The education decision is significant. Experts only thought there to be a 50% chance of this outcome. Some Francophones think the Charter interpretation “generous” and the chance of appeal is pretty high.
I do not equate the Office de la Langue Française with totalitarianism. But they certainly can be overzealous, and I think this has unfortunate economic and social effects for Québec. Although the province has some right to its own policies and self-determination, I think this should be largely equal to other regions. One wants to protect culture and uniqueness, but not strangle it nor lose respect for the many things that help nurture it.
I gotta say, this column made me laugh out loud, which is all too rare for me. (And I like Pierre’s family and think he is pretty smart.)
(A verdant meadow, covered in dandelions and Queen Anne’s lace. Larks sing, insects hum. PIERRE strolls into view, smiling, a sweater tied around his shoulders. He is picking a daisy.)
PIERRE
Oh hi, it’s me. Pierre. No, just… Pierre. What was it Shakespeare said? “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” Well, it’s summer now – time for the ordinary summer pleasures in which we ordinary Canadians take such delight. I’ve just come from the puppy shelter where I volunteer two nights a week –…
I’m an Anglo who’s been living in Montreal for the last ten years and am at a 50 or 60% ability to speak French and I practice eagerly and enthusiastically, to the extent that I frequently get comments of appreciation from my coworkers and store and restaurant staff for my efforts (I am generally responded to in French as well).
I also work for a large multinational with clientele around the world and, as such, our business has to be in English, whether we’re dealing with Brits, Spanish, Japanese, Americans or whatever, so we bring a lot of cash into this province.
I don’t begrudge efforts to promote and protect French but I am extremely pissed off that policy affecting this multicultural city is more and more being determined by a bunch of xenophobic liars and their uneducated, unsophisticated, and unworldly followers off-island.
The premier has successfully introduced the 30 or 40 year old concept of sovereignty-association and the feds and our mayor are throwing us all under the bus.
My wife and I moved here after a 20 year absence and we were enthusiastic as all hell about it. Now we are desperate to get the fuck out.
My oldest is off to McGill next weekend and while she has been in French Immersion since kindergarten, I do have concerns with her accessing things like medical services where she likely doesn’t have the skills in the real world where she does with her academics. At the very least, I am going to Schwartz’s and St. Viateur Bakery next Sunday.
From my experience, she will have an absolute blast as, in Montreal, the vast majority of residents are easy-going and pragmatic. As I said earlier, my ability is maybe a 50 or 60% level and I have never had a bad time conversing in my French with the locals. Perhaps you’ve heard the term “franglais” and it is really applicable here and your daughter should never balk at practicing French and, if necessary, switch to English mid-sentence, and then switch back when she can; everybody does it, especially the younger folks. At work, on the bus, in public places, it is not uncommon to see a group of teens and 20-somethings speaking both languages such that you can’t tell which linguistic group either belongs to. IMHO it’s a bloody wonderful thing but, to the provincial gov’t, it’s a threat.
Your daughter, however, will probably have no problem living in Montreal and even staying here as I suspect that, if not bilingual yet, is probably pretty close and will be so shortly.
I’m 64 and I bumble through conversations with the local pharmacists and I’ve never had any issues medically otherwise. But I don’t have the linguistic ability to truly live, in all respects, in French only, if it came to that.
If you wish to pm me and you would like to ask any questions about this for your daughter’s sake, please feel free. She will probably have a wonderful time.
You don’t hear a lot of French spoken at McGill or its environs. Most don’t try to learn or improve and do just fine. Many McGill students are American or are not from North America. However, not improving ones French would be both a waste of opportunity and would squander a full appreciation of the city and province (a nation in certain contexts). This need not happen quickly. Many French immersion programs, for reasons of tradition and classism do not much teach Québécois French, which is wrong. The correct attitude is to be proud of it, and to teach all registers of French, but even some Québécois privately bristle at provincial slang. Why would you want to learn that?. Because it is rich, real and our cultural patrimony.
