Fête St. Jean versus Fête Nationale -Which is It?

The recent brouhaha concerning the ousting and subsequent reinstatement of Anglo artists at Quebec's annual celebrations brings up an interesting question.

What exactly are we celebrating on June 24?
When I was young, there wasn't any doubt. The holiday was called 'La Fete St. Jean' and was a celebration of French Canadian culture. That was it, period.

As the years went by and the sovereignty movement gained momentum, the celebration morphed into a sovereignist celebration as well. There isn't an Anglo-Quebecker older than 40 who doesn't remember the sickening television images of drunken revellers desecrating and burning Canadian flags, amid shouts of 'Vive la Quebec libre'
The idea of anglophones participating in this celebration was nonsense.

It was a time to get out of town, to go the cottage or on vacation to the beaches in PEI or to those in the northeastern states south of the border. A time to visit out of province family. Those who stayed in town made sure not to venture anywhere east of Bleury street and most just hoped for rain and a quick end to the day without too much violence.

In fact, the Canada Day celebration that took place the week after, was never really embraced in earnest, lest it be seen as a provocation to the 'other' side. Again, for Anglos, it was a good time to be at the cottage or out of Quebec. Those who stayed did little celebrating other than a backyard barbecue.

But then in 1977 Rene Levesque, the province's first sovereignist Premier, officially changed the name of the holiday to 'Fête nationale du Québec' (the National Holiday of Quebec). The new vision was that the holiday would become a celebration of the Quebec nation, inclusive of it's minorities. It wasn't a question of altruism, having a national 'day' was seen as a first step towards sovereignty.
The committee that was formed to organise the 'new' holiday turned over it's responsibilities to la Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste which in 1984, created the Mouvement national des Québécoises et des Québécois. Both organisations were then and remain today, fiercely radical and pro-independence.

Over the years the sovereignty movement has matured and violence has petered out. Francophones today, are about equally split on the issue of Quebec independence, but live together along with the minorities (who are all pro-federalist) rather peaceably.

In this new era of detente, anglophones and allophones were slowly drawn to the celebrations and although they have continued to be an exclusively French language affair, those who's mother tongue is not, are openly welcomed to attend.

The paradox remains.
Is the 24th a celebration of French Canadian culture or a holiday celebrating the entire Quebec national family?

The question has never been fairly addressed.

From the point of view of the SSJB and many Quebeckers, it is the former and as such should be an exclusive celebration of French culture, which all Quebeckers, of all backgrounds and mother tongue are heartily welcomed to attend.

For others, it's a celebration for all Quebeckers and it's proper for English and other minorities to contribute as artists.

It no wonder everyone is confused and so who is right?

Everybody, and that's the problem.

Those who hold the first vision of the holiday should not be castigated. The government has been two-faced, claiming that the holiday is for everyone and then sub-contracting the organization of the event to radial groups.

If the government wants to signal that it really means that the 24th is a holiday for everyone, they must remove sovereignist groups as the exclusive organizer of the event.
In short, if you want a holiday that is inclusive, don't hire ethnocentrics to run the show, it's as simple as that.

The SSJB is what it is and everyone knows it. As long as the government employs them to run the show, sanctimonious protestations by Ministers decrying the decisions they take, is cynical and unfair.
On every level, it is politics at it's worst.

When Temporary road Construction becomes Permanent

Years ago I had occasion to go a small town in Mexico where our company ran a small factory. Outside the front door of the factory road construction had made getting in and out of the building somewhat tricky. I thought nothing of it until I returned over a year later and found that not much progress had been made on the project and the construction site sat idle even though it blocked a significant thoroughfare.
Ah well, I thought "It's the third world, what do you expect?

What I wouldn't expect is the same situation in Montreal.


All The overpasses on the Cote de Liesse highway to the airport have had the traffic reduced to one lane, likely because of the fear that the bridges can't carry the load. At first, traffic cones were used to restrict traffic but as of last fall hazard signs were sunk into the road making the barrier permanent. The one at at the Autoroute 13 overpass is particularly bothersome and creates quite a jam a rush hour. I haven't heard anything about getting these bridges fixed and it's going on two years.

Another barrier which has morphed into permanent, is the one across Loblaws on St. Croix at Dion in St. Laurent.

The temporary flashing light has blinking for over a year now. I'm not sure what it is actually protecting, but it sure plays havoc with traffic.


On a positive note, the laying of new water pipes along Cote de Liesse is going like gangbusters.


For those of us who use the road as a daily commute, it's impressive to see a construction project done right.

French Language Zealots Cave in Anglo Artists Dispute.

What a difference a day makes.
Less than 24 hours after defending the decision to bar anglophone groups from the St. Jean Baptiste celebration L'Autre St-Jean, l'association culterelle louise-Hebert" the funding organisation closely allied with Mario Beaulieu and the St. Jean Baptisite Society, has caved.
The English acts are will perform.

