2 weeks Ago By Robert Libman, Special to Montreal Gazette
Article content “Quebec anglophones are the best-treated minority in the world.” This cliché is often repeated in Quebec, used pejoratively by nationalists or language hawks as a reflex mechanism to belittle criticism or concerns expressed by members of the province’s English-speaking minority about restrictive language laws. Several Journal de Montréal tabloid commentators have again seized on it in response to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comment last week on CJAD that “(Premier François) Legault has decided the best way to protect French is to attack English-Canadians,” and also regarding my column of two weeks ago .
I lamented: “With all the usual hurdles young people face, how can we in clear conscience encourage (young anglos) to stay when their government makes them feel devalued, even if they are perfectly bilingual?” One commentator absurdly suggested Trudeau was “ fomenting hatred and fear ” and that I was encouraging young people to hop in their cars and take the 401. It seems whenever anglophones dare raise concerns, such as with the worrisome recent language directive for the health-care network , we start hearing again about how anglos are spoiled and ungrateful. One Journal columnist scoffed, mentioning there are more than 50 bilingual health institutions in Quebec, a majority of doctors speak English, and noting English-language schools, CEGEPs, universities and so on.
He then of course juxtaposed that against services available for francophones outside Quebec, implying they would give anything to have the privileges of this province’s anglos. There is no question that Quebec anglophones, primarily on the island of Montreal, have access to a number of envied public community institutions of quality, financed mostly by the government. Most were established, however, through the ingenuity of minority communities themselves to respond to a demographic reality and the needs of a highly concentrated population.
There are over a million anglophones in Quebec — a population that is greater than that of most Canadian provinces and territories — 80 per cent of whom live within a 50-kilometre radius of the epicentre of Montreal Island. The existence of these institutions, which serve all Quebecers, should be a source of pride for Quebec. Instead, there are those who begrudge them, pointing to them as reasons why anglophones have no justification to raise red flags about minority rights, or ask questions when those institutions are being unfairly targeted.
They quickly draw on an outdated caricature of the spoiled Quebec anglo, in stark contrast to minority communities in the rest of Canada. To pit anglos against francophone minorities outside Quebec is also duplicitous and ironic. In court cases such as the landmark 1990 Mahé vs.
Alberta case — which established school-board rights for official-language minorities — Quebec’s anglophone community has intervened, defending the rights of francophones in the rest of Canada to services in their language, while Quebec governments turned their backs . The word treatment is defined as “the manner in which someone behaves toward or deals with someone or something.” Parents can provide a home and pay the expenses of their child, yet mistreat them verbally or psychologically.
Does that mean the child is well treated? Quebec anglophones live here and should be entitled to institutions and services proportional to their demographic importance. Those who suggest they should be grateful for what they have, and just shut up, clearly do not see “les autres” as full-fledged Quebecers. Most anglophones genuinely share the desire for the protection of French, ensuring its constant presence and primacy, but not to the exclusion and marginalization of other languages and communities.
The fact that the government finances the community’s institutions is important, but it should not give licence to any belief that they can therefore chip away at rights and the viability of those institutions and expect the minority to stay silent. Robert Libman is an architect and planning consultant who has served as Equality Party leader and MNA, mayor of Côte-St-Luc and a member of the Montreal executive committee. He was a Conservative candidate in the 2015 federal election.
x.com/robertlibman.
