French vs. English Volume 12

'Fat Cats' Rile Journalist

A Ottawa sportswriter accuses the newest entry into Intercounty Baseball League, a semiprofessional Ontario  baseball called the 'FAT CATS 'of acting contemptuously towards Ottawa Francophones by giving the team a unilingual English name.

Militants celebrate historic victory over  KFC PFK

The Réseau de résistance du Québécois (RRQ) is  claiming victory  over Bay Street and  Colonel Sanders. (notwithstanding that he's been dead for quite a while now.) The militant organization has a history of intimidation by hinting at violence. In a letter addressed to the owners of two Gatineau restaurants, the RRQ demanded that English be removed from any signage in the stores, as well as the removal of a "Help Wanted" sign in English. The letter starts off by invoking the spirit of Camille Laurin, father of the infamous Bill 101

"Your KFC restaurants in Gatineau, on Boulevard St-Joseph Boulevard Greber, have bilingual signs which is contrary to the spirit and letter of the Charter of the French language....

...The RRQ refuses the occupation of Quebec by the neocolonial power in Ottawa and the owners of Bay Street, including yourself...."

 As to the bilingual "Help Wanted sign;

".... by advertising in English that you are recruiting staff, you indicate that you plan to hire people who speak English but not French."

The owners of the two restaurants removed the offending words to much back-slapping and joy over the RRQ. A great victory!!!

St. Lazare stiffs English School Board

"A war of words has erupted over land deals for schools off the western tip of the island that has the Lester B. Pearson School Board suggesting the city of Vaudreuil-Dorion acted in bad faith.

Lester B. Pearson School Board chairman Marcus Tabachnick says when they were looking for land in Vaudreuil-Dorion for a new school, they had asked about the site at Jean Beliveau and Cité des Jeunes. They were told it wasn't available. Flash forward to early last month when that same land was being offered to the French-language Trois Lacs school board."  more at CJAD

Sun Setting on Quebec City
I don't know why some designer proposed this logo for Quebec City entitled "Québec - Capitale française d'Amérique" 
It's a view of the Chateau Frontenac facing the West, where the sun is  clearly depicted as setting.

I'm not sure if the idea of the sun setting on the French Capital of North America is the message that the artists intended. Link 

 

Multiculturalism vs. Interculturaism

I must say, I never heard of the term Interculturalism, but apparently it has become a big topic of conversation amongst the 'you know whos.' We all are aware that French language militants are vehemently opposed to the concept of multiculturalism, where all cultures are valued and promoted equally. This longtime Canadian concept is considered poison in Quebec, where the 'melting pot' theory, where all newcomers are assimilated into the common culture is considered the only politically correct option. Interculturalism is a term now being bandied about and is explained as;

People having the right to maintain an affiliation with one's ethnic group and the right for cultural and religious differences to be displayed in the public domain. However, the entire society must adhere to the same constitution of fundamental rights and obligations, with no exception. Wikipedia

Hmmm...  Just so you know, language militants are dead set against this concept too.....
P.S.  Who has time to think about this stuff??

En nombre de Padre, de Hijo y de espiritu santo.

The diocese of Montreal is no longer able to provide enough Priests for its churches, even considering that church attendance has collapsed to the point that only about 6% of Francophone Catholics attend church weekly. The Church is graduating less than 2 priests on average per year, a calamitous decline that even out paces fading church attendance.
It won't be long before the church will be forced to recruit from abroad, South America in all likelihood.  Spanish lessons anyone?

Anglos squeezed out of Cegep

It seems that demand is so heavy to get into English Cegeps that the selection criteria has been raised considerably.
The increase in applications to English CEGEPs this fall is double the hike at French CEGEPs and schools are becoming more selective. With 18% of the student body Francophone and 25% Allophone, Anglophone students are finding it harder to get in because of increased competition.

"Everybody in the group of English colleges is very, very concerned about how do we ensure that we maximize access to education for kids that have graduated from the English system," said Gilbert Héroux, the director general of Vanier College. Gazette

Coming Soon--More Supreme Court Bashing

It seems that a group of parents in Drummondville who are opposed the the teaching of the Ethics & Religion course in Quebec public schools are going to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn decisions handed down in the same matter by the Quebec Superior Court and the Quebec Appeals Court.
Both courts agreed with the government that it was within their right to make the course in religious diversity mandatory for all students.
For the Supreme Court it will be another no-win situation. If the Supremos decide that the Quebec courts were right, parents will hold the "English" court responsible and will likely demonstrate against a foreign court that dictates over religious instruction in Quebec.
If the Court overturns the decision, other groups will take to the streets as well, blaming the Court for denying the will of the Quebec judicial system.

Now Premiere Charest has announced that he will appeal the decision by the federal government to create a national agency to regulate stock markets all the way to the Supreme Court.. For Mr. Charest, it is a win/win situation, regardless of the outcome. A win would please nationalists and a loss would please nationalists, as well. Huh?

Are Quebeckers/Francophones over or under-represented in the NHL?

It's hard to believe, but on one single web page on vigile.net (a nationalist/separatist web site) both arguments are made.
Yup... The top half of the page features an article by Louis Fournier, called "A strong contingent of 91 players from Quebec and Francophones outside Quebec" which details how well Quebeckers and Francophones are doing in the NHL.

"This number (91) represents a high percentage of 11% of the 800 players who participated....NHL"

"15% of the 100 best scorers in the league this season are players from Quebec and Francophones"

Immediately after this article, sharing the page, is an invitation to a  review of Bob Sirois' "Le Quebec mis en échec"a book that details how Quebeckers and Francophones are systematically discriminated against by the NHL.

"The figures  support  the sensitive issue of discrimination against Quebec hockey players "

Yup, I promise you it's true. Go over and check it out. vigile.net