The almost universal condemnation from Quebeckers af all political ilks left organisers with little choice. For radicals, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
When Pierre Curzi (a PQ stalwart) signaled that the organisers needed to back peddle, it was clear that there'd be no support anywhere for the exclusion.

Doing it's best to weasel out of responsibility for it's decision, the l'association culterelle louise-Hebert contradicted it's own spokesman Mathieu Bouthillier, who said that the groups English performance was the problem. Today, in a contradictory statement itself, they first said that the decision had never been approved by the executive council and then went on to say that the decision was made for security reasons (after some threats from it's sister organization, the radical SSJB) and not because the acts sang in English. Ha! Ha!

Facing his first major setback since assuming the reins of the SSJB, Mario Beaulieu remained understandably silent today.
The incident represents a major humiliation for radical French language zealots and it neatly squares the defeat federalist side suffered by the cancellation of the Plains of Abraham re-enactment.

With Friends Like this Who Needs Enemies

To say that Mario Beaulieu and the St. Jean Baptisite Society's decision to use it's muscle to oust English performers at a secondary celebration of Quebec's national holiday backfired, would be one of the largest understatements of the year.

The story which broke over the weekend and is now rapidly spreading across the web is going to humiliate Quebeckers big time.
Bullying is bulling and as headlines go, you can't get one much worse than this.

"St. Jean festivities: anglos not welcome"

The story is just too good to pass up and there's no putting this genie back in the bottle. I can't wait for the political cartoons.

Quebeckers are keenly aware and protective of their collective image as a progressive, liberal and open society. Regardless of political affiliation, they recognize bad P.R when they see it.
Even over at PQ headquarters, there must be some serious moaning and groaning. What will Pauline say? If ever there was a no win situation this is it.

In a hilarious interview on Radio Canada Mr. Bealieu makes a hash of defending himself and his organization. First he declares as defamatory the notion that he rejects anglos-"it's the language." Then he denies that it is he and his organisation that pulled the plug on the artists, but rather the organizing committee L’Association culturelle Louis-Hébert de Rosemont et Saint-Michel. He does however admit that it was his organization that contacted the organisers (who didn't even know about that anglos were scheduled) and put pressure to dump them.
The interviewer, Simon Durivage then challenges Mr. Beaulieu that the committee is really independent as they share the same address as the Saint Jean Baptiste society.
"Aren't you one and the same?" "You didn't have to phone them, just walk over to an adjacent office!"
"Yes we are close" Mr. Beaulieu finally admits.
Another beaut- "They should sing in Westmount.' Ha Ha Ha.....

Nobody but the most rabid of language zealots will defend Mr. Bealieu, but it will be interesting to see who does and how the SSJB will handle the coming flak.
I hope suspect they'll brazen it out and make the situation even worse for them.

Does the nationalist/sovereignty movement benefit from it's asociation with this ethnocentric collection of yahoos. Not any more.
Is it time for the government to break off official ties. Yes

Who benefits from this nasty gaff-Premier Jean Charest and the Liberals who are going to make intolerence the theme of the week.
Who else;



The Anglo performers- Bloodshot Bill and the group Lake of Stew, who'll be fielding more offers they can handle;

Anglophone Performers Pulled from Fete Celebration

Two Montreal English bands may be dropped from a St-Jean-Baptiste concert after one of the backers threatened to pull out over language issues.

The about-face comes days after the concert's producers announced the show, billing it as an indie band alternative to the huge official musical bash featuring French-Canadian superstars, as well as a celebration of the Quebec's cultural diversity.

But the idea of a bilingual concert celebrating Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, a public holiday in Quebec dedicated to the province's French-Canadian culture, proved too much for one of the organizers.

The event - dubbed L'Autre St-Jean - was to be held on June 23 in the up-and-coming and majority French Rosemont neighbourhood.

But in an email sent to organizers on Thursday, the production company says one partner informed them they disagreed with the show's "philosophy" and that, because the French-language is under constant threat in Quebec, they refused to endorse the programming and may block its financing.

Further, the partner threatened to protest to the event.

Read more of the original CP article

Nowhere on the web site of the L'Autre St-Jean event is it mentioned that the St-Jean-Baptiste Society, (an ethnocentric French language supremacy lobby group) is an organizer.

It name is suspiciously absent from the list of partners

Yet it seems that it's president Mario Beaulieu is the one pulling the strings. He advised the English artists that they aren't welcome and that they should sing in English neighborhoods and that if they performed they'd be subject to a protest.

According to the article the SJBS is a principle backer of "l'association culterelle louise-Hebert"

The next time that these type of sovereignists tell you that the movement is inclusive, ask them exactly what they are inclusive of.

How do you spell these type of sovereignists;

R-A-C-I-S-T-S