Échange de courriels
Dear Ms Kay,
Except for accommodations relatively to schooling, I support generally Bill 195.
If Stephan Harper wants to move on the eastern side of the Ottawa River, he could become a Quebec citizen and even run for some provincial office. Belinda Stronach couldn't. Same with John Kerry. He could manage to become Premier of Quebec.
Schwarzenegger might be disappointed not being able to become a US President and decide to move in Montreal, near his first supporter, Ben Weider. He could learn french and lead Quebec to independency.
Belinda ? En anglais, s'il vous plaît.
Not having leaders or deputies speaking french might be awksome for their french constituency. You might say they won't have french-speaking constituents to represent. I would answer : That's Apartheid.
Why voters should be able to understand french ? Because it will be awkward for democracy to let the Suburban and the Gazette to be their only source of information. Same if it is a unique ethnic newspaper. We must be insured they can read most papers lest you let them being ideologically enslaved with what their community leaders feed them.
To understand french do not forbid other information outlets. Neither peer-to-peer communication in English, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Yiddish or whatever language.
Why school commissaries should be able to speak french ? At the EMSB, kids must have a parent with english education. That parent might be too busy. Or she might be dead. Then it is to the spouse to deal with the kid's school. That parent might not speak english at all. French might be the only channel. On the other side, we should ensure that an EMSB commissarie has a good commend of English. What if he doesn't speak neither languages well?
As an important accommodation, the french language shouldn't be required to vote for the english side of the schoolboard system. Because kid's education shall be dear to every parent.
For the other levels of governancy, french profiency shall be mandatory. This way, it is clear to newcomers that they can't choose to ignore the majority of the society. It's a pain, but no pain, no gain. By this way, we break down ghettoes.
An immigrant from the ROC or anywhere else that refuses to learn french is too immature for citizenship. You might say it is undemocratic. Well, underaged citizens can't vote even though their french is proficient. In France, the right to voting was first granted to literate citizens. Democracy improved when Jules Ferry decided that schooling shall be compulsory and free. Therefore, no excuse was available to deny people with education the right to voting. Both school boards in Quebec should produce french-proficient citizens.
Please note again that Bill 195 doesn't forbid any other languages or any other culture. No anglophone or ethnic library will burn. It wasn't the case with the Canada First Policy and Bill 10.
In fact, Bill 195 favors seaming of communities and facilitating of accommodations. For those who long about Separated Development of their communities, their ideology defines the Apartheid. To them is stuck the Rhodesian nickname.
Anybody remembering James McGill's dream ?

Francis Déry,
Montreal
----
----- Original Message -----
From: Barbara Kay
To: Francis Déry
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 8:06 AM
Subject: RE: Pour votre intérêt
It may have escaped your notice, [but Israel is a country and Quebec is not->10004]. That is rather crucial to any discussion of the idea of citizenship.

It may also interest you to know that in Israel there are two official languages, Hebrew and Arabic, even though Arabic is the language of Israel's mortal enemies, the language of suicide bombers and the language of 150 million people who hate Israel and want it wiped off the map. Do you see a parallel to Canada and Quebec here? . Furthermore, there is no Bill 101, no sign laws, no vetos on usiing any language you want in public, no language restrictions on voters or those running for iffice. Do you really think the majority of people will vote for anyone who does not speak their language? The state does not have to prescribe remedies for such deficiencies, the market provides them.

You speak of the "maturity" of citizens. Do you think maturity is only a language affair? What about the uneducated and the bigoted and the plain old stupid? Should we give IQ tests to people to determine whether they are sufficiently mature to decide how to vote? You do not realize how far down the road to totalitarianism you are going in approving Bill 195. Indeed I must say you are quite deficient in your understanding of history. Perhaps you are too immature to be trusted with the right to vote. Perhaps there should be a committee to look into your level of comprehension of political systems. Perhaps you should be sent tot re-education camp!

