Notre Home project goes on tour
Hip-hop artist wants young anglophones to feel better about living in Quebec
As far as David Hodges is concerned, if his hip-hop anthem can help one young anglophone feel better about living here, he’s accomplished something big.
“It was an absolute nobrainer to be part of a vision such as this,” Hodges said at a news conference Thursday where his song, Notre Home, was front and centre.
“We really believe in this vision of bringing the English and French together, through music and through this Notre Home tour.”
And suddenly, with the financial support of the Quebec Community Groups Network and an additional $20,000 in support from the Quebec government, Hodges’ Notre Home (NotreHome.ca) project is hitting the big time: a provincial tour.
The QCGN and the Quebec minister responsible for the anglophone community, Jean-François Lisée, made the announcement jointly.
Starting in February, Hodges and the group that performs the song-video, The Honest Family, will be hitting Quebec schools from the Gaspé to Outaouais.
The initial idea of the song was to encourage young anglophones to feel better about themselves and choose to build their lives here, but the concept has expanded to promote bridge-building among all youth.
The tour will hit English schools scattered around the province and some French ones, too. A second version of the song that is mainly in French is in the works.
“The enthusiasm about this project in our network is incredibly high,” said QCGN director general Sylvia Martin-Laforge. “They all want to bring David in. There is a thirst for this song. They want these kind of good-news stories.”
Lisée gushed saying the campaign’s message of inclusion hits all the right notes and goes to the heart of the idea he has been peddling: that it’s time the identity issue moved onto a new plane.
“You are Quebecers,” Lisée said. “Stop doubting. Stop asking permission to be Quebecers. Stop thinking that you are defined in the eyes of the other.
“You are Quebecers. Get over it.”
But Lisée faced questions about whether this wasn’t just window dressing.
At the same time, his Parti Québécois government is working at beefing up the French Language Charter while a fresh spat has emerged over the plan to remove the Lachine Hospital from the bilingual McGill University Health Centre.
“There are a number of issues which will always be there,” Lisée said. “There are points where we will have debates.”
But he said there are misconceptions, too, and the Lachine Hospital is one.
“I hear people are against a decision which has been taken,” he said. “There is no such decision. There is just a call for a reflection on the future of Lachine.
“But I see every time there is a move, the first reaction of some is to rush to the barricades.
“I’d like things to come to the point where they’ll rush to the telephone and say ‘Is this really what you think? Is this really what you’re meaning? and stop thinking the worse of every decision we take.’
“We have to build the benefit of the doubt in our relationships and this will go a long way.”