Cry me a river Québec
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Mahrouse explores the dynamic between Québec, which sees itself as a minority in the larger context of North America due to its Francophone identity, and immigrant populations/minority communities within the province . These complicated dynamics of inclusion and exclusion are perpetuated by the idea of French-Canadian Quebecers who believe that “as a minority culture under siege in Canada as a whole, they simply could not afford to be too tolerant, lest they be swallowed up by Anglophones and immigrants.” (Mahrouse, 91). This tension is evident and is further perpetuated by the interculturalism model which Québec adopted in contrast to Canada's multiculturalism. While promoting some level of cultural diversity, interculturalism prioritises the preservation of Québec’s French-language culture, with Mahrouse also suggesting that this mindset allows for French-Canadian Quebecers to act “as the judges of what was tolerable and what was not” (89). Put simply, if the majority in Québec (who view themselves as the minority so therefore the victim) deem certain immigrant cultures or practices to be a direct threat to their identity, these immigrants must become more assimilated and in line with what Québec society sees as acceptable. It is unsurprising then that Québec has opted to adopt policies that subtly favour cultural assimilation.
An interesting argument that Mahrouse brings up in relation to Québec nationalism, whereby their fight for recognition and self-identity, and supposed fear of the threat to their culture is in direct “conflict with the nationalism of the First Nations” (88). In other words, the “recognition of Aboriginal claims would undermine the very foundations upon which the province has sought to build its special stats within Canada” (Mahrouse, 88). That is to say that Québec sees themselves as a society with a distinct, minority culture that is actively at risk, but I believe that this is frankly just representative of their victimhood within Canada. This is supported by the Bouchard-Taylor Commission (2007-08) which concludes that the belief that “Québec identity is under threat was mistaken and that ‘collective life in Québec is not in a critical situation’” (Mahrouse, 88).
This dual status as supposed minority and simultaneous majority fosters a polarised narrative: immigrants and minorities are expected to demonstrate loyalty to Québec’s values, while the majority retains the power to define and enforce these values. In an article by the Montreal Gazette about the Bouchard-Taylor Commission, this narrative is clearly supported as “the Commission was ‘a good-faith effort’ in which minority groups were being called upon to ‘defuse the angst’ of the majority.” (Mahrouse, 89).
A similar idea of the exclusion of the “other” is explored by Bilge through the notion of sexual nationalism, which refers to the use of gender equality and sexual freedoms as markers of national identity, often to exclude minorities, particularly Muslims, by portraying them as threats to these values. This dynamic, evident during Québec’s reasonable accommodation debates, frames secularism as essential to gender and sexual emancipation, while constructing “religious others” as “assigned to pre-modern temporality”, with Muslim men, “whose accommodation becomes doubly interable for jeopardising women’s hard-won gains and recalling Québec’s traumatic past with religion”, being seen as patriarchal and Muslim women as victims needing liberation (Bilge, 310).