What puzzles me to no end Acajack is why you think that I am a hard-core federalist, and why you seem to imply that I don’t believe any constitutional amendment are needed whatsoever? A few months ago, on this website, I had precisely specified that I though some changes could be made to the Canadian constitution that would be satisfying to everyone.

Why is is that fending off cheap sovereignist arguments (because a lot of them are exactly that, cheap) immediatly gets you labelled as hard-core federalist? Look at the answers that followed my drunken slur, Acajack. It’s filled up with what I called “empty rhetoric”. “Maître chez nous!” Gosh, I love the enthusiasm but, where exactly is that an argument? Are we slaves at this moment? Damn, I wasn’t even aware of it!

I am not a “hardcore” anything, Acajack. You’re not a “hardcore” anything either, although I could probably label you as a closet separatist, which is why lots of people on these boards appreciate you. Maybe some day I’ll have lived enough to see lots of Constitutional failures, and maybe that day I’ll chant along with the stupid “Maîtres chez nous!” slogans. But ’til then, I can’t help but feel that this is a tad too simplistic, and that if funny catch phrases like “We are outcasts and don’t belong in this Canadian Tire Nation” are enough to convince you that separation is the way, then your mind probably isn’t as sharp as I though it was.

In Quebec, flags are ways of showing your political view about Quebec independence. While flying the lovely flag of the great state of NJ on your front lawn will only make people think you are running a local branch of the DMV –thats SAAQ for those of you who don’t speak Joisey– here in Quebec flying a flag is a way of saying that you either support “le Québec libre” or else “the True North Strong and Free”.

The only place you’ll find a non-provocative Canadian flag in Quebec is at a major sports event or a post office. The only place you’ll find an apolitical Quebec flag is at a government office (!) or liquor store.

So unless you were running some kind of minibar under your shirt, the White Lady (who no doubt spoke “White” too) surely took your shirt to be a pro-secession political statement.

Serves you right for not wearing your “Atlantic City is for lovers” shirt instead.

A lot of people here consider the Quebec vs. Canada issue to be an “either or” type of matter. That is, that if you are wearing a t-shirt with either the Quebec or the Canadian flag, it is assumed that you are showing your disavowal of the other entity whose flag you are not wearing.

In the case of the White Lady (I would submit that she probably wasn’t all that Nice), she saw the Quebec flag on your t-shirt as though you were flaunting your disloyalty to Canada.

In the minds of a lot of people (though not everyone thankfully), one cannot be loyal to both Canada and Quebec. The two identities are mutually-exclusive in their eyes.

The fact that you are African-American (as you chose to mention) probably riled her even further, given that you are almost certainly “African” in appearance, and that some of the pro-Canada people in Quebec consider it to be their side’s “birthright” to have the unanimous support of minority communities. This has been changing very slowly in recent years, to the point where small numbers in the minority communities now support Quebec’s independence, much to the dismay of a lot of pro-Canada people in Quebec.

Finally, it sounds as though the White Lady blurted this out at you in English, a choice which could be seen as comically counter-productive.

Had you been, say, an immigrant from a French-speaking African country, who had made a new life in French-speaking Quebec, wouldn’t a total stranger making a pro-Canada statement at you, in English, in Montreal, in reaction to a Quebec t-shirt you were wearing, not provide further proof to you that the Canadian identity is no more than a Trojan horse to make Quebec more English, rather than something broader in which Quebec’s French speakers are embraced for what they are?

I just discovered this fun blog today (6/3/09) and I’m enjoying the topics, exchanges, etc. (The humor and quips are hilarious, especially the monicker “angryphones!”) I’m an African-american ESL teacher at Orange High School in Orange, New Jersey. My students are all Haitians and Latinos in 9th–12th grades.

Perhaps you kind and erudite Canadian folk can enlighten me about an incident I had during a vacation to your lovely province…..

