they find themselves in. But we don't have a word for an bilingual, English born Quebecker in Alberta. Through my days in Calgary, I was confronted with this problem anytime the question of birth place arose. I was occasionally told to go back to where I came from- as politically ignorant Westerners can't distinguish between federalist and seperatist Quebeckers anymore than they can between anglophone and francophone Quebeckers. Upon return to Quebec, the problem somehow became more confusing. The difference was I found others who were equally confused. When I first entered the Régie de Santé (Health care board) to renew my provincial insurance (long expired since I was forced to leave at the age of one), the confused secretary stared at me and in a tone that reaked of confusion she asked, 'Benh, t'es québécoise, toé?' With an equally confused tone, I replied no. I've met a lot of English Montrealers who don't identify in any way with the French language. Who force themselves through the mandatory French interactions in taxis and dépanneurs, but who try to speak as little as possible. But then I met people like Nouria, Simona and Fajer. Nouria isn't sure which is her first language- born of a francophone father and anglophone mother. Simona attended francophone schools and is nearly as comfortable in French as she is in English. Same with Fajer. But Simona and Fajer weren't born in Québec, or in Canada for that matter. Simona was born in Romania, and Fajer in Iraq. Both have lived in Quebec longer than anywhere else. In Montreal there is room for people like us. Despite the warnings I received from relatives, when I returned to Montreal I had little trouble finding a job despite the fact that my last name is not québécois. Things have changed. There is less division and less tensions between the French and the English of Montreal. But now my questionable Canadian identity has become a matter for politicians to decide. Before it was merely a question of labels, but now a team of politicians will decide how to categorize us. Our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper recently tossed out this idea of Quebec as nation within a nation, without a real understanding of what he was saying. As the Conservative party continues to make efforts at gaining votes in Quebec, all he is really doing is cementing in the minds of Quebeckers that they don't understand the people they are trying to convert. More than promote national unity, Harper is successfully indicating that as a politician from the country's furthest right-wing province (Alberta), he clearly has no understanding of the country's furtherst left-wing province (Québec).

In the wake of the Dawson shooting, gun control laws take center stage. An American-style view of gun control doesn't sit well here. The shooting at Concordia (1992) by a crazed man who obtained his firearms by threatening co-workers until they signed the necessary documentation further cements the need for tougher gun laws in Quebec. The fact that Fabrikant should have been institutionalized long before the shooting adds to the politically delicate situation. The shooting at l'École Polytechnique (1989) remains fresh in the minds of Montrealers and women's rights groups have been in the spotlight ever since. Funding cuts to these groups won't gain any votes in Quebec. Issues like gay marriage and legalization of marijuana are not issues here- or rather the only issue is why these are still issues in Ottawa. Tossing out the idea of Quebec as a nation within a nation was a political strategy to cock-block the Bloc Québécois, but has for some reason been treated with credibility. I can't wrap my mind around it. The looming question of what defines this new nation is likely to further divide the province. The question is- is Quebec defined by its geographic borders, by its unique culture, or by its purelaine roots? Are we that have not been judged to be purelaine québecois to be treated like foreigners in our own country, own province, own city? Are we to become second class citizens? Are we going to see the rise of the purelaine elite, as we struggle to find hospitals that will service someone whose last name is not Lefebvre or Leblanc? What is to become of the First Nations people of Quebec, who still possess most of the land in Quebec? Will they be québécois? What about the thousands of immigrants that bring so much of the unique culture we are so proud to have here? Will they be québécois? Following the 1995 Referendum, Jacques Pariazeau outraged Quebeckers by blaming immigrants for failure of the OUI side to take the majority. It looks as though years later, they might just be excluded from this new nation altogether. How can a country built on immigration even conceive of passing a bill that promotes this sort of racism? What sort of bureaucratic nightmares await? I imagine there will soon be new ID cards for La Nation Québécoise. I imagine my tuition rates at school will rise, as previously I was considered a Quebec resident, but now as a Quebec born non-purelaine I'll be subject to the same fees as other Canadians. I imagine that this declaration and acknowledgement of Quebec as a nation will only propel the seperatist movement to step up their game and force a separation. Harper has opened up a debate of which he has no understanding, and it is those of us who call Quebec home that will be forced to deal with the consequences. When I left Canada last year, I never thought that my country could change to this extent within the space of a year.

On an unrelated note- Fred and I have outsmarted the Quebec government at long last and broken free of the cycle of Canada Day moving days. We moved into a two bedroom apartment last week, so excuse the delay in postings. It seems the woman who lived there previously passed away recently, thereby vacating the apartment before July 1st. Thus far the government of Quebec has not passed any stupid laws prohibiting this.