The very fact that you could send me this clipping about Israel shows me how little you comprehend your own situation. There is no comparison. Barbara
----
In case you haven't notice, Québec is a NATION WITHIN CANADA.

The proposed Israeli Bill is to enforce learning Hebrew despite a coming Arabic majority.

Not all Arabs are mortal enemies of Israel :
First, the Beduins were allied to the Jewish community since the beginning of the State.
Second, many israelites originate from North Africa and Middle East. Arabic is natural to them. Hebrew is a second language.
For Ashkenazim too : they speak Yiddish. Hebrew was just a scholar language imposed over different communities to unify them.

The language of suicide bombers. That's a prejudice. First suicidal bombers coincidate with russian anarchists within the Mazzinist trend. It' a leftist culture. Do I need to remember the Lehi?
Before suicide bombers start in Middle East, they hit many times in Sri Lanka (Elam Tamil's Liberation Tigers).

Thanks to media like the National Post, they might be 25 millions of Canadians that want Quebec wiped from the map and forbid French throughout ALL Canada. It has already happened in the past and it is why most Quebeckers can't count on a bilingual country where they could live anywhere in French only.

The voting restriction is for the apparati under Quebec juridiction. A non-Quebecker can vote at the Canadian level.
Although I think it would be desirable that federal voters can understand texts in both languages.
Nationalist Quebeckers have no influence in the Liberal Party of Canada. Why did they reject Belinda Stronach?

You might want to find out how Germans solved the religion issue about Protestants against Catholicism.
It is the Westphalia Treaty. On that same ideology, the language issue was solved in Switzerland. There are no provinces, but "cantons" (districts, not townships). Every district imposes its language. Still Switzerland holds united since the Middle Ages.
Belgium uses another model based on communitarism. It is actually on the edge of partition.

As I wrote before, democracy was granted first to people with education in France. In Canada, it was first granted to landowners.
Education was generalized with compulsory schooling. Landowning is not generalized and can't be. Anyway, transient citizens like foreign students don't own land. Neither most immigrants upon arrival. Real democracy means people that care about politics and long-term decisions. It is not the case with transient citizens.

About maturity, they are two classes of people deprived of their right to vote in Canada : Underaged and non-citizens residents.
Once that Constitution would be stable, Bill 101 won't be needed.

For market solutions, I tries many times, but still I don't feel to have such a grasp when I received badly translated instructions sheets. Same with the metric system. Please, give a word for me to Second Cup.
What about the uneducated and the bigoted and the plain old stupid?

Do you mean your exclusive readership ?
I said that becoming fluent in French allows people to read most local papers and communicate with the majority in Quebec.
Therefore, if they want to stay foreign to Quebec's matters and be community-focused only, they just form a bulk of voters that follow to be ordered to choose a side. That is tribalism, if not fascism.
They are Orangists and they are Hassidims that do not want to mix with the outside World. They shall not be given political leverage. Orangists had political leverage in Ulster and you know what has been the result. Hassidim do not want to talk to outsiders. They don't want to know outsiders. For the few that I know from Hebrew, to know and to love are rendered by the same word. Therefore, their religious prescription is overt racism. To grant them the right to voting is not a reasonable accomodation.

Now that you expect me to go to some re-education camp, I see how great is your humanism.

Now, explain me what is Ricky Blue's Booga Booga.

Have you ever been a Red Guard, Ms Kay?

Of course, I expect same from other provinces. English shall be compulsory to the right of voting or candidacy in any other provinces. My friends of the Chinese community might call it racism. To the French Canadians it is business as usual.

About history, what do you know about the Ukrainians in Western Canada and their books burnt under the Canada First Policy?
Do you know what is a Laurentist ?

And do you know about James McGill's vision of Canada ?

The beauty with that Bill 195 is that Quebeckers won't feel the need to separate anymore.
Quebec will be sovereign WITHIN Canada.

Francis Déry

Montréal