Although I was born in the US, I have lived in Montreal since an infant, and I love Montreal, it is my heart I have lived in Vancouver, but came back after 4 years, I speak French with no problem, I love the French language, the culture, no its not perfect but I love it here!
I am 73 and the fact is the English treated the French like second-class citizens in all of Quebec. The French finally said enough is enough. Even though I am not French I support the French and their right to keep Quebec French. I made it a point to learn French and truth be told I am still learning French. So if you are English or a new immigrant who does not like the fact your children have to learn French in school go live in another province.
Yes, this was my parents' experience (in the 1960's) when they attended McGill. I support the importance of keeping Quebec French. I am from B.C. and I could already speak French when I arrived in QC. I am told that I now have a very good proficiency in the language now:) It's hard for me to understand this division as I am not originally from QC.
@@yiddena Francophones should absolutely be able to live their lives in French in Quebec (and anywhere in Canada for that matter), but Quebec isn't French-only. It's French and English. There are over 1 million English speaking Canadians in Quebec, and there are regions that are mostly English. The fact that McGill even exists disproves that Quebec is all French. It's just a question of recognizing and respecting everyone.
The top of the top were the Presbyterian Scots from the lowlands who treated the native Gaels with equal disregard back in their homeland. The clearances in the highlands booting their lower classes and making them homeless because they made more money on raising sheep. Now, it’s always been like this everywhere on earth. The top is always a minority who will ALWAYS rule over the majority.
7:25 “I feel as if I’m being forced to integrate, I’m being forced to speak French…” Well, the exact same thing happened to Quebec and Louisiana people who’ve been forced to speak English, the difference is they were banned from speaking French and you’re not banned from speaking English.
This has been equally done to the English by the French. When the English monarch was ruled by the French, they banned the use of English for over 300 years. It's why the English language has many French sounding words. This shit will never end.
Ironically, they're not being forced to stay in Quebec to study. If they aren't happy, there are school that are arguably better in Toronto. Would you move to Japan and not learn Japanese?
Ouais MAIS écoutez bien. En tant que Louisianais francophone qu’a réclamé sa langue d’héritage, j’ne forcerait JAMAIS les non-francophones d’apprendre le français ni d’ôter des signes dans les autres langues dans leurs entreprises. Yeah, BUT listen well. As a Francophone from Louisiana who has reclaimed his heritage language, I would NEVER force non-Francophones to learn French nor would I force them to eliminate signs in all languages other than French in their own businesses. I admire how Québec has fought to keep their language! Ça m’inspire tellement! But I’m against and HATE this kind of reverse discrimination the Québécois government feels it must do in order to keep French alive.
@@sylvainb2366 De dire à un propriétaire d’un magasin du Pays de Galles qu’il peut pas avoir un signe en gallois sur la porte de son magasin, ça aussi, c’est du linguicide, mon cousin! Cette discrimination à l’envers, c’est d’la marde pis c’est quèque chose que j’peux pas soutenir.
There is something completly left out of this film. What the revolution and the law brought to the french speaking quebecers. Up to the 1980's you could never achieve a managing position in any enterprise in Montreal unless you were English. Everybody that was working had an english boss. The French Quebecers took control of their language not for the punishment of the englishmen but for the fulfillment of their children.
I agree with you Eric. I am an anglophone that left Montreal because my French was not strong enough to be hired in the 80’s. I loved My hometown but it did not love me, but I understood why, I grew up during the October crisis, the oka crisis, Premier Leveque was honest about his intentions, but I grew tired of the fist fights with my French brothers, and I loved French girls. It broke my heart, we sold our apple farm and I left. I get it, but I wish I didn’t have to experience it.
@@retrocompaq5212 My great grandfather's name was Mayeux. It was changed to Mayo. My father was bilingual but considered himself an Anglo. He rose to upper management in the bank. His Francophone colleagues did not. My mother was from Toronto. My father never spoke French at home, so we only learned basics at school. We left in 1978, moved to Toronto. I've lost what little French I knew. I'm a tourist when I go back to Montréal. Quel dommage.
Yeah, this isn't a balanced exploration at all. But I did like the acknowledgement on how the Catholic Church oppressed and controlled the Québécois. And René Lévesque's contribution in helping Hydro-Québec was *immense*. A remarkable man.
I am an American who lives in Québec. I support the protections of the French language that exist here. If they did not exist, English would simply take over. I see many anglophones and newcomers here do not understand this and just expect the everyone else here to conform to them.
My stepfather is British he has lived in Quebec city for more than 46 years he also speaks French and he supports law 101 which protects French he finds it silly to live in a place and not want to learn the local language
Given that you are an American, it seems like you're fetishizing the ides of French. You'll find most Anglo & Allophones literally have no problem with the Francophone majority.
@@firthbythesea I used to believe the protections for French were ridiculous since I was able to understand anglophone media better which is very biased towards the anglophone cause. But once my French got better, I was able to understand the francophone point of view and it makes more sense. I am not at all saying anglophone and allophones have a problem with the francophone majority, what many have a problem with is that they must use French to communicate with others, and many expect francophones to conform to them by forcing the francophones to use English. If you are the majority in a society, why must you conform to the minority? That does not make sense. I am not against people speaking other languages in Québec, all I believe is that French should be the common language, the lingua franca, of Québec, not English. Just because I am American does not mean I "fetishize" cultures without truly trying to understand them. Not all Americans are the same. Thinking one nationality is all the same is not ok.
This documentary has an odd, apocalyptic tone. It's been over 25 years since the release of this film, and Montreal hasn't been completely subsumed by French. Sure, English Montreal isn't as big as it used to be, but it certainly isn't ever going to go away. Montreal will always be a city where a majority of people can speak both English and French.
But in fairness to the documentary makers, we have the benefit of hindsight whereas they faced the difficult task of extrapolating from contemporary trends. Indeed, if but a handful of people had voted differently in 1995 Quebec could have been independent. In that scenario, it wouldn’t be surprising if English speaking Montreal also faded away. But looking forward from 2021, I think you’re definitely right. As things stand today I think some English language presence will definitely persist.
By the way, we changed tactic: Instead of removing english from only Québec, we are now making everyone in Canada learn French, yup even all the way in BC. Eventually (in a few centuries) there wont be any english left in Canada at all. They will all have either converted to French or left to the US or some other anglo country.
@@tusk3260 Are you serious? I can't tell if you're an Anglo troll complaining about French laws or not. Canada will remain majority English for centuries. French just isn't as useful right now internationally.
@@dylanc9174 Actually, Canada wasn't english by majority a century ago. So you cant use the word "remain" because thats the same as claiming it's always been. You should use the word "stay" in Canada will always stay english by majority for centuries. But that too wont happen because Canada keeps electing french leaders like Justin Trudeau, Jean Chrétien, Pierre Trudeau and so on. And its already the law to learn both french and english. The english Canadians keeps arguing there should only be 1 official language, they dont specify english. But if you force a french leader to choose one of the 2, its obvious they will choose french.
This documentary makes it seems like the anglos did all the good things, never did anything wrong, and that french canadians owe them. I also found it to be the case when talking about the first nations, as if french canadians were the only ones who badly wanted their assimilation. This is completely wrong. While it is true that not all French Canadians were dirt poor, and a lot of them were part of the Montreal elite, everything had to be in English. The French had to be able to run business in english only, or else they were fired. Glad to know this documentary is very false and outdated. I find it extremely disrespectful to compare Montreal and French laws to very authoritarian regimes that mercilessly kill people everyday for no good reason. All anglos had to do was to speak a bit more french. No one were forcing them out.They couldn’t even respect the bilingual nature of Montreal and had to self sabotage and self-victimize, just because they felt entitled to Montreal being exclusively in English. Even nowadays when Toronto is the biggest city, people still agree that Montreal is a more enjoyable, culturally rich and low cost city to live in. It’s their loss, really. I truly believe Montreal is a bilingual city, but it’s essential that French doesn’t lose its place. English is the language of business and of the internet, so it is easy to conserve it. English will never die in Montreal. Keeping French around will always be more of a challenge, but a worthwhile pursuit. I dream of the day that Montreal can truly be the bilingual paradise that it can be. I just find this documentary to be very false, hypocritical, but most of all to divide people even more. It riles up people with lies. If only the people who made this documentary took one second to understand what the French Quebeckers meant instead of focusing only on their own little needs . I just graduated from Concordia and all the international students I’ve met love Montreal. They have no problem learning french and english, even if it’s harder for them. They enjoy learning. They totally prove this documentary wrong. May I add that you will never see anyone in Toronto complain about having to know English to live in the city. It’s just how things work. It’s just frustrating that people do not give the same amount of respect for Montreal. Sad, real sad.
Je pense que c’est marrant comment dur on est essayer à demonizer la Français comme les anglaises n’ont pas forcé presque tous le monde à parler anglais.
Ça commence ben - on interdirait aux pauvres Anglos opprimés d'utiliser leur langue au Québec... loll Ils me font mourir de rire, ces Rhodésiens, quand ils nous la jouent minorité opprimée. P.-s.: la seule interdiction ici est d'utiliser uniquement l'anglais dans l'affichage.
Je n'ai rien contre les Anglophones, mais reconnaissez que le français a besoin d'être protégé dans un océan anglo-saxon. Si vous étiez à notre place vous feriez de même !
No one should take away your French. I remember the day of referendum in 1995 .i was in Montreal for a year but now I am in New York . Love 💕 canada 🇨🇦 from USA 🇺🇸
Le problème ce n’est pas essaie de « conserver la langue » le problème c’est l’approche. Ce n’est pas correct qu’il y’a des personnes qui sentent forcer par le gouvernement de parler une langue. Ils sont aussi né ici et ils ont aussi des droits. La guerre, était perdu par les français, et la reine anglaise a nous laissez avoir notre province. Je ne comprends pas pourquoi c’est si difficile pour les français d’offrir au anglais le même respect de retour. This argument is stupid and it’s counter-intuitive to try to force ppl. The more you try to force someone to do something, the more they do not do it. Look at bill 96. I am clearly bilingual and I am half québécoise and I don’t appreciate this ongoing, never ending, pointless debate. Find a way to work together and stop acting like kids.
@@jenniferfrancis4032 Est-ce que les francophones sont respectés dans les autres provinces ? La réponse est NON. Cessez donc de focaliser sur le Québec et regardez ce qu'il se passe ailleurs ! Si vous ne mettez pas des limites de vitesse sur les autoroutes, les gens vont se conduire comme ils le veulent, c'est comme ça aussi dans tout autre domaine de la vie. Ça prend des règles pour se faire respecter, les parents qui ne mettent pas de règles claires ne se font pas respecter, même chose pour une entreprise ou un gouvernement. On voit que vous ne comprenez rien de la dynamique québécoise francophone qui est si fragile. De toute façon, je crois que le Québec se dirige lentement mais sûrement vers sa sécession de ce pays de clowns qu'est le gouvernement d'Ottawa.
@@sylvainb2366 on ne parle même pas des autres provinces, on parle de Québec et Montréal spécifiquement. Si vous êtes capable de lire mon commentaire, ma mère est québécoise et je n’accepterai jamais que vous pensez que je ne comprends rien de mon propre sang ou de ma propre culture. Le fait que t’as juste lu la moitié de qu’est-ce que j’ai écrit démontre le respect que vous avez pour les opinions des autres personnes. Le fait que t’as changer de sujet complètement et a commencer à comparer les autres provinces à nous ici au Québec démontres à quel niveau votre commentaire est invalide. Je suis née ici et j’habite ici et tu me donneras pas des ordres à quoi faire dans ma propre province. La plupart des anglophones sont même pas anglophones au Québec, ils sont bilingue, mais vous les appeler anglophones. C’est pas correct. It’s not a sound argument. Ottawa was not even a topic of discussion. There’s a difference between rules and pure dictatorship, last time I checked, we live in a democracy. Wake up. I am willing to admit there might be no right answer here. Are you? It’s wrong to force people. Period. That’s what I know to be true. If you think forcing people to do something is fine, and you want to disguise it as “rules” well I can’t help you with that. However, I would suggest you stop fooling yourself. You’re not fooling anyone else. If you simply hate English people or anyone who speaks English, that’s discrimination. A spade is a spade. Je vous laisse avec ça, j’ai autres choses à faire que de gosser avec quelqu’un qui ne peux pas lire le tout de ce que j’écris.
it was hard for me to learn french when i joined the work force, but i did it and am better for knowing another language. what i find interesting to see is the international companies coming in lately and the french people being forced to learn english to keep their jobs.
Yup they force you to learn english, they you complain to your french government about it, then the french government forces those international companies turn french and then those companies protests by making movies like this one when it was they that started it....
Oh no, a second language! In Europe some places they can speak like five. For a province that prides itself on being distinct from the rest of North America, Quebec's adopted the "Talk white" mentality pretty well ironically.
@@m.a.118 The problem i have with the english is that they refuse to learn french yet force us to learn english. Canada has 2 official language so you should learn them both and be thankful its not 5 official languages.
@@m.a.118 Je suis un français Canadien come les québéquois. I have learned both languages and i am offended that there are a bunch of lazy Canadians that refuse to learn french. Am i clear enough yet? Or do i need to use baby language?
A few points about Montreal today (2022): 1. Despite the predictions made by the film, Montreal still very much has a strong english community and institutions. Many hospitals, universities, CEGEPs are exclusively english and are amongst the most prestigious institutions in the country. 2. A whole lot of French Montrealers are bilingual (especially young folks) and this is seen as an advantage in the workforce in today’s world. 3. Anybody who visits Montreal can get by with English only, people who tell you otherwise are kidding themselves. 4. Montreal’s British heritage is not hidden, in fact it is everywhere in the city. It has not disappeared and is not belittled. Making french the main language (because it is the language of the majority) has not erased the hundreds of years of British influence, industrialisation and history. I think any Montrealer (French or English) should be proud of this heritage and the way it shaped our city! In the end Montreal always has, and will continue to be a linguistically complex place. The initial language law changes brought by the PQ were very drastic and used (in some cases) as a pretext for blatant discrimination. Sadly, this trend of using the Québecois identity as a gateway to division is still going on today with things like bill 21. On the bright side, a lot of the young generation of Québécois, who were born after the 1995 referendum do not support the use of the Québécois identity as a reason to oppress cultural or linguistic minorities. Protecting your culture and accepting differences are two things that can be done simultaneously.
You make some excellent points. But in the current political atmosphere there are attempts to limit the rights of young francophones. The PQ, among others, would ban francophones from English CEGEP's. The CAQ and its Bill 96 would limit francophones access to English CEGEP's. The quality of English Second Language instruction in French schools is not good, especially outside the Montreal area. To many language hardliners there is fear that if francophones become too proficient in English they will be lost to Quebec. While some do move elsewhere in Canada or the US most remain in Quebec and are valued liaisons with the rest of North America.
@@TomMcBoston Yes, thank you for adding the current situation with the CEGEP’s. As a french Québecois myself, I never understood why learning and being proficient in English is seen as a bad thing by some. I went to an English elementary school (Sir Wilfrid Laurier school board) and today, my bilingualism is an amazing asset for work, travel, relationships etc. I fear these new policies will exacerbate linguistic tensions and keep young ambitious french canadians from learning the language efficiently, and also make it harder for them to study abroad.
The best thing is to take advantage of the unique opportunity to learn both English and French languages perfectly, and embrace/take advantage of both cultures. Also, I'm honored to say that Graeme Decarie (1933-2022) was my History professor at Concordia University. The man was an amazing educator and amazing story-teller.