Even people good at French may find spoken Québécois French difficult to understand, especially at first. It may be worth taking elective courses in this if desired. There are a couple great books showing terms commonly used in Quebec but not elsewhere. But it isn’t necessary to succeed at McGill or get medical care. This may upset some French bureaucrats. Montréal remains a loveable city (however it won’t love you back). It has a unique culture worth protecting and nurturing. But nurturing is not nagging, not negating, not neglecting and not negative. Understand Francophones consider language differently and to be more important than in many other places. All languages judge people for how they speak, but with French this is more so, IMHO.
At the risk of continuing something of a hijack, my wife and I loved Montreal. We met and married there in the early '90s and my income was independent of the provincial politics (I was military (therefore federally paid) at the time) and when I was hired at a Mtl-based company in 2011 we were thrilled at the opportunity.
Socially, Montreal is generally a wonderful city, but the provincial government is dishonest and toxic and we just can’t take it anymore.
This is largely true and takes up a lot of the oxygen in the room. But many people and provinces are not enthralled with municipal, provincial or national political representation. Often with good reason. It doesn’t make things better, and Quebec and Montreal have some unique issues. But the situation is not wholly distinct to Quebec.
That’s certainly the case in Toronto. My wife went through the same program 30 years earlier and had the same experience, although she went on to work in a job where she has co-workers in Quebec that she speaks with in French.
I went to McGill, after growing up going to French Immersion schools, and it’s possibly my biggest regret in life that my French is so terrible. Thing is, unless you actively put effort into it, you can go for four years in Montreal never having to speak French. McGill is a campus that runs in English, every business in the McGill ghetto and about six blocks past it in that general direction speaks English. Days or weeks would go by without my using it. And I’m much the poorer for it now.
Don’t forget Moishe’s. Their chopped liver is to die for!
I haven’t been there in decades but on very special occasions Pusateri’s has some in their deli.
I heartily endorse both those sentiments. During the last referendum on separatism there was semi-serious talk that if Quebec seceded from Canada, Montreal would secede from Quebec.
Costco’s (and a few other places) sell Moishe’s pickles and slaw. They used to occasionally sell non-frozen Schwartz’s whole smoked briskets. Not seen those in many years though, malheuresement. You could also get a smoked meat sandwich where they sell hotdogs and pop.
Little frozen packets of smoked meat are not nearly as good. But I never ate at Moishe’s as a student. Correctly or not, I perceived it as expensive, and in that part of The Main I was going to be going to Schwartz’s anyway, which was cheaper and which is always awesome. Buddy of mine tried to order a glass of milk there…
You could probably buy The Dictionary of Canadian French cheaply online, or a couple similar books. It is shocking how many common phrases are (AFAIK) used only in Quebec. And the section on swear words, and their many slightly more polite forms, is probably worth the price alone (tabernouche).
Yeah, Moishe’s coleslaw is just a notch above average, nothing special. It’s their chopped liver that is to die for! Also, real Montreal smoked meat, whether from Dunn’s, Moishe’s, or Schwartz’s – don’t know which is best – is incredible stuff not to be found anywhere I know outside of Montreal. And kielbassa from ethnic Montreal delis is also incredible, or at least it used to be. I still think of Montreal as Canada’s food mecca.
I was sad when Ben’s closed. (Real Montrealaise have sometimes mentioned Beauty’s Luncheonette too. I must have passed it a thousand times but can’t recall going there.)
An update on the McGill situation that probably doesn’t please anyone. The government will still increase tuition by enough to make most English universities non-competitive (and extra three grand a year going to the Quebec government), while requiring an unrealistic percentage of students to become largely fluent in French.
I don’t have a problem with requiring students to take some French while in Quebec. But the gouvernement seems to have picked the numbers at random. It will be sad to see distinguished universities struggle for such weak reasons.
There’s a dedicated thread in IMHO, but I think the addition of publicly funded dental care deserves a mention in this thread. I’ve always thought non-cosmetic dental care should be included as part of the universal health care system, but the means tested system they’re using is more politically feasible and will cover those who are most in need, so good enough.
To be fair, it should be mentioned that (similar to universal health care) this decision was forced on the Liberal government by the NDP in a minority situation.
