Greetings,
This is my first post on this board. I would therefore like to introduce myself. My name is Damien. I am 21 years old. I was born from an immigrant mother and a Québécois father in Montréal in 1985. I study biochemistry at the University of Montréal. I am also what you would call a "pure and hard" independantist.
I have come to you on this day because I believe that there is a big misunderstanding between independantists and people in the rest of Canada (ROC). Recent events, to which I refer in this thread's title, have sparkled the revival of old grudges, of old hatred. I say this because I have noted a remarquable rise in the amount of Québec bashing found in canadian newspaper in the last few days. They say we (Québec sovereignists) are racists, totalitarian scum, fascists... I am well aware that I will not change the opinion of many people, if any, by simply writing on some torontonian forum. But at least I will have tried, and made my part. Besides, I know no one from English-Canada, and wish to make new contacts. That mean I'm here to make friends
What I'd like to convince you of is that our positions, opinions, and objectives aren't that of racists in any way. I don't believe in canadian multiculturalism, yet I am not racist. I see a difference between my people and others, and yet that doesn't make me a racist. I want my people to be the one and only master of its own land : it is a perfectly legitimate objective, and it has nothing to do with fascism. I want my culture to live, I want my children's children's childrens to speak french, to speak it as well or even better than I do. I love my culture and wish to see it flourish. But I fear assimilation by the english leviathan. Does that make me xenophobic ?
To me, there is something extremely wrong in canadian multiculturalism, a least in its theoritical form. I was relieved, when I visited Toronto last summer, to see that in real life, it's just good old assimilation. English's attractive power is such that, even though they wear scarfs or kirpans, they speak english with a torontonian accent, and think like anglo-saxons. For that I must congratulate you. Your system works. I wish you tons of successful immigration.
Unfortunately, that model cannot be applied in Québec. We have to make extra efforts to integrate and, in time, assimilate immigrants to our society. The french language does not have the power, in the present-day world, that the english language has. Especially in the context of Québec being a mere province of the massively english country that is Canada. Does that make sense to you ?
My vision of immigration, and that of most Québécois I think, can be bluntly put as "Be my brother or bust". If you come in Québec, you have to become one of ours. And if you do, our doors are wide open. A new life awaits you here. Please raise your family alongside mine. Your children will play with mine, and they will become pure Québécois. May my daughter marry your son. We'll build this country together. If it doesn't please you, however, then we don't need you. Come back if you ever change your mind.
Those of you who believe in multicultaralism may be schocked by my references to the concept of assimilation. However, I consider that a nation should have only one dominant, pure culture. Intercultural marriages should be the norm. The different communities that inhabit a country should mix with one another, blend together, exchange to become one. My blood isn't pure : my ancestors come from Normandy, Ireland, Scotland, some are natives and others probably come from other places as well. My soul, however, is pure. Its roots are in Québec, and that is where its loyalty lies. That is how nations are born and evolve. Cultures meet, sometimes collide, and eventually merge to give rise to something new and pure. That is how the people of Québec was born. That is how it will change and evolve. Accepting the rules of multiculturalism, however, has nothing to do with that. It is a collective suicide, a treason of our history and of our soul. Our duty is therefore to fight the Charter, which is a foreign law imposed on us without our consent. That law is adapted to the context of an Anglo-Saxon land, not to mine. Therefore, why should I abide to it ?
The solution to this problem is the independance of Québec.But until my brothers have the courage to do it, we need measures to counter the destructive influence of the Charter. A Québécois Constitution and a Québécois Citizenship would do the trick. That's not racism, believe me. We simply want to protect what we love and give ourselves the means to do it.