Interesting look back for me. My husband and I arrived in 1960 from France. Finding a job in an office was closed to me because I could not understand or speak English, the fact that I could read and write it was not enough. I picked apples, canned tomatoes, served tables and was a nanny. I lived the first awakening of rebellion against the English language. We headed for British Columbia two years later and settled in the Interior where for many years there was no French to be heard. Today I have 4 children, 10 grandchildren, 1 great grandchild but less than half of them can understand French. Sad, Canada is an opportunity for becoming polyglot
I was taught Parisian French in school. None of my French speaking friends could understand it, so I had no opportunity to practice. Hardly remember most of it, now.
Great work; you murdered your heritage for no reason. English Canada does not tolerate bilingualism and never has, but it seems like this was what you wanted.
The clergy did extreme harm to the francophones. There was a disdain for commercial activity: the honorable professions were priest, nun, notary, teacher and manual jobs. Only Catholics were allowed to register to francophone schools. All non Catholics were automatically pushed into anglophone schools, like it or not. My first summer job in an office in 1973 was because I was able to speak and write in English, because daily activity in office was in English only. In the shop, workers were French, except for the supervisors who spoke English and it was up to francophones to figure it out. People say francophones were racists because they took measures to protect their culture and language. Do people talk about francophones being treated like second class citizens in Canada? What is being displayed in this video is a lot of racism against francophones. It’s not true that anglophones can’t get jobs even when they can speak French. Most anglophone acknowledge that writing French is difficult, therefore they choose anglophone institutions and companies to be in an anglophone environment. I know several high schools who are 50-50 English and French only separated by a hallway and they were built in the sixties. Why is it that a province that has 80% of its population being French should be compelled to be bilingual in everyday life? Do we see bilingualism in the anglophone provinces? Ottawa and some place like Sudbury, and in Acadian areas of New Brunswick, but that’s it. Thousands of students came to Montreal universities Concordia and McGill without ever intending to stay in the province. They benefited from low cost housing and scholarship fees and went back to their home province afterwards. They were not rejected, they just never wanted to stay. Just a reminder, the anglophone community in Quebec has its culture, language, educational and health system protected by law in Bill 101, as well immigrants who are anglophones upon arrival or received their education in English elsewhere. Quebec is welcoming, Montreal’s population growth is the highest in the country right now, thanks to new comers arriving from all parts of the world, yet remaining a safe and quiet place contrary to many Republicans in the US who try to demonize immigrants. Those people only want a chance to make a new start in life for themselves and their loved ones.
Montréal was found by french people like the rest of Canada. Then english people invaded them and for a long time forced them to be “british”. Nowadays Québécois are trying to preserve their culture (language, history, food, music etc.) and I understand it can make some anglos angry. It would be cool though if they understood that we arrived first (not really because they were natives (but the french and the natives were in peace for a long long time)) and could just accept that they are a minority in Québec (as much as francos outside Quebec are a minority in the rest of Canada) Anglophones still have historical right and a bilingual Montréal is nice. But the french is decreasing like in the rest of Canada and Québecois take it really seriously (as they should in my opinion) This is not a hateful comment by the way.
If you look at "Canada", the French were not the first. The Vikings were. And the French illegally stole from the aboriginals - just like the English. The French even invented "scalping". One was not better than the other.
@@LanielPhoto The Vikings did not live 2 years in Newfoundland due to the temperature, as for the rest of your comment, it's a lie The French never scalped the English and unlike the English, the French married with the Natives and had Métis children with them,,,, which is not the case for the English.
I understand, I'm from the United States I speak English and there are people in my family who speak Spanish, and often times we try to preserve our culture and heritage, yet everywhere English speaking people go they tried to enforce their language on to other non-English people, now that English speakers live in Quebec now they get a taste of what it feels like to be forced to speaking another language and learn of another culture. I would love to learn French and I would love to one day go to Quebec, Quebec was founded by the French so I don't understand why English speaking Canadians want Quebecers to speak English and to forget all about the French language and their heritage.
C'est une pièce parfait de l'impérialisme et colonialisme, la minorité élitise s'attend à ce que la majorité ouvrière se conforme et s'adapte à eux. Et lorsque la majorité prend le pouvoir ils se positionnent contre l'idée de se conformer à eux. Une écrasante majorité des montréalais anglais ne parlait pas français pré loi 101 et il était impossible aux francophones de se trouver un travail sans parler anglais. Les anglophones parlent comme si le gouvernement les empêchait de parler anglais alors que le gouvernement tente simplement de promouvoir l'importance du français et le protéger. Regarde l'anglophone qui a de la misère à dire "Québécois" .
1890: The legislature enacts An Act to Provide that the English Language shall be the Official Language of the Province of Manitoba (better-known as the Official Language Act abolishes French as an official language of the legislature and requires that only English be used in Manitoba courts. Ontario apologizes for 1912 regulation banning French in schools 'Regulation 17 showed a disregard for Franco-Ontarian identity and equality, and on behalf of the government of Ontario I offer an apology' Ontario did not officially recognize the right of francophones to receive French-language education in elementary and secondary schools until 1984.
The true tragedy is that despite the said massive Anglo speaker's exodus over the decades and despite the controversial laws, as of summer 2022 French language in Quebec has STILL been declining at an alarming rate. And the situation is made even worst by the federal governments shady politics by giving in general, citizenship in within a year to Anglo speaking economical immigrants but it could take up to 5 years!! for French speakers to get the same, making many of the later disillusioned and get them to leave. There is no easy solution for the problem. There is a distinct nation of 7mil population in a sea of 360 in North America. It's the sad but true reality and it is only normal they are trying to preserve their culture with all the tools they can use. That been said i do get the point of Anglo speakers, they also want to preserve their identity, but it is pretty wild that immigrants in general are more bilingual than local Anglos. In 2022 you can live your whole life without speaking a word of French in Montreal and have a pretty good one, so i guess we can say the issue here is not oppression but more so people's convictions that make them feel 2nd class citizens. And by the way there are still plenty of store signs with Anglo names and no it's not true that you cannot put English in them. It just has to be predominantly French which means bigger letters and the French reading on top and English on bottom. If that makes people feel oppressed?? well then yes, the solution is to move out to English Canada i guess and miss out on the multicultural juggernaut that Montreal is.
Rates of French speaking in Quebec keep dropping because culturally, French language is irrelevant. The language of business, science, coding, aviation, the internet is English. No draconian government is going to change this.
@@4spooky8u So if those reason's make French irrelevant then all languages of the planet are, and everybody should switch to English. Is that what you're suggesting??
@@chrisfernandez8916 That’s essentially what is happening. Maybe in 150 years the dominant language will be hindi or whatever Nigerians speak but as it stands, yes everybody should probably learn to speak English.
It’s never enough. Almost the entire world speaks English but you still want to impose it on Quebecers who are trying their best to preserve French culture.
@@nobody.123 Not Ukraine. They banned Russian language before the start of the war. English is not banned but French must be given priority. The problem is there are generations of Quebecers who were born and grew up in Quebec but still can't speak proper French.
@@nobody.123 because english is the international language. It will never be under threat. I’m from a former British colony in South Asia and I speak fluent English. It is the only language with such status. The entire world has adopted English as the second language. But French doesn’t have the status so they’re trying their best to force anglophones to learn French.
@@jeffreykaufmann2867 yeah right. There is only one international language and everyone know that it’s English. English is taught as second language in every French schools in France but French isn’t taught in every public school in England.
@@prodigiii712 French is one of the fastest-growing and the fifth most spoken language in the world (behind English, Mandarin, Hindi and Spanish), the only language other than English to be spoken on all five continents, and the second most learned foreign language in the world (behind English) and in the United States (behind Spanish). It's as close as you can get to an international language next to English, so think of it as a "lesser" international language.
Me-in US, always wanted to learn French until I moved from Michigan to San Diego, California, I was clueless of the importance of Spanish, growing up in Michigan nobody spoke it. So, remember in the US, we speak English, but let me tell you the importance of SPANISH speaking in some places is far more important than ENGLISH, that’s right English. In finding work, it is a definite advantage if you knew Spanish.
As someone who lives in South Florida. I can back this statement up. There is a key difference between English and Spanish in USA and English and French in Canada. Spanish is not a co-official language with English in Florida. Nor in the USA as a whole. Maybe in the future but, I doubt it. I am not fluent in Spanish but, I am familiar with the language, I can speak it improperly. It is important to know Spanish in the USA. If you live in a community with a significant latino population.
@@marc-andrechevrette3420 absolutely. It just seems too hard for people in a mostly Anglophone continent to wrap their heads around that Francophones might have to fight to be themselves. Mais à Chicago franchement, je dois parler en espagnol pour aller chez la coiffeuse avec un prix raisonnable dans mon quartier maintenant et ça ne me dérange pas. Les Québécois doivent défendre leurs intérêts parce que les autres canadiens l’ont déjà montré très clairement qu’ils ne feront pas la même effort de leur côté
Some of these people have such privilege. The one girl..."I feel like I'm being forced to speak French." Like...if you move to Vancouver you have to speak English. What's the difference in a French-speaking city?
You can move to Vancouver and speak French and go to French schools, just like the reverse in Quebec. On the other hand, you can also move to Vancouver, or Toronto, or Calgary, or Winnipeg, or Halifax and open a restaurant called Chez Sutoeben and you won't get fined or told you can't have that on your business. If you immigrate to Vancouver from abroad and you want your kids to go to a French-speaking school, you can do that. Try it in Montreal in English... and good luck if you do. That's the difference.
The difference is being forced and it being a crime to have English written on your signs, in America you won’t be fined for speaking French to a customer or having a French sign. That’s la difference.
Quand une vidéo sur les francophones hors Québec qui dit toute la vérité ? Les anglos du Québec, eux, n'ont vraiment pas à se plaindre avec leurs écoles, leurs hôpitaux, leurs journaux et tous les services qu'ils reçoivent dans leur langue. Les anglophones ont tenté de s'approprier Montréal et ils rencontrent une résistance légitime de la part du peuple fondateur, les francophones et ça ne leur plaît pas.
You do realize the Anglos created and supported those schools, hospitals and newspapers, don't you? They also pay taxes if you didn't realize that too!
@@DonaldMains Indeed, just as French Quebecers pay for public French institutions and English ones. The difference is that the English healthcare system and English universities receive far more budget than they represent in the population (For instance, in 2017-2018, English universities received 3.7 times from the government what they represent demographically, or about 13% of the Qc population).
@@jean-bastienc.1576 Really poor argument on your part. it's the same stupid argument Legault uses. The purpose of higher education is to train students for future careers. Quebec students, including French Canadians, understand that English is a competitive advantage in the job market.This is the reason reason why English student seats are over representative. this is a worldwide thing by the way. There are many universities in Europe where English is the language of instruction where English is not the native language; Denmark, Sweden, Holland. Both Allophones and Francophones choose, of their own free will, to assist Anglo schools. Rather than a be a source of frustration for you, you should be excited that Quebec is training future professionals. Restricting language in higher education always ends up poorly. By the way you forgot the 20% of Allophones who have no opportunity to attend higher education in their mother tongue. Why always so inward looking and defensive? Embrace diversity and let adults decide for themselves what language they want to study in.
@@DonaldMains I'd say your answer is as bad as you consider mine simply because you're comparing the situation of countries that are nation-states and not a minority within their own borders. You're comparing apples and oranges. Quebec is not a country and doesn't have to pay for its own anglicisation, period. Statistics Canada data show that most French-speaking Quebecers have a very good knowledge of English before they even start CEGEP. If they go to an English university, it's probably not to improve their English (because most of them don't really need to) but because it's “more prestigious”, which is a problem that needs to be solved. There are nine other provinces if you want to study in Shakespeare's language. French Canadians have one and a half if you consider New Brunswick, and that's because Acadians had to fight for years to have French institutions of higher learning. I'll conclude with what I read from an American blogger living in Quebec. These are his thoughts, the mentality of some Anglo-Quebecers (especially those living in Mtl): "Anglophones have their English language mass culture everywhere. Why do they think they are special and under attack from a nation of 8 million when they are over 300 million? Isn’t it plain as day that what deserves protection are the francophone institutions? Why don’t anglophones take an interest in their surrounding community? Do they not realize that without French, Montréal would be just another North American anglophone city? If they valued Montréal’s difference, why don’t they help contribute to that said difference, instead of indirectly destroying it? They harp on and on about diversity and accepting everyone. Why can’t they see that North America’s French-speaking society is real diversity?"
I studied the history of La Belle Province for a year at university. This film is an excellent history lesson for everyone.. It moved me to tears. Thank you for this film.
I am Mordechai Richler's cousin. My grandmother and his mother were sisters. I have always known that some Montrealers loved him and some did not. Living in Toronto, chatting for years with folks from Montreal visiting Toronto, I have found far more people give him and his values two thumbs up rather two thumbs down. Sometimes I think the French are just being polite and not really expressing their true feelings. Many mention his famous film, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. And I have met several people from Montreal who were actually in the film, although not professional actors. Mordechai wanted real people from the area where the filming took place, St. Urbain, involved. His three journalist sons are also well liked here in Toronto. Mordechai's grandfather, my great grandfather, Yudel Rosenberg, is all over the Internet and, in fact, is more well known internationally than Mordechai. I never knew Yudel, the chief Rabbi of Montreal, but many scholars, young and old who study his life, email me all the time for details about his life. Mordechai is liked, in general, but Yudel is beloved.
I miss Mordecai Richler's voice in Montreal, he would speak up for the rest of us who were sadened but did not find the words to express it; Then we would see an article by Mordecai in the Montreal Gazette and it would bring relief, peace and love in our hearts for our beloved French city. I think of him fondly and often still. Greetings from Montreal ❤
My mother-in-law’s mother’s last name was Kravetz. I was wondering where Kravetz come from originally. I understand there are many different spellings of the last name meaning Tailor.
Yikes, that's some pretty gross demonization of Québec's official language. Canada's anti-French sentiment is almost as disgusting as its anti-indigenous sentiment. Watching this video makes me think of Kremlin propaganda which demands that the children of Russian settlers living in decolonized Latvia and Estonia should be exempt from learning the official language. It also makes me think of the pieds-noirs who were not permitted to remain in decolonized Algeria, regardless of whether they learned the official language or not.
Exactly, the issue is not language, it’s to make to it a political issue. Shouldn’t we be proud to be a bilingual city? Shouldn’t we be proud to embrace both cultures? And why fighting still, if both languages are still very well alive and knowing it will never ever be a « French only city »? Besides that, Montreal history is not only French (and of course native), but English, Scottish, Irish..it’s never been a French city.
Shawn did you watch the video? It was put to show that Montreal is not just a French city. We built a huge portion of the city it is ours as much as it is the Francophones.English is part of the Montreal Heritage and Heritages need to be protected .I mean hey we're here 260 years not 50
@@Jijohann 1890: The legislature enacts An Act to Provide that the English Language shall be the Official Language of the Province of Manitoba (better-known as the Official Language Act abolishes French as an official language of the legislature and requires that only English be used in Manitoba courts. Ontario apologizes for 1912 regulation banning French in schools 'Regulation 17 showed a disregard for Franco-Ontarian identity and equality, and on behalf of the government of Ontario I offer an apology' Ontario did not officially recognize the right of francophones to receive French-language education in elementary and secondary schools until 1984.
