WE’RE ANGLOS AND QUEBECERS
As much as the Fête nationale has evolved into an inclusive party, a time to celebrate appartenance to the majority-Frenchspeaking province we call home, it also can be a more reflective time for many members of Quebec’s English-speaking community. As francophones celebrate not just the survival, but the flourishing, of their language in a continental sea of English, anglophones are reminded that their own community continues to face serious challenges.
In recent weeks, the Quebec government has made some welcome overtures to Englishspeaking Quebecers. Most tangibly, Premier Philippe Couillard announced plans to create a new secretariat dealing with minority issues; this stands to be more helpful than merely having a liaison officer in the premier’s office, itself a recent initiative. Couillard also is showing a new openness to the idea of naming a cabinet minister for anglophone affairs.
In the past, the premier had rejected that idea, on the grounds that anglos were fully Quebecers and didn’t need a special minister. That’s a nice sentiment, however it ignores that the community has rights and interests that do require consideration. Such a minister would be charged with speaking up when, say, a broadranging health care reorganization (Bill 10) is set to cause collateral damage to the independence of institutions at the heart of the English community.
The government’s new policy paper, available in English as Quebecers, Our Way of Being Canadian, also has warm words for the English community, one with “deep roots in Quebec” and an integral part of the “Quebec nation.” More disturbingly, it does not see the rights of the English-language minority as deserving of equivalence to those of French-language minorities in the rest of Canada. No surprise, given Quebec’s longstanding policies in this regard, but an instructive reminder of where the love ends.
Still, Couillard’s government also is showing welcome recognition of the plight of the anglophone minority outside Montreal, where population declines endanger the survival of community institutions. It is to be hoped that the new secretariat will address the need for maintaining English-language services, particularly health services, in the regions.
Cynics will point out that we are in a prepre-election period, and that the Liberals are trying to shore up their base. Perhaps. Still, we’ll take it.
For any minority, maintaining one’s identity and playing a full role in the larger society are dual objectives, and they need not conflict. Quebec anglophones increasingly are integrating with the majority culture, and our contributions — historic and ongoing — are evident at every turn.
At the same time, defending the interests and ensuring the vitality of this community remain essential.