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<h1 class="entry-title">Lise Ravary: The travails of an honest bridge-builder</h1>
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<p><strong>Published:</strong> November 26, 2018 </p><p><strong>Updated:</strong> November 26, 2018 11:48 AM PST </p><p class="gmail-filed_under"><strong>Filed Under:</strong></p><div class="gmail-breadcrumb-wrap gmail-opinion gmail-sub">
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<img class="gmail-wp-post-image" alt="A quote from Camille Laurin, in the Edifice Camille Laurin, named after the father of Bill 101, on the importance of language to national identity: The need for language laws may be "harder for some English-speakers to understand, because their language and North American culture are not in danger of disappearing," Lise Ravary writes." src="https://postmediamontrealgazette2.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/jm10-0428-olf-02.jpg?w=840&h=630&crop=1&quality=80&strip=all" width="840" height="630">
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<span class="gmail-img-caption">A quote from Camille Laurin, in the
Edifice Camille Laurin, named after the father of Bill 101, on the
importance of language to national identity: The need for language laws
may be "harder for some English-speakers to understand, because their
language and North American culture are not in danger of disappearing,"
Lise Ravary writes.</span>
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<span>John Mahoney</span> / <span>Montreal Gazette files</span> </span>
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<h2 class="excerpt">After last week's column, comments from
some readers were truly hurtful and showed, well, they and I are just
not speaking the same language.</h2><p>The slow reactions, or lack
thereof, to the Doug Ford government’s decision — now partly reversed —
to eliminate the office of the French Language Commissioner and kill the
projected French university, by media outside Quebec surprised me.
After all, they had been quick to condemn Pastagate and other examples
of “oppression” against those Québécois whose first language is English.</p><p>Here in Quebec, the Montreal Gazette must be commended for taking an unequivocal <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-standing-in-solidarity-with-franco-ontarians">stand of solidarity with Franco-Ontarians</a> (Editorial, Nov. 17). And Josh Freed should be thanked for his brilliant column, “<a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/josh-freed-anglo-quebecers-are-decu-with-you-doug-ford">Anglo Quebecers are déçu with you, Doug Ford</a>” (Montreal Gazette, Nov. 24). But after my column last week, (“<a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/lise-ravary-francophones-arent-just-another-community">Francophones aren’t ‘just another community’,</a>”
Nov. 20), I got comments from some readers that were truly hurtful and
showed that on some key issues, well, they and I are just not speaking
the same language.</p><p>One trope was the unfair accusation that Quebecers are intolerant of minorities.</p><p>I
am sick and tired of having to point out that Quebecers have been
welcoming to immigrants over the centuries, from British Loyalists to
Syrian refugees and everybody in between, Vietnamese boat people,
Haitians fleeing oppression and poverty, Poles, Italians, Hungarians in
1956, etc.</p><p>Yes, against the backdrop of international terrorism,
some ignorant people have issues with Muslim immigration, but Quebec is
hardly the only place in the world where that’s happening.</p><p>I
am also sick and tired of the suggestion that claiming a national
identity is proof of intolerance. Quebec may not be a country, but it is
a nation. A Kurdish nation survives despite the absence of a Kurdish
state. Stephen Harper understood that.</p><p>I’m also sick and tired of
explaining to those with short memories that McGill University imposed
quotas on Jewish students from 1920 until the 1960s. The Université of
Montréal’s law school, founded in 1891, never had Jewish quotas.</p><p>And
please stop reminding me over and over about Jacques Parizeau’s
despicable comment the night of the 1995 referendum. Francophones were
mightily upset with him too, trust me.</p><ul class="gmail-related_links"><li><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/josh-freed-anglo-quebecers-are-decu-with-you-doug-ford">Josh Freed: Anglo Quebecers are déçu with you, Doug Ford</a></li><li><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-standing-in-solidarity-with-franco-ontarians">Editorial: Standing in solidarity with Franco-Ontarians</a></li><li><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/lise-ravary-francophones-arent-just-another-community">Lise Ravary: Francophones aren’t ‘just another community’</a></li></ul><p>Do
I hear language laws? Come on, are unilingual French road signs really a
manifestation of intolerance? The long list of countries with language
policy includes South Africa, Algeria, Germany, Argentina, Belgium,
Israel, Colombia, Spain, Britain, India, Italy, Norway … need I go on?
Even tiny Luxembourg and Andorra have language laws. Always, the
objective is to protect a language and cultural diversity. Perhaps
that’s harder for some English-speakers to understand, because their
language and North American culture are not in danger of disappearing.</p><p>The first highlight of Statistics Canada’s <a href="https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016011/98-200-x2016011-eng.cfm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2016 Census in Brief webpage on official language minorities</a> states that there has been a decline in French as a mother tongue and a language spoken at home in Canada.</p><p>The
majority of the Québécois whose first language is English do understand
the need for Quebec to put up protective fences around the
French-language. And even someone as squarely in the federalist camp as
Stéphane Dion understood the need for Bill 101. But some, on both sides
of the language divide, prefer to marinate in resentment.</p><p>It’s not
personal. Quebec anglophones do not pose a threat to the survival of
French. It is a question of numbers and geography — the 6.9 million
Québécois who have French as their first language are surrounded by 30
million anglophone Canadians and 300 million Americans. Did somebody say
“pressure”?</p><p>I am sick and tired of having to point all this out.</p><p>We are all somebody’s minority. The loses incurred by one group have repercussions on everybody else. Same thing for the gains.</p><p>Being
an opinion writer in the digital age has its pitfalls. Comments come
through unfiltered. Some people call me a bigot or intolerant or even
racist when all I want to be is a bridge builder. To understand each
other, we have to be honest. That’s all I am trying to do.</p><p><a href="mailto:lravary@yahoo.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lravary@yahoo.com</a></p></div></div></div></div>
<br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>