I hope all of you in Canada enjoyed a nice holiday yesterday. I am sorry that I didn’t make a post to say ‘Happy Canada Day’ yesterday. I felt a bit awkward about it considering my experiences and my allegiance to Quebec. However today I just feel ashamed. You see the truth is I am quite proud to be a Canadian. I had to sit through an exam and an interview, not to mention detail my life history on a form, to get my citizenship. I had to learn all the history, quebec and the rest, I had to memorise past prime ministers, geographical differences, population and the like. I had to learn about each provinces biggest exports, imports and distinguishing features. And then, I had to swear allegiance, in both French and English. And in July 2003 I was awarded citizenship – 9 years after arriving in Montreal.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love Quebec. I love the people, the pride, the language, the culture and the passion. I am not an extreme separatist, however if I was ever to see Quebec start fading into the rest of Canada, I would be the first one to stand up and vote for the Bloc. If Quebec was to separate from Canada I would remain loyal to Quebec. I would be sad, but I would never agree to lose the Quebecois culture to the wide sea of North America.

For me Canada is such a wonderful country with the help of Quebec. Without Quebec it would eventually fade into the strip malls of America, it would be hard to maintain any distinction. Now, I don’t want to offend any of my english Canadian friends – there are certainly differences between the Canadians and Americans as individuals, but as a culture, I find that it’s really very difficult to distinguish.

So there you have it. I’m not into politics really. I’ve struggled with the Quebec separatist movement since I arrived in Canada. First, being married into a very eloquent separatist family, and since then, sharing my life with Michelle who is a staunch Bloc supporter. Initially I fought strongly to remain in Canada, mostly due to fear, fear that I would never survive in a separate, truly french Quebec.

Then on a trip to Toronto quite some years ago now, I went to see a Quebecois film, (the advantage of seeing a french film in toronto is that it is sub-titled) that was filmed in Montreal. I was so proud. You know when you see a film or tv show that was filmed near where you live and you can recognise streets, shops and the like? Well, it was like that, only on a larger scale. I had the same sense of recognition, but not only of the streets, but also of the culture and the style of life that is different in Montreal. When we walked out of the cinema in Toronto I had the feeling that I could be anywhere in North America – and it hit me. I don’t want Montreal to become just another city in North America, I hope Montreal never loses it’s distinction. I understood. The point is not all the nagging annoyances that the Parti Quebecois causes, the language police, the endless referendum discussion, the size of public signs, the use of the apostrophe – all of this is only important when you think of it in context with the bottom line: the culture.

And now I understand. And agree.

For truly strong separatists this viewpoint may seem very ‘wishy-washy’, but there you have it. My truly Australian, yet proud to be Canadian – and even prouder to have been accepted into Quebec society (almost!) – opinion….

Happy belated Canada day, and for those of you who do not agree – happy belated Holiday – like they say at Christmas time…

P.S. All of this was because I read some enjoyable articles referenced by Lloyd this morning. Written by Americans last year, here they are:
Hey, Canada’s one cool country and Cool facts about Canada. Thanks Lloyd.

P.P.S Feel free to comment.