John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY MARTIN PATRIQUIN IN CBC NEWS
“Quebec nationalism could once claim to be colour- and country-blind. Not anymore
“Pining for European immigrants would be quite a statement from any politician. From Legault, it is gobsmacking”
An interesting and well-written piece by Martin Patriquin. A delicate subject is well-handled.
I personally see no racism in Montreal. It is a rather wonderfully cosmopolitan city. I have never seen any racial or religious hostility.
But in today's world, many things get described as racism when they really are not. The fact is that with any people anywhere, too much change too rapidly in population make-up can become unsettling. Change in faces, change in religion, change in language, change in manners and customs, change in cultural values – and all in considerable numbers. I think this is under-appreciated in much press discussion of racism.
The huge movements of people in today's world are not like historical experience for anyone. They of course are the result of ease of transportation, flows of information as never before, hugely varying differences in opportunity between countries, population growth, and now America's almost ceaseless imperial wars driving people from their homes.
One of the best things the Premier could do is to acquire some excellent help with learning French for immigrants.
I can attest to the difficulty of learning French after moving to Quebec.
I'm an old man who came to Montreal out of pure love for the city.
The province has absolutely no adequate assistance with newcomers learning French. Its on-line course is virtually useless, badly designed.
I do use two on-line courses, both of them American in origin. I work conscientiously every day on my French, but, at my age, ca va lentement. I work this way not out of any necessity but out a sense of affection for Quebec, and French is a very beautiful language.
I am happy from the comments of a few people that my accent is good, but there is so much to learn. There is the difficulty of my age with everything becoming so slowed down, and I realize now that French is a difficult language. I had long regarded English as being a difficult language - it has that reputation - but I think French may be about as difficult with its prepositions, genders, and verb tenses. I can speak more than I can understand others. Je fais de mon mieux.
You may enjoy:
https://chuckmanmontreal.wordpress.com/
