NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/can/politics/10997

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-21 | 3.1 KB

Xref: sparky can.politics:10997 can.general:6121 soc.culture.canada:9595
Path: sparky!uunet!think.com!spool.mu.edu!olivea!charnel!sifon!VM1.MCGILL.CA
From: [e-mail] (CZ94)
Newsgroups: can.politics,can.general,soc.culture.canada
Subject: Re: Legalized Discrimination in Quebec
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 21 Dec 92 18:36:09 GMT
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (John LaRocque) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (CZ94) writes:
>
>
>> This is not due to a lack of imperialistic brainwashing from the
>> Ontario school system.  When I started school, the current Canadian
>> flag had not yet been adopted.  Outside the school, the Canadian Red
>> Ensign was flown (a red flag with the Union Jack in the upper left
>> quadrant and the Canadian coat of arms (itself made up of mostly
>> British and French symbols) on the right hand side).  Inside the
>> classrooms, no such compromise was made.  The flag flown there
>> was the Union Jack, right next to the picture of the Queen.
>> We learned to sing "God Save the Queen" in kindergarten, but
>> didn't get around to "O Canada" until grade 1.  For Victoria Day
>> (better known to us kids as Firecracker Day) we learned songs
>> with absurd pompous lyrics about the glories of the British Empire.
>> Fortunately, none of this had any lasting effect on me.
>
>Don't forget (drumroll, please) - the Maple Leaf Forever! When I first
>saw the lyrics to this song, I wanted to heave. My mom liked the tune
>but never understood the lyrics.

Fortunately, this one had gone out of fashion by my time.  I think it
had dawned on someone that celebrating Wolfe's glorious victory could
be seen as anti-French.  And though my education was at times
absurdly pro-British, it was not generally anti-French.  People
like Champlain and Talon were portrayed as great builders of Canada.
And guys like Radisson and Le Moyne d'Iberville seemed a lot more
exciting than those stodgy HBC clerks.

>But - this is not my country. Flying foreign flags                     gs
>on Canada Day is an obscenity. The Maple Leaf Flag is only 25 years old and
>already forgotten. Doesn't anybody care for Canada? I know that in my
>neighbourhood - that is no longer the case. Contrast that repulsive attitude
>with that shown by Quebecers on the fete nationale. Here you hear nothing
>BUT Quebec's heritage and Quebec's history. I guess it is toilet paper here
>in South Western Ontario, but in Quebec they RESPECT their history. Shame
>on my neighbourhood.
>
Bad news, John.  The SSJB had been getting a lot of flak for being
too ethnocentric, so one of the themes of this year's St-Jean
parade was the "cultural communities" (the approved term for "ethnics")
of Quebec.

Tom Box
[e-mail]