Quebec and Other Lessons In How Not To Be Progressive

This monolingualism ideal/goal that Quebec seems to be holding on so tightly to is a topic that I find really interesting because this situation seems to be the only one of its kind in the world. (I think the French have out-frenched themselves here in terms of being so frenchy so chic different!) I decided to dig a little deeper and talk about why they are so intense about being a monolingual province, with the idealistic aim of cutting out english all together. In an earlier blog post I touched on what they've done to the Quebecers to enforce this monolingual goal, but I want to explore behind the scenes a bit further.

Upon asking Google and his educated mate, Google Scholar, about Quebec, I came across this wiki-lookalike article which, to be honest, reads a little like propaganda. It states that Quebec is strong enough for independence economically, refers to Quebec as a unified 'nation', and that 'the relative security and stability of Quebecer French is directly attributable to Quebecers' will to protect their national language and resist the consequences of Québec's position inside Canada'. There are many sites like this on the web that are starkly pro Quebec's independence.

These articles, written by the staunch separatists, paint the English language in such a negative light that its driving a huge portion of the English speaking members of the Quebecer community away into other towns like, for example, Calgary, where today, the immigrant population (including those from other provinces within Canada) overtakes the local population to form the majority. Unfortunately for them, this only helps the sovereignists in their plight to win the battle and achieve world provincial domination.