1890: The legislature enacts An Act to Provide that the English Language shall be the Official Language of the Province of Manitoba (better-known as the Official Language Act abolishes French as an official language of the legislature and requires that only English be used in Manitoba courts. Ontario apologizes for 1912 regulation banning French in schools 'Regulation 17 showed a disregard for Franco-Ontarian identity and equality, and on behalf of the government of Ontario I offer an apology' Ontario did not officially recognize the right of francophones to receive French-language education in elementary and secondary schools until 1984.
Je suis Franco-Ontarien et je me considère doué car je parle les deux langues sans problème. Je suis tuteur de français et mes étudiants sont tous anglophones. Le FLS et le programme d'immersion en français est populaire ici. Les parents aiment et respectent le français au Canada et veulent que leurs enfants profitent de l'apprentissage de la belle langue française. Je suis fier d'eux.
Don't be a lazy Canadian and learn both languages. Quebecers do it, and statistically there are more Quebecers that speak English than the rest of Canada speaking French. We know who isn't pulling their weight.
@@eldarshamukhamedov4521 The thing is, Québec doesn't shun bilingualism. People here are allowed to speak English. The problem is certain people not respecting that this province is majority French. This would mean that, a lot of people that don't speak English. They also wouldn't need to just like an English Canadian wouldn't need to know French in Alberta. Respecting the cultural differences is what Québec is asking. You wouldn't move to Japan and not speak Japanese right?
@@CanadianWookie "You wouldn't move to Japan and not speak Japanese right?" Of course I'd learn it, and it is a problem that people move to Quebec and don't learn French. Not arguing that. The problem is real, and French language and culture in Quebec need to be preserved. My issue is with the method of solving that problem. I'd rather Canada as a whole forced everywhere to be bilingual (e.g. force Ontario to make French an official language), than split the country into English and French parts. I know most of the discourse is much more polarized than that, and I'll happily criticize anyone from, say, BC, who thinks French culture and/or language isn't relevant to Canada as a whole. I'd probably be happy with the current policy if they dropped the working in French requirement, or added some reasonable exceptions. Quebec or not, you can't escape the fact that English is a global language. It's not an Ontario, or BC, or "Anglo-Saxon", etc. language; it's a world language. There are companies in Paris, France that do business with Germany, and they communicate with each other in English (fun fact, English is an official EU language, despite Brexit). It doesn't destroy French culture, and it doesn't destroy German culture. Quebec is in a tougher spot, because the cultural pull of the rest of Canada, and, more importantly, the US, is very strong, so stronger protections make sense, but the solution can't be to cut the province off from English, not if you want to compete economically with the rest of the world. I'm a software engineer and let me tell you, you can't keep up in the field without English. Most clients are US companies, most documentation is written in English, most RUclips tutorials and online courses are in English. Even medium-sized tech companies tend to hire engineers from multiple countries. For example, my last job was a mix of US, Canada, Brazil, and Ukraine, but now, bill 96 says that any Quebec employees have a right to work in French. How is that supposed to work for a multi-national? It's not. That's the problem. A company that works across borders is now incentivized to ignore Quebec, not hire anyone from Quebec, and certainly to never ever move their headquarters to Quebec. So, as I said, French language and culture in Quebec need to be preserved, but bill 96 is a particularly terrible "solution" to the problem.
@@eldarshamukhamedov4521 I agree with you that the current methods being used by the premier of Québec is getting blown out of proportion and only musters division between the languages. I believe one of the reasoning the premier passed that law is because of past trauma. In the provinces history, French people were discriminated against and prevented from working in English Jobs for merely speaking French or culturally identify as being Québécois. The people that lived in that generation are still alive today, some of them holding ptsd and telling their kids about said trauma, believing it as an attack on the people. there is a lot of people in Québec that only speak French. There have been companies that were working in Québec today, before that law passed, which forced people to speak English and had discrimination towards French speakers. I hope you can understand that due to the current premiers desire to remain in power, he'll be sure to focus on the people who are willing to vote for him the most. Unfortunately, this is all a political shit show. I understand both sides, but there needs to be a better way to approach the issue. However, economically speaking, the province won't have much of an impact with trade because there are always companies that see it as an opportunity to tap in the market when the bigger players throw in the towel. The premier seems to have the desire to focus on an Economy with French characteristics. If you're willing to come to the province to conduct business and have an establishment but not put the effort to employ people with the ability to speak French, kind of silly and comes back to the Japan bit. Your point with being a software engineer that works in an environment entirely in English, I understand what you mean since I also work in IT. I feel like the issue is getting people to be bilingual if you're located in the province. They obviously can't outright force a population to learn. So instead they create the environment for it to come. There has also been a lot of immigrants coming into the province with the desire of speaking and integrating. In a way, it's a negative with a positive objectively speaking. Québec can never erase the English presence, and I and many others would never support any attempt to rewrite the history.
Several hundreds of thousands of French Canadians have been leaving Quebec since 1850. Anglos leaving is a drop in the bucket. There are plenty of people with French names all over Canada and the USA. Look around.
Yes and they have been subject to Canadian Francophobic laws (Manitoba act, Regulation 17 Ontario etc) and that until today. Le Canada : 150 ans de lois contre le français / Vigile.Québec ruclips.net/video/Jz-0FWxjsUg/видео.html
@@jeffreykaufmann2867 Many French Canadians left between 1930 and 1960 as well! See the title "Voices from French Ontario" by Sheila Arnopoulos. The points I am trying to make is that outmigration from Quebec has been almost constant throughout its history and when French people leave , nobody bats an eyelash! Try that. Even better, read The Reconquest of Montreal, by Marc Levine. Montreal's decline began as early as the 1930's.
I am an Englishman born in Ontario who recently moved here. The French language pressure is only stressful if you aren't willing to learn. I find it a fun challenge, myself.
@@claudebuysse7482 my parents and extended family lived in Germany and Poland. So I know the first hand stories and agentinas atrocities were horrible. But when we allow language rights to be taken away what is next. Forced vaccination and loses of job? Don’t judge others till you know the truth or suffered the persecution yourself. Peace, Love and Freedom should never be the mercy of governments who take away any human right for hidden agendas. Tell me your story of how your family suffered in Argentina
@@edfast5893 By the nazis who were welcome in Argentina , the country of the generals who take the children of opponents to give them to "good " christians...Threw the gauchists by planes in the oceans. And Milei is the reincarnation of those cruel men.
Y'all can go to Toronto, hamilton, ottawa, winnipeg, calgary, edmonton, vancouver, victoria, london, halifax, boston, new york, buffalo, hartford, chicago, philadelphia, pittsburg, baltimore, washington, cleveland, columbus, cincinnati, indiannapolis, saint-louis, milwaukee, minneapolis, seattle, portland, san francisco, los angeles, dallas, atlanta, denver, las vegas, miami, jacksonville, nashville, new orleans, tampa bay, houston, san antonio, pheonix, etc.... french canadians only have montréal and québec as major cities (we only expect you guys to accept french to be the common language)
Asti ils parlent comme si les années pré-révolution tranquille étaient des années saintes et de paix et de collaboration et bilinguisme pacifique... c'est de la distortion historique qui met clairement les québécois, une minorité ethnique et souffrant quasiment un siècle d’oppression systémique comme des méchants pour essayer de préserver leur culture? Pis le fait que les anglophones soient soudainement demandé de parler du français c'est opprimant? Ca l'a aucun bon sens.
While this documentary is over 30 years old the first thing I noticed is the reference to the Catholic Church controlling the French Quebec for over 300 years and telling the people to look inward when dealing with other ethnicities. Born in Montreal to immigrant parents in the 70s and speaking both English and French , I believe the problem is with the politicians on both sides , they caused the divide . The present leader of the PQ ( 2024 ) did most of his university studies in English starting with Montreal ´s Mcgill university but when speaking to the majority French speaking people tell s them to work,school and live in French only. But himself having the privilege and choice chose to attend English universities back in the 1990s ! Just like the catholic clergy did many years before and only a handful should have the opportunity to learn and speak English . On the other side of this argument the hardline anglos who refuse to speak a word of French actually bring more fuel to the fire and create even more hatred towards themselves from the majority French in Quebec. I genuinely don’t feel the need to comment on this issue but there is a lot of BS on both sides!
So glad Canada's federal government for a century always defended the virtue of its french speaking population in New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan with the same rigour.
@@VinceLocRS The English community of Montreal is the most pampered in North America with its 17 hospitals its 4 Universities (which cost millions of dollars to Quebecers)While the Franco-Canadian Communities can only dream of the privileges that Anglo Montrealers have and yet they are the most complaining
@@linefrenette9116 The people who go to those universities come from all across Canada. Of course anglos would want to come to the second biggest city in Canada to study. It's good for Quebec, and it's good for them. You forget those people pay to go there, and they fund a lot of business in the city. Without them Montreal would be like Calgary. Appreciate the wealth they bring you even if they don't learn French while studying in Montreal.
@@dylanc9174 You forget one thing, it's when we Francophones go outside the province of Quebec, we are forced to speak English and that doesn't matter if it's for studies or not otherwise we are ostracized in our rights, I know I have already lived outside Quebec,,,, and here the English-speaking universities of Montreal are super subsidized compares to the French Canadians University out of Quebec. If we Francophones are forced to speak English in other provinces,,,,Learn French in ours,,,the only official language in Quebec is French.
LOL Le film est sorti y'a 25 ans et l'anglais n'a jamais cessé de progresser à Montréal depuis... Un film malhonnête qui oublie de mentionner que presque toutes les communautés francophones en Amérique du Nord ont disparu sauf le Québec. FYI, I'm perfectly bilingual, I work in English for international companies and I hardly know anyone my age in French-speaking Quebec who doesn't speak English as well as I do. Young québécois all speak English. We HAVE to. Also note: Anyone from anywhere in the world, regardless of their origins and culture, is welcome in Quebec. But like any other country, because Quebec is a French country, people who live here must learn French. Unfortunately, there is racism in Quebec, but no more than anywhere else on earth: stop saying that Quebec is particularly racist. Law 101 and Law 96 are NOT racist. "De ce grand pays solitaire Je crie avant que de me taire À tous les hommes de la terre Ma maison, c'est votre maison Entre ses quatre murs de glace Je mets mon temps et mon espace À préparer le feu, la place Pour les humains de l'horizon Et les humains sont de ma race" - Gilles Vigneault
The English who are here in Montreal now are not the same as the ones who left under Levesque. I think we are more respectful of the French, and speak it as much as possible wherever we can. It does not prevent me from having friendships with Anglophone people. I would not live anywhere else. As a pensioner and a patient, so far I am being treated very well.
He was wrong it’s a never ending battle because the appeal of the International language that is English is so strong that it will take an unrelenting effort to keep the language alive and well especially in the region of Montreal because of the influx of immigrants in the province is mainly in that region and almost nothing elsewhere.
Laurin made a huge mistake with adopting the 101 law before the referendum of 1980. The fear of loosing their number was the main argument for separation. Too bad for PQ.
I was born in Montreal in 1960. As a kid growing up in Ville LaSalle I really enjoyed learning French but my parents generation seemed intent on "poisoning" the situation with their anti-French attitude and negativity instead of nurturing and seeing it as an opportunity for their kids.
From a belgian (french speaking) perspective it is really weird to see this documentary depicting an english victimisation, by the 'frenchisation' of montreal. the anglos feel threatened of disappearance in this documentary, wich seems to forget the hole linguistic situation of Canada.
Well dope, why do you think they built mirabel airport where it was. Because they had done studies in the early 70s and that was suppose to be the outskirts of montreal. With a population of over 6 million by year 2000
Lol a person who thinks he's intelligent thinks that in a pop of 2.8 million in 1976 to 3.1 million in 1994 is big growth. Wow 300000 in 20 years, when the city stagnated. It was only after the referendum that things calmed down. And the 1 million growth is due to immigration. The lead mo treal had built up was surpassed big time. Montreal built Calgary Vancouver and Toronto.
If I immigrate in Toronto being only french speaking person, and if I dont want to learn English, could I find a job there ? Could I be integrate in this city ? I think I would have the same problems than an anglo in Montréal .
I'm confident one can work in Toronto and speak one of any number of languages that aren't English. Even more than in Montreal with it's two, count 'em, two languages(!). In fact there are almost certainly more languages spoken on any half busy block in Toronto than in the entire province of Quebec. And without fear of the language police kicking in the door to steal the computer and check your work emails.
@@erikt454 ne dites pas n'importe quoi , A toronto les gens travaillent en anglais. Oui tu peut travailler à toronto et parler plusieurs langues comme partout dans le monde mais c'est en anglais que les gens communique.
I speak three languages, including French. I found English-speaking Montrealers unwilling to learn French, and stubbornly and disrespectfully so, with a few exceptions.
@@firthbythesea I did once for a long time, but moved back home to Iceland due to the "neverendums", linguistic Nazism, politics of hate and resentment and poor economy. Rent was cheap, but so was pay! Eventually settled in a small place near Quebec in Eastern Ontario which is bilingual.
I didn't think when they were talking about English Montreal that they were going to go on so much about UK traditions, the Scots in particular. This documentary had so much focus on The English as countrymen verses Canadian English speakers.
Imagine this, having to learn the language of the people around you speak....it must be so awful...I'm born french speaking and learned english, why is the opposite so difficult for these poor people, they are still complaining to this day
@@4spooky8uparle moi d’un innocent angryphone incapable d’avoir un minimum de réflexion, je te conseille de réécouter le vidéo et leur francophobie d’ignorant, tu vas écrire moins de stupidités d’enfant attardé.!!😂😂😂😁😘👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😮
I left Montreal when I joined the Air Force, in 1985. When I finished my service, I did not return to Montreal, because of the politics... politicians and French nationalists have caused all the issues while the majority of French, English, and other ethnicities get along just fine. It's very disappointing that the minority (politicians and French nationalists) have gotten away with creating and carrying out racist mandates at the expense of the rest of the population. 😢
@@dancooper1 Yet another troll... you have no clue what you are talking about and you don't know me. I spoke French whenever I could. The problem with you racist French people is that you can't accept you lost the war... You are part of the problem, always blaming English people, maybe focus on yourself and correct your racist tendencies or move to France but they probably don't want you either.
This would've never happened if they anglophones decided to learn French. I'm from Bangladesh and we've lot of places named in English since the colonial era and literally nobody cares, because we 're not in fear of extinction of our language from the invasion of anglophones.
La haine et le mépris des angryphones victimaires, la minorité la mieux traitée au monde d’après l’ONU, les bons vieux rhodésien de Westmount. Après tu iras lire sur la misère des Allemands qui soutenaient le mouvement Nazi après leur défaite, tu vas sans doute trouver ça aussi triste et intéressant….tu regarderas plus tard.😂🤣😁😜
I left for the US in 1980. Joined the United States Air Force Band. I still miss my home town. :( The stupid school system kept teaching PARIS French instead of Quebec French, so I could never get a handle on the language with all of my hard work. I would speak, people would understand, and then I could never understand what they said back to me! Finally gave up.
