The Economist
Traditionally, the English-speaking minority in Quebec kept itself pretty much to itself. If this was once accurate, it is no longer so. Now more than two-thirds of Quebec's 750,000 English-speakers can also speak French—double the proportion of the 1970s. Even in those rich ghettos in western Montreal, French is spoken almost as much as English.
A recent government report on Quebec's English-speakers noted other signs of integration. As Anglos learn to speak French younger and better, frequently choosing to study in French schools, there has been a surge in marriage (or at least coupling) outside the community. Closer contact has eased tensions between what were once known as “the two solitudes” who share Quebec.
With linguistic tension much reduced, the sovereignty movement will need a new cause around which to rally, says Deirdre Meintel, an anthropologist at the University of Montreal who specialises in minorities. “You can be Québécois now without having spoken French all your life,” she says. >> continue
This entry was posted by admin and filed under indigenous people / minorities, Us and Them, Northern America.
Recent comments