Embrace Change
Walking in downtown Montréal this week I noticed two large adverts from the Government of Québec. "Merci de me servir en français", words in white on blue, printed on eight foot posters. I find it interesting how in the second largest French-speaking city in the world there is a need to say this. These adverts just do not make much sense to me at all and feel like they belong in another city, maybe, for example, geared towards French tourists walking in the streets of New Orleans as part of some campaign to attract more French speakers to vacation in the Big Easy. Obviously this is not the case. This campaign, run by the Office Québécois de la langue française, is geared to its own constituents.
Many seem to think that the French speaking majority of Québec have something to worry about - at least in Montréal. I would rather say that they have something to embrace as the change that is happening simply will not be stopped.
Statistics Canada has come out with a report that is getting a lot of press these days. It simply states that the number of "visible-minorities" will continue to increase in Canada and that, in Vancouver and Toronto, by 2031, 59% and 63% respectively of citizens will be non-white. In Montréal the number is, not surprisingly, lower - 31%. This Stats Canada report, along with the ongoing debate surrounding the niqab, is spawning much public debate. Another article in yesterday's Montreal Gazette spoke about Québec's phobia towards minorities. It touches upon the integration of minorities into society. On Westernization and on Canadian and Québec values.
As is often the case with change there are those that want nothing to do with it (in the slow lane) and then there is the reality outside their bubble (the fast lane). The fact is that the world is flattening and immigration is becoming easier. We are travelling more, being exposed to the richness of cultures and, generally, seeing the positives of these interactions. As free trade spreads and as people become freer to move and settle where they wish the trend towards the movement of people outside of their traditional homelands will only increase. Unless the world suddenly puts a stop to the advancement of human freedom, or regresses by curtailing freedoms, there is not much one can do.
I believe that a broad mind shift needs to occur. We are starting to see it when discussing non-human resources (oil, water, nature, the environment). On these subjects governments are starting, slowly, to understand that no geo-political boundary can stop nature in its tracks. Water flows from one country to another. Pollution flows from China to the US and from the US to Europe. Unless one accepts that these issues are Earth's and not "mine-vs-yours" these issues simply can't be adequately and efficiently addressed. A similar shift in thinking needs to occur now when discussing another of Earth's important resources - humans.
Talk about non-white vs white. Of visible minorities. Of nationality. Of westernization. Of Africanism. Of integration into Canadian or Québec or any society. All of this needs to cease. People want to move to Montréal, Québec, Canada because they perceive that there are some advantages to being here. In turn they bring their amazing culture with them. Their clothes, food, language, music, beliefs, religions, etc. New ideas, ways of thinking. New connections and inventions and innovation spawn because of this interaction. By continuously branding each other and categorizing each other we are forgetting that we are all, in the end, the same animal with similar wants.
Governments and bigots need to stop thinking that we humans are unable to adapt and lend us a hand via their endless classifications. There is no need for rules and laws on culture and all that it encompasses. If someone wants to work in Québec, and they see that most people speak French, they will, if they want to increase their chances of working in the province, learn French. They will do this on their own. If not they will move. So what? If a group of Uzbeks figure out a way to thrive in Montréal without learning French or English they should be free to do this. So what?
The human will to survive and make a living is pretty strong. The human desire for freedom is even stronger. After all immigrants show more flexibility and ability to adapt than most people. They have moved from their "native country" to Canada. Let's just say that this is a harder move than from Shawinigan to Montréal. If people can't find the freedom they are after here they will simply go elsewhere and this will be a loss to Montréal.
I look forward to 2031 and living in a Montreal that has changed for the better. This is much more interesting to me than remaining stuck in 2010 and seeing the rest of the world evolve off the island.
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