Hi Diana...I feel for you, my fellow expat Canuck!💞🇨🇦 I was luckier than you, since I grew up in Montreal-North, which was predominantly French-speaking in my neighbourhood. There are also many French Canadians who married into my primarily Italian Canadian family. I’m also 1/4 English Canadian, since my paternal grandmother was English. My Italian grandmother, as well as my English grandmother, both lived with us throughout my childhood. My mother’s 9 brothers and sisters, along with some of their spouses being French-Canadian, frequently visited our home, since their mother, my Italian grandmother “Mamelle” lived with us. So, three languages were spoken in our home. I have some cousins who could barely speak a word of English, but my brothers and I spoke both languages, with English as our primary language. Nevertheless, some of the Francophones in our neighbourhood often teased me, especially if I misspoke in French, calling me “tête carrée”(square head, referring to my English side) or “maudite wop” a slur against my Italian heritage. It’s a shame that there was so much derision among the French against the English, but equally so among the English against the French. Back when the separatist movement was at an all-time high in the ‘70s, I recall some francophone friends of my parents trying to coax them into joining their movement and my parents refused. These so-called friends then dropped them like hot potatoes. Some of my own friends and one of my older cousins who was married to an Irish Canadian man who spoke only English, all left in the Great Migration west when René Levesque came into power. I lived most of my life in Montreal and worked in both languages. I only came down to the US after my second husband, who was American, returned here after spending 5 years in Montreal. He hated the French separatists, especially the OLF with their draconian laws. Personally, I think that government office should have been abolished years ago! I miss Montreal too, but I don’t miss the politics, especially now with Quebec’s Nazi-like approach to the virus, nor the bloody long and frigid winters after living here in Missouri for 16 years. But, what I would give for a St.Viateur bagel!😍 I hope you are doing well and are happy wherever you are in the States. Take care, Diana, and à bientôt, mon amie!😉💖🇨🇦
@@Linrose8 bref, tu pensais vivre dans une nation francophone en anglais comme une vraie petite impérialiste génocidaire, auprès duquel même les nazis passent pour des amateurs. Dis-moi, est-ce que ton mari était stupide où c’était simplement un gros ignorants qui se croyait le centre de l’univers? D’ailleurs tu devrais nous démontrer ta maîtrise du français, après tout tu es née ici, tu dois extrêmement bien connaître ta nation ⚜️.😁😘
I learned and spoke "Parisian" french too , or so I thought when I went and worked in Paris. Once when I said "dimanche" , my fellow workers winced. I had no idea I was talking with that accent. So I went to Berlitz! 😂
@@Linrose8 Wow! That's quite a story. I never become completely fluent. I consider myself an intermediate speaker. Since my parents moved to California in 1978, that's when I can to the US. It was a relief to no longer have to struggle with the french.
@@dianadallalnctmrcmc9303 yet I live in Texas and learned French in Quebec just fine. Sounds like you refused to apply yourself like most English Canadians.
I find it very funny to see how a group feel that their culture and community is treathened in a sea of 400million anglos in North America vs barely 9millions francos in NA. Such privileged people.
It is telling that Montréal remains a vibrant & exciting city despite the doom 'n gloom presented here. The narrative presented the historic events & figures through a very meticulously placed lens. Neither the dire predictions nor the over-all premise aged well. Sadly, propaganga hsa become far less transparent in the intervening years.
@@jaiboregio But Montréal survived the exodus. Imagine Toronto if the corporate sector packed their bags. They would not fair as well as Montréal has. (although it won't be long until the same investment-sector condo-glut makes Montréal as unaffordable as Toronto.)
The entirety of mostly-English speaking Canada is made to have signs and product labels and announcements on public transit, highways/road signs, etc. in BOTH French and English. But as soon as you cross the border into Quebec, all signs, road signs, and public transit announcements are French only. So the entire country - mostly English speaking - accommodates the minority's language, but that one French province refuses to return the favor. This is incredibly unwelcoming and just plain obnoxious. My mother was born in rural Quebec and was a native French speaker. She had generations of roots in French speaking rural and non-rural Quebec. She married an American and then moved to the States, where I was born. Due to a family issue, we moved to Montreal from Boston in the late 1960s which was unfortunately right at the time of the Quebec separatist movement and bombings and kidnappings, Pierre Laporte's murder , etc. With an American husband and 3 young English speaking kids, my mother, a native French speaker who had lived all of her life in Quebec, felt incredibly unwelcome. The city was not at all the one she had left just 10 years before. We kids were treated with a certain level of hostility both by some of our classmates and even teachers, simply for being English speakers. My dad then died and my mother, against the urgings of her large Quebec-living family, actually returned to Boston rather than live in a city that had changed that much for the worse, and whose violent separatists were doing IRA style bombings and kidnappings. So to those commenters on here ridiculing and belittling the experience of English speakers, what do you say to the fact that the whole of Canada accommodates the French language even though the vast majority of Canada does NOT speak French, while the province of Quebec refuses to be similarly accommodating? What excuse can there be for this?
Signs on roads are just a symbolic accommodating. The reality is that an anglohphone citizen or a tourist can easily be served in English in public services. For a francophone in the ROC, it is not that easy to be served in French. English is a language so powerful it doesn't need any special protection. It is de facto used in many countries even where is has no official status, like in Israel, Scandinavian countries, Netherlands and so on. In Quebec it is widely used too. The reason why many Quebecers don't speak English as well as Scandinavians, is that the level at school is pretty basic, like the core French in other provinces. In some provinces it is even not a compulsory subject. And finally, Quebec is a unique place it North America and they want to preserve their heritage. The English colonizers were the most racist and supremacists who wouldn't share North America with the French, the Spanish and the Dutch.
@@boogyjuggy actually all of north america should probably be learning english, french and spanish as knowing multiple languages is only an asset. but people (possibly people like you) suck, and i feel increasingly weird living in a place that only really has signs and announcements in english despite it being the only language i know. i can live comfortably with english and learning languages as an adult can be difficult but i increasingly feel less good about it, so hopefully i can finally get myself to learn those languages. so, to object to your statement, signs should be in multiple languages, what the fuck does it matter to you if a sign is in multiple languages?
Read about linguistic assimilation and the hegemony of English around the world. Comparing English and French is not a fair comparison, because one of them in the unofficial "international language" of the world. It has been known to drive out any minority language, and even threatens other majority languages on their own turf. In this age of globalization, the French language would almost certainly disappear if it were not protected to the extent it is in Québec. French needs protection, and English does not, whether in Canada or elsewhere, simple as that. I mean, look at the EU- only 1% of EU citizens speak English as their native language, and it's still often a struggle to obtain information on their websites (europa.eu) in a language other than English. Native English speakers don't understand that it's THEIR language that's subjugating and obliterating cultures around the world, and not the other way around. Call it English language privilege, if you will. Of course, if you want all of Canada to wind up as a version of the U.S. lite, feel free to repeal the language laws in Québec.
@Khabib in France the word STOP is used for stop signs but the Quebec Government spent a lot of Money taking down STOP signs and replacing it with ARRET. The Word STOP can be found in every French dictionary.
Les Anglos, contrairement aux Francos ailleurs en Amérique, ont conservé leurs institutions et leurs droits, ils ne sont pas à plaindre. Après tout, il est normal que Montréal soit français, ce sont des Français qui l'ont fondé.
Not really a documentary more like someone's opinion piece. Where are the facts? The narrator's point of view is so apparent and his statements so vague that it's hard to get any real information. He makes vague references to historical context but not really stating the background about certain practices. He seems to just want to paint a picture and generate a certain feeling of hopelessness. Beside the 300,000 Anglophones who left Quebec and 200,000 Italians, I didn't see here many real numbers or statistics. It's too bad that he didn't try to get more info about that Concordia professor's study about the (bilingual?) Anglophones who didn't get public sector jobs because of their heritage. That would have put more weight into his argument about anglophone discrimination solely based on their heritage. With many vague statements like 'there are many many people', it's a bit hard to take seriously some of his dramatic conclusions. Maybe it's just an old filmmaking style. Funny how the filmmaker blames only the church and French elites for the lack of French Quebecois's access to economic wealth/ good jobs and the basis of their resentment. I don't know if he just was ignorant of the systematic practices of the British elites of only hiring managers or foreman who spoke English, because the business owners didn't need or/and want to learn the language of the majority. In other countries, they called this colonization behavior and people have waged wars to get rid of this systemic exclusion....we just made it mandatory to learn our language and for it to be displayed by all employers. Bilingual signs are allowed but they need to have French as well (many that was not the case when this film was made).
It’s historical revisionism, so Canada's colonization attempts (past, present and future) are seen as actually a good thing, a civilizing act of humanitarianism to save the anglophones who are being oppressed by a “fascist” minority... it’s blantant,y racist if you think about it, as it associates the French-Canadian poverty to culture and society instead of systemic attempts to eradicate our culture.
We see an interview with the students in an Anglophone college or university where a lot of them argue that they do not get or fear not getting a job because they have an English name. Me I would have a quick follow up question to that assertion Do you speak French? If they said No. My next question would be Is the real problem your name or the fact that you don’t speak French in a province where it is the main language? We have to remember this was filmed in 93 back then Anglos who had a mastery of French were not exactly a dime a dozen. I think a lot of the exodus was brought upon by anglos that wanted nothing to do with the French culture. Since it is a gut feeling and not backed up by any hard facts. It is definitely a question that I would have liked the documentary to address but somehow this is not an angle they wanted to explore.
The president of the CP cie told in the sixties that he can't find a french canadian to be on adminsitration council. In fact the anglos had the better jobs and the frenchs the rest. Doctors , lawers and clerks. Cheap labour for the frenchs. In 1970 the frenchs were less paid than the italians and greeks in their own province. Enough is enough...
@@claudebuysse7482 C.P. was the biggest private Canadian company by far. The CDPQ which manages the retirement fund of all Quebecers tried to purchase a majority interest in the C.P. while a separatist government was in power. That created such an uproar in the Anglo community that even though it was a private company the Federal government was compelled to step in and flat out block the transaction. This is one of the thing that annoys Quebecers the most when transactions are blocked on the ground that French Canadian buyers or the Quebec government is behind the transaction. It is even worse when we know that if it was anglophone interest behind the transaction there would be no issues in allowing the transaction to go through.
A lot of whining Rhodesians here. Here is a reading suggestion: Remembrance of Grandeur: The Anglo-Protestant Elite of Montreal, 1900-1950, by Margaret W. Westley . It shows that the relative decline of Montreal, compare to Toronto, is an issue between Anglophones, that started long before the rise of Quebec nationalism in the sixties. If the facts matter to you. Only you know if this is the case, or if your opinions are based on something else.....
The irony of claiming that the anglos really weren't all that rich, and then boasting about all of the buildings and institutions that anglo money built.
The documentary is ridiculously confused. It provided about 2 minutes talking about the majority of anglophones (which included my own ancestors) and then gushed over the rich.
@@firthbythesea I did get a chuckle from the dichotomy between regular anglos (neither rich nor descended from 18th-19th century capitalists) and the sort of ball where a Scottish lord flew over to officiate.
Cette vidéo n'est vraiment pas à jour, Montréal est plus florissante que la plupart des villes canadiennes si ce n'est de tout le monde occidental. Une vidéo sans aucune objectivité, un véritable crachoir pour exprimer son Québec bashing !
@@maestroCanuck Perhaps he doesn't, but I do. And I agree with his statement. I've had a way better experience in Montreal than I ever have living in Toronto or Vancouver city for that matter. One benefit being in BC is the beautiful weather. However, exploring the forests in the north of Quebec is mesmerizing during the fall.
@@CanadianWookie Well, I do too and if you go back and read his comment, it does not hold water. I have no issues with Montreal per se, but it is not what that poster claims.
I feel the singe still. I teach at a French cégep, English as a second language. My matrilineal line goes back to Letterkenny when a woman named Mary settled in Coaticook 20 years before the Great Famine. My grandmother was born in Danville and I saw her in the front row on La Soirée canadienne, I was born in Sherbrooke, like my dad. I could not be more of a Quebecker. I resist losing sleep over the overt oppression and censorship (two wrongs don’t make a right), instead I thank my blessings for being more and more proficient in the language of love. The ordinary people do get along.
As a francophone, I was curious to see the "other angle" of this story. I was so dissapointed to see that this documentary was even less objective or fair that I couldve imagined. Talk about priviledge lost drama. The self important imperialist tone of this documentary is almost risible with its transparency. A lot of it is people creating the drama to validate their own perception of being victims. The speach we here from these same people today, that they realize that the protection of the french language is important but that bill 96 goes too far, seems absolutely hypocritical. Every step of the way, they fought tooth and nail against any measures to preserve the french language. The documentary is in summary an "après moi le déluge" tale. A very contrived, ive told you so tale of warning. After these fine people are gone, they want the rest of the population to cry for they martyrdom and realize how they are unable to thrive, or even survive, without them. Also, around 6:40 , the Mcgill students confirming that they were moving out of province after their studies. This has been happening for decades. They get cheap tuition here, and then go pay taxes in other provinces. Now that there is a pushback against that by the government (a logical rebalancing done badly for unfortunate electoralist gains), again we here the same cries "How unjust, we were JUST about to try and integrate our students better by teaching them french".
I do not think many Québécois understand that English speakers and English Canada has greatly changed and progressed since the 1960s and 1970s; however, many Québécois are basing their decisions on non-French on very outdated and untrue notions. Also, many "English-speaking Canadians" also "anglicized themselves back then to better fit in the now outdated British-centric (colonial) way of life back then, even though their families are Greek, Italian, Swedish, etc.
The beauty of Montreal is that it makes it interesting that you can speak both languages and it makes it fun it is a distinct city from the rest of Quebec and should always stay that way.
@@rcbrascanYes i totally agree,I was stating that Montreal's identity and true nature is it's bilingualism.Montreal in fact is the little Canada of Quebec.Making it only French deprives it of it's distinctness and diversity.
@@rcbrascan You are a joke! The anglo in Quebec are by far the best care minority in the whole world! They have their hospitals and their schools and tribunal and stores and it's by far the most bilingual City (Montreal) in Canada. On top of that the anglo in Quebec never respected the french language and they never made the effort to learn it before the liberal party (their party ) did pass a law to made french the official law of Quebec. Intolerance? It was most of the other province like Ontario and Manitoba that had laws to make french illegal that are the racist and that discriminate.
As an Anglo Montrealer, I like how this video is meant to make us look like the bad guys and have the entire comments section sympathizing with Quebec Francophones for their language and culture. First of all, Anglophones are only a small minority in Montreal and only want to preserve English in the Montreal region. There’s English in areas up north like Quebec City but that’s not cuz of us, it’s cuz those places are tourist spots. And yes, we may have it easier than French minorities in English Canada, but if y’all want to use that as an excuse, then why do the vast majority of Quebec Francophones have no problem catering to English media and entertainment but want to make English a problem with Anglophones? Hypocrisy much?
I grew up in Montreal and left in 1971 for New Brunswick. I left partly because of the rise of francophone nationalism that made others feel unwelcome. i wasn't English. I was a Polish immigrant but treated like an Anglo by the pur laine.
1890: The legislature enacts An Act to Provide that the English Language shall be the Official Language of the Province of Manitoba (better-known as the Official Language Act abolishes French as an official language of the legislature and requires that only English be used in Manitoba courts. Ontario apologizes for 1912 regulation banning French in schools 'Regulation 17 showed a disregard for Franco-Ontarian identity and equality, and on behalf of the government of Ontario I offer an apology' Ontario did not officially recognize the right of francophones to receive French-language education in elementary and secondary schools until 1984.