In the summer of 2007, I attended Language Studies Canada to learn some French and enjoy multilingual Montreal. (Malheureusement I was placed in French 1B instead of 1A where I knew I truly belonged, and blithely walked into the first class to learn–the passe compose! I’ve tried since then to improve my French and my students are teaching me, but I STILL can’t properly pronounce anything with the “eur” suffix if my life depended on it. But that’s another story….*)

One day, I found this cute “Quebec” T-shirt with the elegant royal blue-and-white provincial flag on it in one of those little tourist shops and wore it to school and then to a store in the shopping mall there on Rue St. Catherine. Imagine my surprise when
The Nice White Lady in my aisle suddenly upbraided me
with the statement: “We’re all Canadian here!”

So, I, The Nice Black Tourist Lady from New Jersey simply stated: “Uh…ma’am, I’m just an American tourist from the states–the T-shirt is not a political statement for me!” She just loooked at me in shock–I’m not quite sure what she expected me to say.

Question–Did The Nice White Lady assume I was:
A. Representing the Parti Quebecois?
B. Saying I was quebecoise and she wasn’t?
C. Stating that other Canadian provinces were unimportant?
D. Declaring French to be the most important language
of Quebec and therefore at odds with the ROC?

(It IS the dominant language of Quebec, but in multilingual/multiethnic/multicultural Montreal I heard at least 5 varieties of French, four varieties of English, three varieties of Spanish, Brazilian
Portuguese, two varieties of Arabic, and several Asian languages during just two short weeks.)

We Americans have all kinds of tourist stores in all 50 states in which you can buy T-shirts with state flag and national flag designs, so to me, the Quebec
T-shirt simply represented a geographic place called
“Quebec.” Since most natives of any place usually don’t walk around with these kinds of “tourist-trap T-shirts”, I thought just wearing the shirt automatically screamed “tourist” to any Canadian who strolled past!

During the years since 2007, I tried to read up on the
history of quebecois French, the linguistic politics,
the dude who wrote “White Niggers of America”, the
francophone/allophone/anglophone thing, the office quebecoise de la langue francaise(still not sure if I spelled that right–pardon a moi/a thousand pardons, Good Blogfolk)et al–and I’m still puzzled by the incident in the shopping mall.

Can anyone explain to me The Nice White Canadian Lady’s reaction to my tourist T-shirt?

Much obliged et je vous remercie!

Ye Most Confused Nice Black Anglophonic ESL Teacher Tourist Lady from New Jerseyl

http://angryfrenchguy.com/2009/05/03/how-do-you-call-a-quebecois-who-is-not-a-minority/

You seem to have spent quite a bit of time analysing the issue, so it puzzles me to no end that you seem to think that:

1) There are no constitutional changes that could be made to the current arrangement that would bring the percentage of Quebecers “comfortable” within Canada up to around 80% (acknowledging the fact the some purs et durs will never be happy). So Canada has absolutely nothing to learn from other multinational federations that are differently structured like Switzerland, for example?

2) That Quebec becoming an independent country would change barely an iota of the economic, social, educational, linguistic, and cultural environment here, when national independence has produced tremendous changes (both positive and negative) in every single place in the world where it’s occurred. So you mean to tell me that Quebec-Canada is that unique a situation that it would be THE exception that confirms the worldwide historical rule of thumb that “independence changes everything, for better and for worse”?

Here is one for you.

Was in Alberta this weekend (Kananaskis) for a golf tournament but the weather didn’t cooperate with the 2 C, rain and snow. Managed five holes before the team and I called it quits. (hard to hold a golf club when you have no feeling in your wet and cold hands)

Anyways, drove down to the Crowsnest (Blairmore region) to see some family.. Recurring signs we witnessed.

“LESS OTTAWA AND MORE ALBERTA” on many ranches and business endeavors.

I guess the Rednecks are getting restless and tired of Ottawa reaping the fruit and distributing it to others (who would they be). I can’t imagine why they would be upset!!! :)

The sun was out in the Pass this morning, a bit cool but the golf on the mountain course was great, better yet now snow or rain.