Deux Models

Quebec is an interesting place. It's a quasi-socialist Francophone oasis amidst a rigidly free-market oriented Anglo North America. The federal government bends over backwards to accomodate the so they won't separate, but just about the only thing that won't ever separate is Quebec's ass that's firmly planted on Ottawa's lips.

What's fascinating about Quebec, however, is that it's just about the only place in North America these days where white gentiles can really exhibit racial pride, and where ethnic self-preservation is a defining motto. But what is most novel - perhaps alarming - about what's been happening in Quebec is this nationalism has translated into a mild xenophobia.

First was the incident in Herouxville, a small town in central Quebec that issued a set of "norms" to which all prospective settlers must adapt (as if an immigrant would want to settle in a bumfuck place like Herouxville in the first place):

Among them, it is forbidden to stone women or burn them with acid.

Children cannot carry weapons to school. That includes ceremonial religious daggers like kirpans even though the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Sikhs can carry kirpans in schools.

However, children can swim in a pool with other children - boys and girls alike because they can’t be segregated.

And for the record, female police officers in Herouxville, 165 kilometres northwest of Montreal, can arrest male suspects. Also part of the declaration is to allow women to drive, dance and make decisions on their own.

Then there was the the 11-year old Muslim girl in Laval who was thrown out of a soccer match by a referee (who incidentally happened also to be Muslim) for donning a head scarf, under the pretense that the garment violated soccer dress code rules.

It's ironic that it's a region that is overwhelmingly non-immigrant that's generating so much xenophobia, while immigrant-havens like the GTA suburbs of Mississauga, Brampton and Markham are amazingly tolerant. Logic would dictate that if there are any places that should concern themselves with the wrath of an immigrant incursion, it should be areas like Erindale in Mississauga, not Herouxville, population 1,200, which at last count had an overwhelming total of 0 Muslims. Maybe you really have to live amongst them to realize that they're not such bad people.

I'm not sure what to make of Quebec nationalism. I understand their desire to preserve their francophone culture, pure laine, yada yada yada. And I've always held a mild respect for Quebec's own unique brand of multiculturalism - the whole "we'll accomodate you, but you'd better learn French" creed (and they have many Francophone expats from Lebanon, Morroco, Haiti and West Africa, all of whom have integrated well.) The rest of Canada doesn't demand that of its newcomers, and now we have huge enclaves who don't speak English and live apart from the mainstream.

I understand that an element of Anglophobia has always justifiably run through the veins of the Quebecois. The Anglos used to run the show, and the Quebeckers hated it. But now it's not only Anglophones that are the objects of Francophone disdain - it's Allophones too - and immigrants are now also finding themselves target to the ugly side of Quebec nationalism. And I don't like it, because it's sowing the seeds for agitation and immigrant cultural disenfranchisement.

There was a time when I felt ambivalent about the whole "multiculturalism" creed that's public policy in Canada. The relativistic premise that all cultures are equally worthy of respect sounds great in principle, but I don't share this view - I think some cultures are better than others - and I think most Canadians silently share this sentiment. There's a reason why they come here and we don't go there. And no matter how great you think your country/culture of origin is, you're voting with your feet, and the act of moving is an implicit admission that you are moving from an inferior society to a superior one.

But my ambivalence twoards multiculturalism has changed with time, and I now see the genius in Trudeau's pet project. While I believe it's primary aim was to undermine Quebec nationalism, the policy has been very succesful with maybe unforeseen consequences. I think multiculturalism works because it makes immigrants feel they are respected in our society. Since multiculturalism encourages new Canadians to preserve their cultural identity rather than assimilating to a wholly alien one, it makes immigrant groups feel instantly welcome, and new Canadians instantly feel that they have a stake in their adopted society. And this is one of the reasons why I think Canada has been immune from the disenfranchised immigrant kid riots that have occured in Paris, northern England, and even Australia(!)

Never mind that multiculturalism is really a sham, and that the reality is quite different. If you really want to make inroads into the establishment - if you want to dine with the upper-crast WASP establishment that runs Canada - the Kenneth Thomsons and the Conrad Blacks and the Izzy Aspers - well, you'd better shed the headscarf, scrape that dot off your forehead, and get rid of the accent. And you'd better be prepared to dress certain ways and adopt certain mores, because you're not really a Canadian otherwise (nevermind what the civil servants say).

But multiculturalism hoodwinks enough immigrants, especially non-European ones, into believing that their cultures are actually respected in this society (even if their credentials aren't), and in so far as this remains the case, I think Canada (minus maybe Quebec) will remain the happy trouble-free oasis and model nation that it still is.