Que les québécois n'oublient pas ce qui est arrivé aux francophones de Louisiane, ces enfants à qui on a asséné pendant tant d'années, quand ils parlaient leur langue à l'école "speak white". Je ne pleure pas sur ces pauvres anglos qui se sentent discriminés. La sphère anglo-saxonne est vaste et s'ils veulent rester dans leur entre-soi, qu'ils la rejoignent. Ils ont échoué à éradiquer la culture française, et en tant que français je m'en réjouis. Ne leur lâchez rien!
Montreal is the only bilingual city in Quebec ,what is the problem about trying to preserve it especially as you have witnessed in this film its been around since 1760 the rest of Quebec which is 90% is French only,trust me its doing super fine,you cant see an Anglo for miles in Trois Rivieres.You know something look at Europe a country like Denmark its language is Danish and it s surrounded by 43 other countries and itès been around since the ancient times for heavens sake Danish should have vanished eons ago but no its alive and kicking and they have no language laws no stress.If Denmark which is a lot smaller than Quebec can make it so many times more Quebec can too.Please once and for all its not about the decline in the Language it has as much decline as any other language and when did any English province try to invade Quebec to remove the French?There is only one truth and all Francophones have to believe it because it is the real truth:Separatists and Nationalists HATE anything English ..except for Money because when you are in MOntreal and you leave it to go east Everything is completely French ,you cant even find a fly that speaks or Buzzes in English.And that is the truth.The attack is on Montreal not the rest of Quebec.Point finale.
You already have everything in Quebec to protect your language: French Schools, French Libraries, Radio, Television, Theater etc. The only Languages in Quebec that are fragile are the native Indian Languages. French is the most widely spoken language in Quebec so how can it be the most fragile?
@@jeffreykaufmann2867 It’s not fragile due to Quebecois vigilance and their amazing language policy, which has served as a model to protect indigineous tongues as well. Keep in mind also, natives in Quebec speak their native language at a far higher rate than most of English Canada, and the language threatening native languages is English, even in Quebec.
@Mario Lebeau So America is historically an Italian continent discovered by Christophe Colomb and it should all be Italian And the world was historically Adam and Eve and we should all be speaking Hebrew.And France was discoverd by anglo saxons and it should be English and the Moon was discovered by Americans and it should be American.WE all can play your game.It doesn't mean nothing who was there first.Its who made it what it is and Montreal apart from the first French from France the European french not les Quebecois that made something small but when the English came it became a huge city so if it wasn't for the English Irish and Scottish Montreal would be as big as Chicoutimi. And You guys were creverde faim you had no jobs it took the English business people to come here and open factories to give you jobs and save you from une famine and this is how you treat us after we save your ancestors life?
Today the Federal government would prevent such a film from being produced in the first place, out of fear of offending a big part of their electorate rather than teach history. Politically incorrect but true sadly.
@@MrViyasan tu devrais aller la réviser , juste pour voir les liens entre les orangistes et le KKK😂😘, maintenant les angryphones sont surtout des francophobes fanatisés ignorants et américanisés a l’extrême de la stupidité jouant les petites victimes hypocrites.😁😘👌
It's funny how anglophones recognizes oppression only when they are the ones suffering it...but don't seem to acknowledge the centuries of opression and torture my people have suffered at their hands. Boo you, you have to speak french in Montreal....When my parents were kids, they had to go to english school (before loi 101) just to have any prospect of a decent future in their own city...but of course with a french name, they already had one strike...
Immigrants back then were not allowed to attend French schools. Today young Quebecers tell seniors who don’t speak French, “parle en francais. Cest Quebec “
It's the same in New Brunswick, if your English and decide to go up north, you experience resentment and a general "why are you here" mentality. Eventhough I understand and speak French, the comments while grocery shopping and enjoying the festivities was disheartening. I always feel like I go out of my way to be nice to people and rarely get the same in return which kinda sucks because I like people in general.
Well I mean, almost all of the Acadian areas have been flooded with anglophones. The anglophones in their province, which used to be majority francophone, even elect governments that are hostile to/neglect francophone communities. A bit of resentment makes sense, you’re taking their community.
Год назад+1
The same is about to happen in Catalonia, Spain. They've started to persecute Spanish, Catalan separatists say Catalonia is a country apart from Spain and that they are not Spaniards.
They have never been... Catalans have always try to build their own thing because they do not believe they have a good deal with Spain. You should listen to them instead of oppressing them... They would be easy to accomodate...
Laughing at the people commenting who haven't even watched the documentary to realize that it's from 1992. Almost 30 years later and there's still the same hand wringing. English Montreal hasn't vanished, young people still come to the two anglophone universities, and Quebec will keep coming up with policies that hurt francophones.
Are you serious ? Quebec charter of values , the multitude of new bills further demonizing English …. It just got worse and normalized Anglo suppression into a non issue.
This documentary is quite biased. History is relative. It doesn’t represent the French’s history in a neutral light. It Cherry picks history in favour of the English.
Most Montrealers are bilingual, the super French nationalist are far and few...English is still very much present in Montreal, the bilingualism of Montreal is what makes it so unique. I am all for protecting the French language, (sometimes a bit absurd and over the top).
Ça sent l’angryphone moron qui est jamais sorti de son petit quartier de peur de sortir de ses fantasmes de fédérastes, et tu peux toujours aller vivre au N-B si tu trouves ça si spécial.🤣😂🤣😂🤣 J’adore les ignorants…😘
No sir, it's the French Canadian culture makes montreal unique. English Canada is about money and work work work. That's why you Anglos move to Quebec because is different from the rest of English Canada but unfortunately the Anglos don't appreciate cultures
@@ericktwelve11 I disagree, the english music scene is huge in Montreal and they contribute alot to the Montreal culture. Montreal is different than the rest of Quebec because of the mix of the english culture. Its unique and both language contribute to it.
Being an Anglo growing up in Montreal in the 1950s 60s I found this documentary quite nostalgic. According to Conrad Blacks 2014 book " Rise to Greatness The history of Canada, Montreal is a product of French Canadians Catholics and the English loyalists who wanted to preserve their culture from the American Republic. With the decline of Catholicism in Quebec and the increase in the Spanish population in the US it will be interesting to see how Montreal - Canada will evolve in the next 100 years.
This is a wonderful documentary that is teaching me a lot about the history of our city and all the challenges that we still face! I am a proud Bulgarian raised in Montreal, working in English and French. I see how English is still villainized for political reasons
It's because like much of the other immigrants at the time, they had that "this is America, so we speak English" mentality, and that is why the government eventually stepped in and said "not so fast, this is a French-speaking province". Now about 60% of anglophones and 75% of non-francophone immigrants living in Montreal are able to speak at least basic French.
Hahaha that is so true .. because I have three Italian neighbours who each own duplexes here in Ndg Montreal .. and I always speak to them in french because they cannot speak english:-).. btw I am old and can't ever remember having an Italian friend who could not speak french! @@Willsmith547
You never get people "on your side" but forcing them to do something on the turn of a dime. In hindsight, French Quebecers would have done much better by not treating those different than themselves just like they had been treated (because that obviously did not work).
Although I was born in the US, I have lived in Montreal since an infant, and I love Montreal, it is my heart I have lived in Vancouver, but came back after 4 years, I speak French with no problem, I love the French language, the culture, no its not perfect but I love it here!
C’est plus que suffisant pour nous, bienvenus.😘⚜️❤️🔥
If you drive you'll hate all the Potholes that will be arising In the next few months.
@@jeffreykaufmann2867 potholes exist in every city in North America
@André D It's the huge number of them that makes Montreal Special.
@@jeffreykaufmann2867 si tu veux des festivals à tout les trois jours…voilà!🙄🙄
I am 73 and the fact is the English treated the French like second-class citizens in all of Quebec. The French finally said enough is enough. Even though I am not French I support the French and their right to keep Quebec French. I made it a point to learn French and truth be told I am still learning French. So if you are English or a new immigrant who does not like the fact your children have to learn French in school go live in another province.
Yes, this was my parents' experience (in the 1960's) when they attended McGill. I support the importance of keeping Quebec French. I am from B.C. and I could already speak French when I arrived in QC. I am told that I now have a very good proficiency in the language now:) It's hard for me to understand this division as I am not originally from QC.
Or... Humble suggestion... Go back to France!
Montreal is multicultural. Not only french. If you don't like gringos, move to France.
@@yiddena Francophones should absolutely be able to live their lives in French in Quebec (and anywhere in Canada for that matter), but Quebec isn't French-only. It's French and English. There are over 1 million English speaking Canadians in Quebec, and there are regions that are mostly English. The fact that McGill even exists disproves that Quebec is all French. It's just a question of recognizing and respecting everyone.
The top of the top were the Presbyterian Scots from the lowlands who treated the native Gaels with equal disregard back in their homeland. The clearances in the highlands booting their lower classes and making them homeless because they made more money on raising sheep.
Now, it’s always been like this everywhere on earth. The top is always a minority who will ALWAYS rule over the majority.
Bravo Madame, c'est de même que ça devrait être.
7:25 “I feel as if I’m being forced to integrate, I’m being forced to speak French…” Well, the exact same thing happened to Quebec and Louisiana people who’ve been forced to speak English, the difference is they were banned from speaking French and you’re not banned from speaking English.
Merci, de leur faire réaliser ce linguicide.
This has been equally done to the English by the French. When the English monarch was ruled by the French, they banned the use of English for over 300 years. It's why the English language has many French sounding words.
This shit will never end.
Ironically, they're not being forced to stay in Quebec to study. If they aren't happy, there are school that are arguably better in Toronto. Would you move to Japan and not learn Japanese?
Ouais MAIS écoutez bien. En tant que Louisianais francophone qu’a réclamé sa langue d’héritage, j’ne forcerait JAMAIS les non-francophones d’apprendre le français ni d’ôter des signes dans les autres langues dans leurs entreprises.
Yeah, BUT listen well. As a Francophone from Louisiana who has reclaimed his heritage language, I would NEVER force non-Francophones to learn French nor would I force them to eliminate signs in all languages other than French in their own businesses.
I admire how Québec has fought to keep their language! Ça m’inspire tellement! But I’m against and HATE this kind of reverse discrimination the Québécois government feels it must do in order to keep French alive.
@@sylvainb2366 De dire à un propriétaire d’un magasin du Pays de Galles qu’il peut pas avoir un signe en gallois sur la porte de son magasin, ça aussi, c’est du linguicide, mon cousin! Cette discrimination à l’envers, c’est d’la marde pis c’est quèque chose que j’peux pas soutenir.
There is something completly left out of this film. What the revolution and the law brought to the french speaking quebecers. Up to the 1980's you could never achieve a managing position in any enterprise in Montreal unless you were English. Everybody that was working had an english boss. The French Quebecers took control of their language not for the punishment of the englishmen but for the fulfillment of their children.
I agree with you Eric. I am an anglophone that left Montreal because my French was not strong enough to be hired in the 80’s. I loved My hometown but it did not love me, but I understood why, I grew up during the October crisis, the oka crisis, Premier Leveque was honest about his intentions, but I grew tired of the fist fights with my French brothers, and I loved French girls. It broke my heart, we sold our apple farm and I left. I get it, but I wish I didn’t have to experience it.
@@donovanjones4175 vous auriez pu mettre de l’eau dans votre vin.
before the revolution in 50-60's if you were french in montreal you didnt have the right to live
@@retrocompaq5212 My great grandfather's name was Mayeux. It was changed to Mayo. My father was bilingual but considered himself an Anglo. He rose to upper management in the bank. His Francophone colleagues did not. My mother was from Toronto. My father never spoke French at home, so we only learned basics at school. We left in 1978, moved to Toronto. I've lost what little French I knew. I'm a tourist when I go back to Montréal. Quel dommage.
Yeah, this isn't a balanced exploration at all.
But I did like the acknowledgement on how the Catholic Church oppressed and controlled the Québécois.
And René Lévesque's contribution in helping Hydro-Québec was *immense*. A remarkable man.
I am an American who lives in Québec. I support the protections of the French language that exist here. If they did not exist, English would simply take over. I see many anglophones and newcomers here do not understand this and just expect the everyone else here to conform to them.
My stepfather is British he has lived in Quebec city for more than 46 years he also speaks French and he supports law 101 which protects French
he finds it silly to live in a place and not want to learn the local language
Given that you are an American, it seems like you're fetishizing the ides of French. You'll find most Anglo & Allophones literally have no problem with the Francophone majority.
@@firthbythesea I used to believe the protections for French were ridiculous since I was able to understand anglophone media better which is very biased towards the anglophone cause. But once my French got better, I was able to understand the francophone point of view and it makes more sense. I am not at all saying anglophone and allophones have a problem with the francophone majority, what many have a problem with is that they must use French to communicate with others, and many expect francophones to conform to them by forcing the francophones to use English. If you are the majority in a society, why must you conform to the minority? That does not make sense. I am not against people speaking other languages in Québec, all I believe is that French should be the common language, the lingua franca, of Québec, not English.
Just because I am American does not mean I "fetishize" cultures without truly trying to understand them. Not all Americans are the same. Thinking one nationality is all the same is not ok.
@@jinjysbro thanks
Merci de comprendre…😘🤟🏼
This documentary has an odd, apocalyptic tone. It's been over 25 years since the release of this film, and Montreal hasn't been completely subsumed by French.
Sure, English Montreal isn't as big as it used to be, but it certainly isn't ever going to go away. Montreal will always be a city where a majority of people can speak both English and French.
But in fairness to the documentary makers, we have the benefit of hindsight whereas they faced the difficult task of extrapolating from contemporary trends. Indeed, if but a handful of people had voted differently in 1995 Quebec could have been independent. In that scenario, it wouldn’t be surprising if English speaking Montreal also faded away.
But looking forward from 2021, I think you’re definitely right. As things stand today I think some English language presence will definitely persist.
What Montreal? I look it up and no such place exists. However i did find a city called Montréal.
By the way, we changed tactic: Instead of removing english from only Québec, we are now making everyone in Canada learn French, yup even all the way in BC. Eventually (in a few centuries) there wont be any english left in Canada at all. They will all have either converted to French or left to the US or some other anglo country.
@@tusk3260 Are you serious? I can't tell if you're an Anglo troll complaining about French laws or not. Canada will remain majority English for centuries. French just isn't as useful right now internationally.
@@dylanc9174 Actually, Canada wasn't english by majority a century ago. So you cant use the word "remain" because thats the same as claiming it's always been. You should use the word "stay" in Canada will always stay english by majority for centuries. But that too wont happen because Canada keeps electing french leaders like Justin Trudeau, Jean Chrétien, Pierre Trudeau and so on. And its already the law to learn both french and english. The english Canadians keeps arguing there should only be 1 official language, they dont specify english.
But if you force a french leader to choose one of the 2, its obvious they will choose french.
This documentary makes it seems like the anglos did all the good things, never did anything wrong, and that french canadians owe them. I also found it to be the case when talking about the first nations, as if french canadians were the only ones who badly wanted their assimilation. This is completely wrong.
While it is true that not all French Canadians were dirt poor, and a lot of them were part of the Montreal elite, everything had to be in English. The French had to be able to run business in english only, or else they were fired.
Glad to know this documentary is very false and outdated. I find it extremely disrespectful to compare Montreal and French laws to very authoritarian regimes that mercilessly kill people everyday for no good reason. All anglos had to do was to speak a bit more french. No one were forcing them out.They couldn’t even respect the bilingual nature of Montreal and had to self sabotage and self-victimize, just because they felt entitled to Montreal being exclusively in English. Even nowadays when Toronto is the biggest city, people still agree that Montreal is a more enjoyable, culturally rich and low cost city to live in. It’s their loss, really.
