“Louisianization” of Quebec: two experts oppose Legault

Mr. Legault has been accused of inciting apprehension about newcomers after telling delegates at his party’s convention last weekend that the safety of the Quebec nation depends on the federal government transferring additional powers. on immigration in the province.

The prime minister further warned that Quebec could be similar to the American state of Louisiana – once under French control – where only a fraction of the population speaks French.

His comments have garnered criticism from opposition parties, who have accused him of inventing a crisis and suggesting that immigrants are a threat.

Mr. backtracks. Legault on Wednesday, saying the comparison to Louisiana was meant to spark debate. He said statistics suggest fewer people speak French at home and at work in Quebec, which he said is evidence of its specificity.

From the moment there is a decrease, we can make a projection, he said. Will it take 25 years, 50 years, 60 years? But from the moment there is a decline, everyone who wants to speak French the next generation should worry.

Legault raises, according to a history professor

Two Louisiana history experts who spoke to The Canadian Press said the situation for French in Quebec is not really comparable to the U.S. state, which has a smaller base of native speakers and where French is banned as language of instruction.

Louis-Georges Harvey, professor emeritus of history at Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Quebec, said he was too exaggerated to compare a province where more than 90% of the people speak French to a state where only 2% use it.

” The French, to my knowledge, have no official status in Louisiana. It is not taught in most schools. “

This is more a question of inheritance than anything else.he said in a telephone interview.

He explained that by the time Louisiana entered the United States in the early 19th century, the state no longer had a critical mass of speakers to maintain language use, especially in the absence of government support.

Mr. said. Harvey that he has the impression that the French are already losing ground in Montreal and he understands the Quebec government’s desire to renegotiate to select more immigrants. But calling Louisiana is a big shortcut, he said, and more election issues than anything. The county must go to the polls in October.

Exploitation of “a kind of populist fear”

Clint Bruce, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Acadian and Transnational Studies at Université Sainte-Anne, in Nova Scotia, believes there is nothing wrong if Quebec is interested in what has happened elsewhere, as long as it is done with nuance and hindi. by exploiting a kind of populist fear.

In the case of Louisiana, it is clear, according to him, that the number of French -speaking people is in free fall. From 500,000 to one million Francophones 50 years ago, now there are between 100,000 and 200,000.

But he said it came after years of French being suppressed and considered a foreign language – the opposite of what Quebec does.

Mr. Legault’s comments, he added, ignore the fact that Louisiana has recently sought to revitalize its French heritage by joining French-speaking international organizations, setting up language programs in schools, as well as arts and cultural activities.

” Does it help to discredit other societies and use fears in other cultures? I don’t think that helps. “

MM. Both Bruce and Harvey point out that Legault’s reasoning is not new: Examples of public people in Quebec asking for Louisiana as a symbol of the decline of the French language in the 1830s, they say.

Shout out to the opposition

The political opposition in Quebec criticized Mr. Legault’s statements on Tuesday. Québec solidaire spokesman Manon Massé accused the prime minister of using immigrants to distract people from his government’s failures on issues such as housing and climate change, while Liberal leader Dominique Anglade said he had no empathy for immigrants who wanted to find their parents. For the Liberal leader, Legault “invented a crisis” in immigration.

According to Mr. Legault, while Quebec has the right to select approximately half of the 50,000 immigrants living in the province each year, the rest are selected by the federal government. He added that selected federal immigrants – refugees and people in the family reunification stream – were more likely to speak French on arrival than selected Quebec immigrants, who are major economic immigrants.

He said Wednesday that while Quebec is not seeking refugee screening, Ottawa should transfer to Quebec the power to select immigrants under family reunification. He added that even a few thousand immigrants a year who do not speak French have a huge impact.

Trudeau said no

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not wait long to deliver him a dismissal. There is no question of accepting the transfer of additional power to Quebec, he said.

It is certain that a country should have a word on its immigrationhe said in Ottawa on Tuesday, adding that jurisdiction is shared with Quebec to allow the province to prioritize Francophone immigration.