Side Note

My friend Meghan, who is in fact another person and not a creepy third-person reference, has suggested that the whole French/English thing might be confusing for non-Montreal readers. This is a valid point. Let me explore it in a roundabout sort of way.

I recently interviewed for a job in Quebec City at an institution that aims to promote English-speaking culture in Quebec. I had the impression during the interview that they thought I was some kind of radical Anglophone out of touch with the realities of life in Quebec City, which is apparently quite different from Montreal. In Old Quebec, or tourist Quebec, French people are accommodating and address you in English when they hear your accent. There is a recognition of tourism’s importance. Yet, in the rest of the city Anglophones are a non-entity and apparently are not on people’s radar. In Montreal, Anglophones and English culture have a much greater presence, presumably causing more of a threat to the sanctity of French culture and thus there exists a much stronger anti-English sentiment, tourism be damned. This is my impression, and while I don't think I'm radical I am biased towards a different understanding of Quebec. Because, much to the chagrin of any French Quebecer who finds this out, Quebec is not solely French.

People often don’t realize that while we are a minority, there are Anglophones in Quebec. When I moved to Toronto and people found out where I was from many commented on the quality of my English. But we exist. There are 10 English school boards, English universities, and traditionally, although shrinking, English enclaves. My father, born and raised here, knows only one sentence in French. Being Anglophone in Quebec does at times feel like a political act, and at the very least it is complicated. Without getting too much into the societal and political realities, immigrants to Quebec are expected to conform. There is an intense xenophobia in Quebec. In the interest of preserving a pure and marginalized French culture, Quebecers in turn marginalize and discount minorities within their province. Anglophones throw this for a loop because our language represents the greatest refusal of conformity. While we have chosen to remain here and navigate the cultural codes we will never be Quebecois. We aren't allowed to be.

While I was in Quebec City I had four and a half hours before my interview and I headed to the Musée de la civilization. I was excited to see the space after listening to staffer Francois Tremblay’s talks on the conference circuit last winter. I spent my whole visit in “Le temps des Quebecois,” to learn what Quebec thinks people should know about its history. There was an interesting video testimonial that didn’t fit into the rest of the exhibition in which people of all ethnicities said things like: “I have always refused assimilation,” “I am Quebecois but I come from elsewhere,” or “Do I still fit into your history?” This was really the only critical lens on current societal perceptions and as such it was in no way integrated into the exhibit.

Interestingly, the British and their conquest of Quebec and subsequent attempts at Anglicization weren’t spun in an anti-British way. But those distinctions between British or English, immigrants (non-French or English) and Francophones (those who actually belong in Quebec) was there throughout the exhibition. We are set up as separate entities; the French have some kind of manifest destiny here while Anglos created St. Patrick’s Day parades. This narrative is boring to me, but obviously I am biased. While I think museums should have points of view, I don’t think they should have agendas. To read labels that say things like “x was the pride of all Quebecers,” when Quebecers is meant in reference only to Francophones is unnecessary and insulting, never mind that sweeping statements are bad academic practice.

My hope was that I could work on a new dialogue at the cultural institution I was interviewing at. I think that focusing on a shared culture, a shared history, and a shared struggle is much more interesting than pitting one against the other, but that might just be my bias talking. On a side note to my side note, I will never know what kind of dialogue I could have created. I was offered the job, but after extensive consultations with people in the field to confirm my foreboding gut instinct about the institution and the job, I felt it necessary to decline the offer. This was not an easy decision to make, but I am hopeful that something else will come along.