I truly believe Montreal is a bilingual city, but it’s essential that French doesn’t lose its place. English is the language of business and of the internet, so it is easy to conserve it. English will never die in Montreal. Keeping French around will always be more of a challenge, but a worthwhile pursuit. I dream of the day that Montreal can truly be the bilingual paradise that it can be.
I just find this documentary to be very false, hypocritical, but most of all to divide people even more. It riles up people with lies. If only the people who made this documentary took one second to understand what the French Quebeckers meant instead of focusing only on their own little needs .
I just graduated from Concordia and all the international students I’ve met love Montreal. They have no problem learning french and english, even if it’s harder for them. They enjoy learning. They totally prove this documentary wrong.
May I add that you will never see anyone in Toronto complain about having to know English to live in the city. It’s just how things work. It’s just frustrating that people do not give the same amount of respect for Montreal. Sad, real sad.
Am I stating the obvious when I suggest that it's really important to learn the local language of the place where we live?
Je pense que c’est marrant comment dur on est essayer à demonizer la Français comme les anglaises n’ont pas forcé presque tous le monde à parler anglais.
You do not speak French.
@@emailvonsour Yeah lol that looks google translatey
@@emailvonsour He used Google translate...typical of those unilingual anglophones who are against linguistic laws to protect french in Québec
Ça commence ben - on interdirait aux pauvres Anglos opprimés d'utiliser leur langue au Québec... loll Ils me font mourir de rire, ces Rhodésiens, quand ils nous la jouent minorité opprimée. P.-s.: la seule interdiction ici est d'utiliser uniquement l'anglais dans l'affichage.
Je n'ai rien contre les Anglophones, mais reconnaissez que le français a besoin d'être protégé dans un océan anglo-saxon. Si vous étiez à notre place vous feriez de même !
Ils le font déjà sans même être à notre place (en essayant de nous assimiler)
No one should take away your French. I remember the day of referendum in 1995 .i was in Montreal for a year but now I am in New York . Love 💕 canada 🇨🇦 from USA 🇺🇸
Le problème ce n’est pas essaie de « conserver la langue » le problème c’est l’approche. Ce n’est pas correct qu’il y’a des personnes qui sentent forcer par le gouvernement de parler une langue. Ils sont aussi né ici et ils ont aussi des droits.
La guerre, était perdu par les français, et la reine anglaise a nous laissez avoir notre province. Je ne comprends pas pourquoi c’est si difficile pour les français d’offrir au anglais le même respect de retour.
This argument is stupid and it’s counter-intuitive to try to force ppl. The more you try to force someone to do something, the more they do not do it. Look at bill 96.
I am clearly bilingual and I am half québécoise and I don’t appreciate this ongoing, never ending, pointless debate. Find a way to work together and stop acting like kids.
@@jenniferfrancis4032 Est-ce que les francophones sont respectés dans les autres provinces ? La réponse est NON. Cessez donc de focaliser sur le Québec et regardez ce qu'il se passe ailleurs !
Si vous ne mettez pas des limites de vitesse sur les autoroutes, les gens vont se conduire comme ils le veulent, c'est comme ça aussi dans tout autre domaine de la vie. Ça prend des règles pour se faire respecter, les parents qui ne mettent pas de règles claires ne se font pas respecter, même chose pour une entreprise ou un gouvernement.
On voit que vous ne comprenez rien de la dynamique québécoise francophone qui est si fragile. De toute façon, je crois que le Québec se dirige lentement mais sûrement vers sa sécession de ce pays de clowns qu'est le gouvernement d'Ottawa.
@@sylvainb2366 on ne parle même pas des autres provinces, on parle de Québec et Montréal spécifiquement.
Si vous êtes capable de lire mon commentaire, ma mère est québécoise et je n’accepterai jamais que vous pensez que je ne comprends rien de mon propre sang ou de ma propre culture. Le fait que t’as juste lu la moitié de qu’est-ce que j’ai écrit démontre le respect que vous avez pour les opinions des autres personnes.
Le fait que t’as changer de sujet complètement et a commencer à comparer les autres provinces à nous ici au Québec démontres à quel niveau votre commentaire est invalide. Je suis née ici et j’habite ici et tu me donneras pas des ordres à quoi faire dans ma propre province. La plupart des anglophones sont même pas anglophones au Québec, ils sont bilingue, mais vous les appeler anglophones. C’est pas correct.
It’s not a sound argument. Ottawa was not even a topic of discussion. There’s a difference between rules and pure dictatorship, last time I checked, we live in a democracy. Wake up.
I am willing to admit there might be no right answer here. Are you?
It’s wrong to force people. Period. That’s what I know to be true. If you think forcing people to do something is fine, and you want to disguise it as “rules” well I can’t help you with that. However, I would suggest you stop fooling yourself. You’re not fooling anyone else. If you simply hate English people or anyone who speaks English, that’s discrimination. A spade is a spade.
Je vous laisse avec ça, j’ai autres choses à faire que de gosser avec quelqu’un qui ne peux pas lire le tout de ce que j’écris.
it was hard for me to learn french when i joined the work force, but i did it and am better for knowing another language. what i find interesting to see is the international companies coming in lately and the french people being forced to learn english to keep their jobs.
did you really expect all the international companies not to want their employees to speak the language of business?
Yup they force you to learn english, they you complain to your french government about it, then the french government forces those international companies turn french and then those companies protests by making movies like this one when it was they that started it....
Oh no, a second language! In Europe some places they can speak like five. For a province that prides itself on being distinct from the rest of North America, Quebec's adopted the "Talk white" mentality pretty well ironically.
@@m.a.118 The problem i have with the english is that they refuse to learn french yet force us to learn english. Canada has 2 official language so you should learn them both and be thankful its not 5 official languages.
@@m.a.118 Je suis un français Canadien come les québéquois. I have learned both languages and i am offended that there are a bunch of lazy Canadians that refuse to learn french. Am i clear enough yet? Or do i need to use baby language?
When the oppressed fight back, the oppressers always victimize themselves. Read about the History of the Humanity.
A few points about Montreal today (2022):
1. Despite the predictions made by the film, Montreal still very much has a strong english community and institutions. Many hospitals, universities, CEGEPs are exclusively english and are amongst the most prestigious institutions in the country.
2. A whole lot of French Montrealers are bilingual (especially young folks) and this is seen as an advantage in the workforce in today’s world.
3. Anybody who visits Montreal can get by with English only, people who tell you otherwise are kidding themselves.
4. Montreal’s British heritage is not hidden, in fact it is everywhere in the city. It has not disappeared and is not belittled. Making french the main language (because it is the language of the majority) has not erased the hundreds of years of British influence, industrialisation and history.
I think any Montrealer (French or English) should be proud of this heritage and the way it shaped our city!
In the end Montreal always has, and will continue to be a linguistically complex place.
The initial language law changes brought by the PQ were very drastic and used (in some cases) as a pretext for blatant discrimination. Sadly, this trend of using the Québecois identity as a gateway to division is still going on today with things like bill 21.
On the bright side, a lot of the young generation of Québécois, who were born after the 1995 referendum do not support the use of the Québécois identity as a reason to oppress cultural or linguistic minorities. Protecting your culture and accepting differences are two things that can be done simultaneously.
You make some excellent points. But in the current political atmosphere there are attempts to limit the rights of young francophones. The PQ, among others, would ban francophones from English CEGEP's. The CAQ and its Bill 96 would limit francophones access to English CEGEP's. The quality of English Second Language instruction in French schools is not good, especially outside the Montreal area. To many language hardliners there is fear that if francophones become too proficient in English they will be lost to Quebec. While some do move elsewhere in Canada or the US most remain in Quebec and are valued liaisons with the rest of North America.
@@TomMcBoston Yes, thank you for adding the current situation with the CEGEP’s.
As a french Québecois myself, I never understood why learning and being proficient in English is seen as a bad thing by some.
I went to an English elementary school (Sir Wilfrid Laurier school board) and today, my bilingualism is an amazing asset for work, travel, relationships etc. I fear these new policies will exacerbate linguistic tensions and keep young ambitious french canadians from learning the language efficiently, and also make it harder for them to study abroad.
ENglish should still be opressed in canada
Lol really man ? Have you heard of Bill 96 ?
@@Omar-fr2bu not enough Canada should abolish English
The best thing is to take advantage of the unique opportunity to learn both English and French languages perfectly, and embrace/take advantage of both cultures.
Also, I'm honored to say that Graeme Decarie (1933-2022) was my History professor at Concordia University. The man was an amazing educator and amazing story-teller.
Interesting look back for me. My husband and I arrived in 1960 from France. Finding a job in an office was closed to me because I could not understand or speak English, the fact that I could read and write it was not enough. I picked apples, canned tomatoes, served tables and was a nanny. I lived the first awakening of rebellion against the English language. We headed for British Columbia two years later and settled in the Interior where for many years there was no French to be heard. Today I have 4 children, 10 grandchildren, 1 great grandchild but less than half of them can understand French. Sad, Canada is an opportunity for becoming polyglot
I was taught Parisian French in school. None of my French speaking friends could understand it, so I had no opportunity to practice. Hardly remember most of it, now.
Le Canada est un pays unilingue anglais, il n'y a pas d'avenir pour les francophones, vous nous en témoignez.
Great work; you murdered your heritage for no reason. English Canada does not tolerate bilingualism and never has, but it seems like this was what you wanted.
Of course we understand parisian French... @@TeamonD
Wait, why did you leave Quebec for British Columbia? Out of the frying pan and into the fire?
THANKS FOR UPLOADING THIS. It's been years since it was taken down and downright impossible to watch.
That’s true. I couldn’t find it for years and thought I was crazy
The clergy did extreme harm to the francophones. There was a disdain for commercial activity: the honorable professions were priest, nun, notary, teacher and manual jobs. Only Catholics were allowed to register to francophone schools. All non Catholics were automatically pushed into anglophone schools, like it or not.
My first summer job in an office in 1973 was because I was able to speak and write in English, because daily activity in office was in English only. In the shop, workers were French, except for the supervisors who spoke English and it was up to francophones to figure it out.
People say francophones were racists because they took measures to protect their culture and language. Do people talk about francophones being treated like second class citizens in Canada? What is being displayed in this video is a lot of racism against francophones. It’s not true that anglophones can’t get jobs even when they can speak French. Most anglophone acknowledge that writing French is difficult, therefore they choose anglophone institutions and companies to be in an anglophone environment.
I know several high schools who are 50-50 English and French only separated by a hallway and they were built in the sixties.
Why is it that a province that has 80% of its population being French should be compelled to be bilingual in everyday life? Do we see bilingualism in the anglophone provinces? Ottawa and some place like Sudbury, and in Acadian areas of New Brunswick, but that’s it.
Thousands of students came to Montreal universities Concordia and McGill without ever intending to stay in the province. They benefited from low cost housing and scholarship fees and went back to their home province afterwards. They were not rejected, they just never wanted to stay.
Just a reminder, the anglophone community in Quebec has its culture, language, educational and health system protected by law in Bill 101, as well immigrants who are anglophones upon arrival or received their education in English elsewhere. Quebec is welcoming, Montreal’s population growth is the highest in the country right now, thanks to new comers arriving from all parts of the world, yet remaining a safe and quiet place contrary to many Republicans in the US who try to demonize immigrants. Those people only want a chance to make a new start in life for themselves and their loved ones.
Average USA citizens have no idea how not nice Canada is..
2021 Canada has gone nutso
poor anglophone, learning french must be a torture
Montréal was found by french people like the rest of Canada. Then english people invaded them and for a long time forced them to be “british”. Nowadays Québécois are trying to preserve their culture (language, history, food, music etc.) and I understand it can make some anglos angry. It would be cool though if they understood that we arrived first (not really because they were natives (but the french and the natives were in peace for a long long time)) and could just accept that they are a minority in Québec (as much as francos outside Quebec are a minority in the rest of Canada) Anglophones still have historical right and a bilingual Montréal is nice. But the french is decreasing like in the rest of Canada and Québecois take it really seriously (as they should in my opinion) This is not a hateful comment by the way.
If you look at "Canada", the French were not the first. The Vikings were. And the French illegally stole from the aboriginals - just like the English. The French even invented "scalping". One was not better than the other.
@@LanielPhoto The Vikings did not live 2 years in Newfoundland due to the temperature, as for the rest of your comment, it's a lie The French never scalped the English and unlike the English, the French married with the Natives and had Métis children with them,,,, which is not the case for the English.
So many false details in this document. Sounds like an old propaganda.
No intention to stay in Montreal after being educated in english university for free paid with our taxes.
I understand, I'm from the United States I speak English and there are people in my family who speak Spanish, and often times we try to preserve our culture and heritage, yet everywhere English speaking people go they tried to enforce their language on to other non-English people, now that English speakers live in Quebec now they get a taste of what it feels like to be forced to speaking another language and learn of another culture.
I would love to learn French and I would love to one day go to Quebec, Quebec was founded by the French so I don't understand why English speaking Canadians want Quebecers to speak English and to forget all about the French language and their heritage.
C'est une pièce parfait de l'impérialisme et colonialisme, la minorité élitise s'attend à ce que la majorité ouvrière se conforme et s'adapte à eux. Et lorsque la majorité prend le pouvoir ils se positionnent contre l'idée de se conformer à eux. Une écrasante majorité des montréalais anglais ne parlait pas français pré loi 101 et il était impossible aux francophones de se trouver un travail sans parler anglais. Les anglophones parlent comme si le gouvernement les empêchait de parler anglais alors que le gouvernement tente simplement de promouvoir l'importance du français et le protéger. Regarde l'anglophone qui a de la misère à dire "Québécois" .
It is a pity some people are not willing to accept others the same way they (rightfully) demand to be accepted.
Tolerating the intolerant
1890: The legislature enacts An Act to Provide that the English Language shall be the Official Language of the Province of Manitoba (better-known as the Official Language Act abolishes French as an official language of the legislature and requires that only English be used in Manitoba courts.
Ontario apologizes for 1912 regulation banning French in schools 'Regulation 17 showed a disregard for Franco-Ontarian identity and equality, and on behalf of the government of Ontario I offer an apology'
Ontario did not officially recognize the right of francophones to receive French-language education in elementary and secondary schools until 1984.
I am anglophone from Montreal. I moved to Ontario for work. Maintenant j’habite en France. C’est incroyable.
The true tragedy is that despite the said massive Anglo speaker's exodus over the decades and despite the controversial laws, as of summer 2022 French language in Quebec has STILL been declining at an alarming rate. And the situation is made even worst by the federal governments shady politics by giving in general, citizenship in within a year to Anglo speaking economical immigrants but it could take up to 5 years!! for French speakers to get the same, making many of the later disillusioned and get them to leave. There is no easy solution for the problem. There is a distinct nation of 7mil population in a sea of 360 in North America. It's the sad but true reality and it is only normal they are trying to preserve their culture with all the tools they can use. That been said i do get the point of Anglo speakers, they also want to preserve their identity, but it is pretty wild that immigrants in general are more bilingual than local Anglos. In 2022 you can live your whole life without speaking a word of French in Montreal and have a pretty good one, so i guess we can say the issue here is not oppression but more so people's convictions that make them feel 2nd class citizens. And by the way there are still plenty of store signs with Anglo names and no it's not true that you cannot put English in them. It just has to be predominantly French which means bigger letters and the French reading on top and English on bottom. If that makes people feel oppressed?? well then yes, the solution is to move out to English Canada i guess and miss out on the multicultural juggernaut that Montreal is.
