Opinion: Leave? No, we young anglos belong in Quebec

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The answer to Robert Libman’s Gazette column of Sept. 7, suggesting young English-speakers would be better off leaving Quebec to find their futures, is quite simple: We belong here!

Nous sommes Québécois, aussi! We are young Quebecers whose mother tongue is English and who belong to a community whose members also speak French in overwhelming numbers. We are building homes, families, careers here. We are making contributions, in countless ways, to Quebec’s economy, society and culture.

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We know in our hearts the vast majority of Quebecers want us to stay, even if the government sends increasing signals it would prefer we didn’t. We are part of a community where linguistic duality is part of everyday life. Where anglophones, francophones and allophones coexist and do it well.

Sorry, Coalition Avenir Québec, but you won’t be in office forever and we intend to stay long after you’re gone. We refuse to be pawns in your divisive strategies.

We grew up in a Quebec with Bill 101, we know where we live and we want to stay. We understand French is predominant in this place and embrace the incredibly rich cultural diversity that is available nowhere else in this country.

Like former principal Ron MacFarlane’s recent cri de coeur in The Gazette, Libman’s column should be seen as a wake-up call — not for the English-speaking community, but for a CAQ government that seems totally unaware of how badly it has managed relations with our community of more than 1 million Quebecers who happen to speak English first.

We echo what Eva Ludvig, president of the Quebec Community Groups Network, said on CBC’s Radio Noon in response to MacFarlane: This argument that young anglos should look elsewhere should also be a wake-up call to opposition politicians (we hope the Quebec Liberal Party in particular is taking note) because the sense of hopeless frustration it expresses is real and widespread.

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It’s just not going to get us to pack up and leave. Nor should it.

There have been times when some of us have asked ourselves if we should move to Toronto, where we have friends and family. But Quebec is our home. We were born here. Our lives are here. We are proud of our bilingualism, and we don’t want to lose that valuable asset.

If we feel anger and frustration, it’s not aimed at our francophone friends, neighbours and, in many cases, in-laws. It’s because today we have little or no sense of trust in our government. It has broken faith with us on too many occasions — the latest being the furor over directives about using languages other than French in health and social-services settings.

Government ministers had the nerve to write a letter to The Gazette telling our community in effect to not believe what they could read with their own bilingual eyes. It was all a misunderstanding, they said. But they’ll rewrite the directives anyway, while not suspending existing ones.

The government has used the notwithstanding clause the way some people use a salt shaker. This allows the government to violate constitutional rights without fear of court challenges. Whose rights? Our rights.

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It seems to us and many others that this government has made language policy — a way to reinforce its sagging support among nationalists — the most important priority, ahead of housing, a vibrant economy, the environment, the state of our roads, schools and CEGEPs, and our beleaguered health-care system.

These are all daunting challenges and we understand how some can feel discouraged — that the struggle will never end. But we cannot and will not cut and run from the problems, the obstacles, the unfairness.

Young English-speaking Quebecers should keep their feet firmly planted here and help build the more tolerant society we know from demographics is just around the corner.

To cite Ludvig again, governments are transitory; a home is not.

Chad Bean, Jordan Black, Chelsea Craig and Maria Kyres are young (under 35) members of the Quebec Community Groups Network board of directors.

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