@@dancooper1 And they don't steal the land and houses and murder people like the Israelis do to the Palestinians.
Rates of French speaking in Quebec keep dropping because culturally, French language is irrelevant. The language of business, science, coding, aviation, the internet is English. No draconian government is going to change this.
@@4spooky8u So if those reason's make French irrelevant then all languages of the planet are, and everybody should switch to English. Is that what you're suggesting??
@@chrisfernandez8916 That’s essentially what is happening. Maybe in 150 years the dominant language will be hindi or whatever Nigerians speak but as it stands, yes everybody should probably learn to speak English.
@@4spooky8uso it's okay for it to die off?
It’s never enough. Almost the entire world speaks English but you still want to impose it on Quebecers who are trying their best to preserve French culture.
@@nobody.123 Not Ukraine. They banned Russian language before the start of the war. English is not banned but French must be given priority. The problem is there are generations of Quebecers who were born and grew up in Quebec but still can't speak proper French.
@@nobody.123 because english is the international language. It will never be under threat. I’m from a former British colony in South Asia and I speak fluent English. It is the only language with such status. The entire world has adopted English as the second language. But French doesn’t have the status so they’re trying their best to force anglophones to learn French.
@@prodigiii712 French is an international language.
@@jeffreykaufmann2867 yeah right. There is only one international language and everyone know that it’s English. English is taught as second language in every French schools in France but French isn’t taught in every public school in England.
@@prodigiii712 French is one of the fastest-growing and the fifth most spoken language in the world (behind English, Mandarin, Hindi and Spanish), the only language other than English to be spoken on all five continents, and the second most learned foreign language in the world (behind English) and in the United States (behind Spanish). It's as close as you can get to an international language next to English, so think of it as a "lesser" international language.
Surprenant, aucune prédictions faites de cette propagande se sont réalisés.
Me-in US, always wanted to learn French until I moved from Michigan to San Diego, California, I was clueless of the importance of Spanish, growing up in Michigan nobody spoke it.
So, remember in the US, we speak English, but let me tell you the importance of SPANISH speaking in some places is far more important than ENGLISH, that’s right English. In finding work, it is a definite advantage if you knew Spanish.
Sounds just like quebecois in Quebec.
United States has no official language
As someone who lives in South Florida. I can back this statement up. There is a key difference between English and Spanish in USA and English and French in Canada. Spanish is not a co-official language with English in Florida. Nor in the USA as a whole. Maybe in the future but, I doubt it. I am not fluent in Spanish but, I am familiar with the language, I can speak it improperly. It is important to know Spanish in the USA. If you live in a community with a significant latino population.
@@4spooky8u ur wrong the officially staten language is English. Yet many people can speak their own aside from English.
@@carlcast1286 Some states have official languages in the US, but federally there is none.
I mean .....our language policy is not anti-english, it's pro-french. If it was german, japanese or russian, it would be the same.
@@marc-andrechevrette3420 absolutely. It just seems too hard for people in a mostly Anglophone continent to wrap their heads around that Francophones might have to fight to be themselves.
Mais à Chicago franchement, je dois parler en espagnol pour aller chez la coiffeuse avec un prix raisonnable dans mon quartier maintenant et ça ne me dérange pas. Les Québécois doivent défendre leurs intérêts parce que les autres canadiens l’ont déjà montré très clairement qu’ils ne feront pas la même effort de leur côté
Some of these people have such privilege. The one girl..."I feel like I'm being forced to speak French." Like...if you move to Vancouver you have to speak English. What's the difference in a French-speaking city?
T’as tout compris de leur hypocrisie victimaire d’impérialiste américanisé…👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
You can move to Vancouver and speak French and go to French schools, just like the reverse in Quebec. On the other hand, you can also move to Vancouver, or Toronto, or Calgary, or Winnipeg, or Halifax and open a restaurant called Chez Sutoeben and you won't get fined or told you can't have that on your business. If you immigrate to Vancouver from abroad and you want your kids to go to a French-speaking school, you can do that. Try it in Montreal in English... and good luck if you do. That's the difference.
@@AChapstickOrange keep dreaming
@@AChapstickOrange Are there French schools in Vancouver? Really?
The difference is being forced and it being a crime to have English written on your signs, in America you won’t be fined for speaking French to a customer or having a French sign. That’s la difference.
Quand une vidéo sur les francophones hors Québec qui dit toute la vérité ? Les anglos du Québec, eux, n'ont vraiment pas à se plaindre avec leurs écoles, leurs hôpitaux, leurs journaux et tous les services qu'ils reçoivent dans leur langue. Les anglophones ont tenté de s'approprier Montréal et ils rencontrent une résistance légitime de la part du peuple fondateur, les francophones et ça ne leur plaît pas.
You do realize the Anglos created and supported those schools, hospitals and newspapers, don't you? They also pay taxes if you didn't realize that too!
@@DonaldMains Indeed, just as French Quebecers pay for public French institutions and English ones. The difference is that the English healthcare system and English universities receive far more budget than they represent in the population (For instance, in 2017-2018, English universities received 3.7 times from the government what they represent demographically, or about 13% of the Qc population).
@@jean-bastienc.1576 Really poor argument on your part. it's the same stupid argument Legault uses. The purpose of higher education is to train students for future careers. Quebec students, including French Canadians, understand that English is a competitive advantage in the job market.This is the reason reason why English student seats are over representative. this is a worldwide thing by the way. There are many universities in Europe where English is the language of instruction where English is not the native language; Denmark, Sweden, Holland. Both Allophones and Francophones choose, of their own free will, to assist Anglo schools. Rather than a be a source of frustration for you, you should be excited that Quebec is training future professionals. Restricting language in higher education always ends up poorly. By the way you forgot the 20% of Allophones who have no opportunity to attend higher education in their mother tongue. Why always so inward looking and defensive? Embrace diversity and let adults decide for themselves what language they want to study in.
@@DonaldMains I'd say your answer is as bad as you consider mine simply because you're comparing the situation of countries that are nation-states and not a minority within their own borders. You're comparing apples and oranges. Quebec is not a country and doesn't have to pay for its own anglicisation, period. Statistics Canada data show that most French-speaking Quebecers have a very good knowledge of English before they even start CEGEP. If they go to an English university, it's probably not to improve their English (because most of them don't really need to) but because it's “more prestigious”, which is a problem that needs to be solved.
There are nine other provinces if you want to study in Shakespeare's language. French Canadians have one and a half if you consider New Brunswick, and that's because Acadians had to fight for years to have French institutions of higher learning. I'll conclude with what I read from an American blogger living in Quebec. These are his thoughts, the mentality of some Anglo-Quebecers (especially those living in Mtl):
"Anglophones have their English language mass culture everywhere. Why do they think they are special and under attack from a nation of 8 million when they are over 300 million? Isn’t it plain as day that what deserves protection are the francophone institutions?
Why don’t anglophones take an interest in their surrounding community? Do they not realize that without French, Montréal would be just another North American anglophone city? If they valued Montréal’s difference, why don’t they help contribute to that said difference, instead of indirectly destroying it? They harp on and on about diversity and accepting everyone. Why can’t they see that North America’s French-speaking society is real diversity?"
@@DonaldMains As long as that diversity pushes you towards English. If I was an Anglo this is definitely the one sided view that I would portray.
I studied the history of La Belle Province for a year at university. This film is an excellent history lesson for everyone.. It moved me to tears. Thank you for this film.
I am Mordechai Richler's cousin. My grandmother and his mother were sisters. I have always known that some Montrealers loved him and some did not. Living in Toronto, chatting for years with folks from Montreal visiting Toronto, I have found far more people give him and his values two thumbs up rather two thumbs down. Sometimes I think the French are just being polite and not really expressing their true feelings. Many mention his famous film, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. And I have met several people from Montreal who were actually in the film, although not professional actors. Mordechai wanted real people from the area where the filming took place, St. Urbain, involved. His three journalist sons are also well liked here in Toronto. Mordechai's grandfather, my great grandfather, Yudel Rosenberg, is all over the Internet and, in fact, is more well known internationally than Mordechai.
I never knew Yudel, the chief Rabbi of Montreal, but many scholars, young and old who study his life, email me all the time for details about his life. Mordechai is liked, in general, but Yudel is beloved.
I miss Mordecai Richler's voice in Montreal, he would speak up for the rest of us who were sadened but did not find the words to express it; Then we would see an article by Mordecai in the Montreal Gazette and it would bring relief, peace and love in our hearts for our beloved French city. I think of him fondly and often still. Greetings from Montreal ❤
@@katerinab474 Thanks for the kind thoughts, Katerina.
I am hitlers grand nephew........
My mother-in-law’s mother’s last name was Kravetz. I was wondering where Kravetz come from originally. I understand there are many different spellings of the last name meaning Tailor.
But he wrote that the french canadian mothers were sweaters...
Yikes, that's some pretty gross demonization of Québec's official language. Canada's anti-French sentiment is almost as disgusting as its anti-indigenous sentiment.
Watching this video makes me think of Kremlin propaganda which demands that the children of Russian settlers living in decolonized Latvia and Estonia should be exempt from learning the official language.
It also makes me think of the pieds-noirs who were not permitted to remain in decolonized Algeria, regardless of whether they learned the official language or not.
I used to always say, "we can get along great, if there is NO politics". Boy has that been proven to be more true as time has gone on.
Exactly, the issue is not language, it’s to make to it a political issue. Shouldn’t we be proud to be a bilingual city? Shouldn’t we be proud to embrace both cultures? And why fighting still, if both languages are still very well alive and knowing it will never ever be a « French only city »? Besides that, Montreal history is not only French (and of course native), but English, Scottish, Irish..it’s never been a French city.
Shawn did you watch the video? It was put to show that Montreal is not just a French city. We built a huge portion of the city it is ours as much as it is the Francophones.English is part of the Montreal Heritage and Heritages need to be protected .I mean hey we're here 260 years not 50
@@jiop538 hum? I dont think you understood my comment. I invite you to re-read it
@@Jijohann 1890: The legislature enacts An Act to Provide that the English Language shall be the Official Language of the Province of Manitoba (better-known as the Official Language Act abolishes French as an official language of the legislature and requires that only English be used in Manitoba courts.
Ontario apologizes for 1912 regulation banning French in schools 'Regulation 17 showed a disregard for Franco-Ontarian identity and equality, and on behalf of the government of Ontario I offer an apology'
Ontario did not officially recognize the right of francophones to receive French-language education in elementary and secondary schools until 1984.
1890: The legislature enacts An Act to Provide that the English Language shall be the Official Language of the Province of Manitoba (better-known as the Official Language Act abolishes French as an official language of the legislature and requires that only English be used in Manitoba courts.
Ontario apologizes for 1912 regulation banning French in schools 'Regulation 17 showed a disregard for Franco-Ontarian identity and equality, and on behalf of the government of Ontario I offer an apology'
Ontario did not officially recognize the right of francophones to receive French-language education in elementary and secondary schools until 1984.
Je suis Franco-Ontarien et je me considère doué car je parle les deux langues sans problème. Je suis tuteur de français et mes étudiants sont tous anglophones. Le FLS et le programme d'immersion en français est populaire ici. Les parents aiment et respectent le français au Canada et veulent que leurs enfants profitent de l'apprentissage de la belle langue française. Je suis fier d'eux.
Don't be a lazy Canadian and learn both languages. Quebecers do it, and statistically there are more Quebecers that speak English than the rest of Canada speaking French. We know who isn't pulling their weight.
Yes, bilingualism is what is needed, so government policy should promote this. Effectively banning English is the problem.
@@eldarshamukhamedov4521 The thing is, Québec doesn't shun bilingualism. People here are allowed to speak English. The problem is certain people not respecting that this province is majority French. This would mean that, a lot of people that don't speak English. They also wouldn't need to just like an English Canadian wouldn't need to know French in Alberta. Respecting the cultural differences is what Québec is asking. You wouldn't move to Japan and not speak Japanese right?
@@CanadianWookie "You wouldn't move to Japan and not speak Japanese right?" Of course I'd learn it, and it is a problem that people move to Quebec and don't learn French. Not arguing that. The problem is real, and French language and culture in Quebec need to be preserved. My issue is with the method of solving that problem. I'd rather Canada as a whole forced everywhere to be bilingual (e.g. force Ontario to make French an official language), than split the country into English and French parts. I know most of the discourse is much more polarized than that, and I'll happily criticize anyone from, say, BC, who thinks French culture and/or language isn't relevant to Canada as a whole.
I'd probably be happy with the current policy if they dropped the working in French requirement, or added some reasonable exceptions. Quebec or not, you can't escape the fact that English is a global language. It's not an Ontario, or BC, or "Anglo-Saxon", etc. language; it's a world language. There are companies in Paris, France that do business with Germany, and they communicate with each other in English (fun fact, English is an official EU language, despite Brexit). It doesn't destroy French culture, and it doesn't destroy German culture. Quebec is in a tougher spot, because the cultural pull of the rest of Canada, and, more importantly, the US, is very strong, so stronger protections make sense, but the solution can't be to cut the province off from English, not if you want to compete economically with the rest of the world.
I'm a software engineer and let me tell you, you can't keep up in the field without English. Most clients are US companies, most documentation is written in English, most RUclips tutorials and online courses are in English. Even medium-sized tech companies tend to hire engineers from multiple countries. For example, my last job was a mix of US, Canada, Brazil, and Ukraine, but now, bill 96 says that any Quebec employees have a right to work in French. How is that supposed to work for a multi-national? It's not. That's the problem. A company that works across borders is now incentivized to ignore Quebec, not hire anyone from Quebec, and certainly to never ever move their headquarters to Quebec.
So, as I said, French language and culture in Quebec need to be preserved, but bill 96 is a particularly terrible "solution" to the problem.
@@eldarshamukhamedov4521 I agree with you that the current methods being used by the premier of Québec is getting blown out of proportion and only musters division between the languages.
I believe one of the reasoning the premier passed that law is because of past trauma. In the provinces history, French people were discriminated against and prevented from working in English Jobs for merely speaking French or culturally identify as being Québécois. The people that lived in that generation are still alive today, some of them holding ptsd and telling their kids about said trauma, believing it as an attack on the people. there is a lot of people in Québec that only speak French. There have been companies that were working in Québec today, before that law passed, which forced people to speak English and had discrimination towards French speakers. I hope you can understand that due to the current premiers desire to remain in power, he'll be sure to focus on the people who are willing to vote for him the most.
Unfortunately, this is all a political shit show. I understand both sides, but there needs to be a better way to approach the issue. However, economically speaking, the province won't have much of an impact with trade because there are always companies that see it as an opportunity to tap in the market when the bigger players throw in the towel. The premier seems to have the desire to focus on an Economy with French characteristics. If you're willing to come to the province to conduct business and have an establishment but not put the effort to employ people with the ability to speak French, kind of silly and comes back to the Japan bit. Your point with being a software engineer that works in an environment entirely in English, I understand what you mean since I also work in IT.
I feel like the issue is getting people to be bilingual if you're located in the province. They obviously can't outright force a population to learn. So instead they create the environment for it to come. There has also been a lot of immigrants coming into the province with the desire of speaking and integrating. In a way, it's a negative with a positive objectively speaking. Québec can never erase the English presence, and I and many others would never support any attempt to rewrite the history.
"promote"? how? Anglos have been flat-out refusing for centuries.@@eldarshamukhamedov4521
Several hundreds of thousands of French Canadians have been leaving Quebec since 1850. Anglos leaving is a drop in the bucket. There are plenty of people with French names all over Canada and the USA. Look around.
Yes and they have been subject to Canadian Francophobic laws (Manitoba act, Regulation 17 Ontario etc) and that until today.
Le Canada : 150 ans de lois contre le français / Vigile.Québec
ruclips.net/video/Jz-0FWxjsUg/видео.html
*There are plenty. Check your spellings. Thanks.
@@ubelove4410 check your flaps
You cant compare 1850 which is 172 years to the Anglos that left in a 10 year period
@@jeffreykaufmann2867 Many French Canadians left between 1930 and 1960 as well! See the title "Voices from French Ontario" by Sheila Arnopoulos. The points I am trying to make is that outmigration from Quebec has been almost constant throughout its history and when French people leave , nobody bats an eyelash! Try that. Even better, read The Reconquest of Montreal, by Marc Levine. Montreal's decline began as early as the 1930's.
I am an Englishman born in Ontario who recently moved here. The French language pressure is only stressful if you aren't willing to learn. I find it a fun challenge, myself.
It’s not the the language it is the fascist regime in government
@@edfast5893ah tyl le mange marde décalisse
@@edfast5893 You know nothing about a "fascist " government. Go to Argentina....
@@claudebuysse7482 my parents and extended family lived in Germany and Poland. So I know the first hand stories and agentinas atrocities were horrible. But when we allow language rights to be taken away what is next. Forced vaccination and loses of job? Don’t judge others till you know the truth or suffered the persecution yourself. Peace, Love and Freedom should never be the mercy of governments who take away any human right for hidden agendas. Tell me your story of how your family suffered in Argentina
@@edfast5893 By the nazis who were welcome in Argentina , the country of the generals who take the children of opponents to give them to "good " christians...Threw the gauchists by planes in the oceans. And Milei is the reincarnation of those cruel men.
Y'all can go to Toronto, hamilton, ottawa, winnipeg, calgary, edmonton, vancouver, victoria, london, halifax, boston, new york, buffalo, hartford, chicago, philadelphia, pittsburg, baltimore, washington, cleveland, columbus, cincinnati, indiannapolis, saint-louis, milwaukee, minneapolis, seattle, portland, san francisco, los angeles, dallas, atlanta, denver, las vegas, miami, jacksonville, nashville, new orleans, tampa bay, houston, san antonio, pheonix, etc.... french canadians only have montréal and québec as major cities (we only expect you guys to accept french to be the common language)
They only have Québec city. MTL is half anglos...
Asti ils parlent comme si les années pré-révolution tranquille étaient des années saintes et de paix et de collaboration et bilinguisme pacifique... c'est de la distortion historique qui met clairement les québécois, une minorité ethnique et souffrant quasiment un siècle d’oppression systémique comme des méchants pour essayer de préserver leur culture? Pis le fait que les anglophones soient soudainement demandé de parler du français c'est opprimant? Ca l'a aucun bon sens.
While this documentary is over 30 years old the first thing I noticed is the reference to the Catholic Church controlling the French Quebec for over 300 years and telling the people to look inward when dealing with other ethnicities. Born in Montreal to immigrant parents in the 70s and speaking both English and French , I believe the problem is with the politicians on both sides , they caused the divide . The present leader of the PQ ( 2024 ) did most of his university studies in English starting with Montreal ´s Mcgill university but when speaking to the majority French speaking people tell s them to work,school and live in French only. But himself having the privilege and choice chose to attend English universities back in the 1990s ! Just like the catholic clergy did many years before and only a handful should have the opportunity to learn and speak English . On the other side of this argument the hardline anglos who refuse to speak a word of French actually bring more fuel to the fire and create even more hatred towards themselves from the majority French in Quebec. I genuinely don’t feel the need to comment on this issue but there is a lot of BS on both sides!
So glad Canada's federal government for a century always defended the virtue of its french speaking population in New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan with the same rigour.
Lmao like closing french school across the country?
@@VinceLocRS The English community of Montreal is the most pampered in North America with its 17 hospitals its 4 Universities (which cost millions of dollars to Quebecers)While the Franco-Canadian Communities can only dream of the privileges that Anglo Montrealers have and yet they are the most complaining
@@linefrenette9116 The people who go to those universities come from all across Canada. Of course anglos would want to come to the second biggest city in Canada to study. It's good for Quebec, and it's good for them. You forget those people pay to go there, and they fund a lot of business in the city. Without them Montreal would be like Calgary. Appreciate the wealth they bring you even if they don't learn French while studying in Montreal.
@@dylanc9174 You forget one thing, it's when we Francophones go outside the province of Quebec, we are forced to speak English and that doesn't matter if it's for studies or not otherwise we are ostracized in our rights, I know I have already lived outside Quebec,,,, and here the English-speaking universities of Montreal are super subsidized compares to the French Canadians University out of Quebec.
If we Francophones are forced to speak English in other provinces,,,,Learn French in ours,,,the only official language in Quebec is French.
@@linefrenette9116 You also don't a have francophone population analogous to Montreal's huge anglo population in cities elsewhere in Canada either...
I wonder the consequences that Quebec’s Bill 96 may bring about. Pour le moment, je vais pratiquer mon français avec Tv5 Monde gratuitement.
Nothing will change.
LOL Le film est sorti y'a 25 ans et l'anglais n'a jamais cessé de progresser à Montréal depuis...
Un film malhonnête qui oublie de mentionner que presque toutes les communautés francophones en Amérique du Nord ont disparu sauf le Québec.
FYI, I'm perfectly bilingual, I work in English for international companies and I hardly know anyone my age in French-speaking Quebec who doesn't speak English as well as I do. Young québécois all speak English. We HAVE to.
Also note: Anyone from anywhere in the world, regardless of their origins and culture, is welcome in Quebec. But like any other country, because Quebec is a French country, people who live here must learn French.
Unfortunately, there is racism in Quebec, but no more than anywhere else on earth: stop saying that Quebec is particularly racist. Law 101 and Law 96 are NOT racist.
"De ce grand pays solitaire
Je crie avant que de me taire
À tous les hommes de la terre
Ma maison, c'est votre maison
Entre ses quatre murs de glace
Je mets mon temps et mon espace
À préparer le feu, la place
Pour les humains de l'horizon
Et les humains sont de ma race" - Gilles Vigneault
Thank you, I'm bilingual myself cause I grew up in a bilingual family and I completely agree with you.
It’s incremental and happens over decades. 20-30 is not long
The English who are here in Montreal now are not the same as the ones who left under Levesque. I think we are more respectful of the French, and speak it as much as possible wherever we can. It does not prevent me from having friendships with Anglophone people. I would not live anywhere else. As a pensioner and a patient, so far I am being treated very well.
In one candid moment, Camille Laurin responded to a query about how long Bill 101 restrictions would need to be maintained with "three generations!"
He was wrong it’s a never ending battle because the appeal of the International language that is English is so strong that it will take an unrelenting effort to keep the language alive and well especially in the region of Montreal because of the influx of immigrants in the province is mainly in that region and almost nothing elsewhere.
Laurin made a huge mistake with adopting the 101 law before the referendum of 1980. The fear of loosing their number was the main argument for separation. Too bad for PQ.
I was born in Montreal in 1960. As a kid growing up in Ville LaSalle I really enjoyed learning French but my parents generation seemed intent on "poisoning" the situation with their anti-French attitude and negativity instead of nurturing and seeing it as an opportunity for their kids.
From a belgian (french speaking) perspective it is really weird to see this documentary depicting an english victimisation, by the 'frenchisation' of montreal. the anglos feel threatened of disappearance in this documentary, wich seems to forget the hole linguistic situation of Canada.
Seems what happens here is the same that the Frenchspeaking Elite have
Montreal population when this documentary was made: 3,127,242
Montreal population now: 4,247,000
Childish name-calling doesn't change the truth. :)
No duh. Didnt you hear about wars in Syria, Yemen, iraq, etc
Itsnot rocketscience
Wait till immigrants make the move. The french are a dying breed
Well dope, why do you think they built mirabel airport where it was. Because they had done studies in the early 70s and that was suppose to be the outskirts of montreal. With a population of over 6 million by year 2000
Toronto pop 1976 1.5 million. 2022 5.5 million
Lol a person who thinks he's intelligent thinks that in a pop of 2.8 million in 1976 to 3.1 million in 1994 is big growth. Wow 300000 in 20 years, when the city stagnated. It was only after the referendum that things calmed down. And the 1 million growth is due to immigration. The lead mo treal had built up was surpassed big time. Montreal built Calgary Vancouver and Toronto.
If I immigrate in Toronto being only french speaking person, and if I dont want to learn English, could I find a job there ? Could I be integrate in this city ? I think I would have the same problems than an anglo in Montréal .
I'm confident one can work in Toronto and speak one of any number of languages that aren't English. Even more than in Montreal with it's two, count 'em, two languages(!). In fact there are almost certainly more languages spoken on any half busy block in Toronto than in the entire province of Quebec.
And without fear of the language police kicking in the door to steal the computer and check your work emails.
@@erikt454 ne dites pas n'importe quoi ,
A toronto les gens travaillent en anglais.
Oui tu peut travailler à toronto et parler plusieurs langues comme partout dans le monde mais c'est en anglais que les gens communique.
You would have more problems than them.
no law says you can't. That's the difference
@@Alternity666langue officiel
I speak three languages, including French. I found English-speaking Montrealers unwilling to learn French, and stubbornly and disrespectfully so, with a few exceptions.
Do you live in Montréal?
@@firthbythesea I did once for a long time, but moved back home to Iceland due to the "neverendums", linguistic Nazism, politics of hate and resentment and poor economy. Rent was cheap, but so was pay! Eventually settled in a small place near Quebec in Eastern Ontario which is bilingual.
Im just curious,may i ask what is the third language you speak?
People tend to oppose something when it's forced on them
@@DonMrLenny french problably, since he speaks English and is from Iceland.
I didn't think when they were talking about English Montreal that they were going to go on so much about UK traditions, the Scots in particular. This documentary had so much focus on The English as countrymen verses Canadian English speakers.
Both Montreal and Quebec city was created by france they came here and send the French to louisiana
They want the world see they terrible instinction of the English Montrealer by the villain French 👹
Imagine this, having to learn the language of the people around you speak....it must be so awful...I'm born french speaking and learned english, why is the opposite so difficult for these poor people, they are still complaining to this day
Tell me you didn't watch the video without telling me you didn't watch the video.
@@4spooky8uparle moi d’un innocent angryphone incapable d’avoir un minimum de réflexion, je te conseille de réécouter le vidéo et leur francophobie d’ignorant, tu vas écrire moins de stupidités d’enfant attardé.!!😂😂😂😁😘👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😮
@@4spooky8u tell me you don't know Québec history without telling me you don't know Québec history
I left Montreal when I joined the Air Force, in 1985. When I finished my service, I did not return to Montreal, because of the politics... politicians and French nationalists have caused all the issues while the majority of French, English, and other ethnicities get along just fine. It's very disappointing that the minority (politicians and French nationalists) have gotten away with creating and carrying out racist mandates at the expense of the rest of the population. 😢
Des pleures d’angryphone hypocrite…👏🏻👏🏻😂🤣😁😘
@@dancooper1 Yet another troll... you have no clue what you are talking about and you don't know me. I spoke French whenever I could. The problem with you racist French people is that you can't accept you lost the war... You are part of the problem, always blaming English people, maybe focus on yourself and correct your racist tendencies or move to France but they probably don't want you either.
@@dancooper1 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂. You are one very ignorant person and racist. I feel sorry for you.
@@robin-bq1lzexactement lol
This would've never happened if they anglophones decided to learn French. I'm from Bangladesh and we've lot of places named in English since the colonial era and literally nobody cares, because we 're not in fear of extinction of our language from the invasion of anglophones.
Epic and important but poorly covered theme, been looking for a docu like this. Thanks so much for the upload! Will watch it a bit later.
La haine et le mépris des angryphones victimaires, la minorité la mieux traitée au monde d’après l’ONU, les bons vieux rhodésien de Westmount. Après tu iras lire sur la misère des Allemands qui soutenaient le mouvement Nazi après leur défaite, tu vas sans doute trouver ça aussi triste et intéressant….tu regarderas plus tard.😂🤣😁😜
I left for the US in 1980. Joined the United States Air Force Band. I still miss my home town. :(
The stupid school system kept teaching PARIS French instead of Quebec French, so I could never get a handle on the language with all of my hard work. I would speak, people would understand, and then I could never understand what they said back to me! Finally gave up.
Hi Diana...I feel for you, my fellow expat Canuck!💞🇨🇦 I was luckier than you, since I grew up in Montreal-North, which was predominantly French-speaking in my neighbourhood. There are also many French Canadians who married into my primarily Italian Canadian family. I’m also 1/4 English Canadian, since my paternal grandmother was English. My Italian grandmother, as well as my English grandmother, both lived with us throughout my childhood. My mother’s 9 brothers and sisters, along with some of their spouses being French-Canadian, frequently visited our home, since their mother, my Italian grandmother “Mamelle” lived with us. So, three languages were spoken in our home. I have some cousins who could barely speak a word of English, but my brothers and I spoke both languages, with English as our primary language. Nevertheless, some of the Francophones in our neighbourhood often teased me, especially if I misspoke in French, calling me “tête carrée”(square head, referring to my English side) or “maudite wop” a slur against my Italian heritage. It’s a shame that there was so much derision among the French against the English, but equally so among the English against the French. Back when the separatist movement was at an all-time high in the ‘70s, I recall some francophone friends of my parents trying to coax them into joining their movement and my parents refused. These so-called friends then dropped them like hot potatoes. Some of my own friends and one of my older cousins who was married to an Irish Canadian man who spoke only English, all left in the Great Migration west when René Levesque came into power. I lived most of my life in Montreal and worked in both languages. I only came down to the US after my second husband, who was American, returned here after spending 5 years in Montreal. He hated the French separatists, especially the OLF with their draconian laws. Personally, I think that government office should have been abolished years ago! I miss Montreal too, but I don’t miss the politics, especially now with Quebec’s Nazi-like approach to the virus, nor the bloody long and frigid winters after living here in Missouri for 16 years. But, what I would give for a St.Viateur bagel!😍 I hope you are doing well and are happy wherever you are in the States. Take care, Diana, and à bientôt, mon amie!😉💖🇨🇦
@@Linrose8 bref, tu pensais vivre dans une nation francophone en anglais comme une vraie petite impérialiste génocidaire, auprès duquel même les nazis passent pour des amateurs. Dis-moi, est-ce que ton mari était stupide où c’était simplement un gros ignorants qui se croyait le centre de l’univers? D’ailleurs tu devrais nous démontrer ta maîtrise du français, après tout tu es née ici, tu dois extrêmement bien connaître ta nation ⚜️.😁😘
I learned and spoke "Parisian" french too , or so I thought when I went and worked in Paris. Once when I said "dimanche" , my fellow workers winced. I had no idea I was talking with that accent. So I went to Berlitz! 😂
@@Linrose8 Wow! That's quite a story. I never become completely fluent. I consider myself an intermediate speaker. Since my parents moved to California in 1978, that's when I can to the US. It was a relief to no longer have to struggle with the french.
@@dianadallalnctmrcmc9303 yet I live in Texas and learned French in Quebec just fine. Sounds like you refused to apply yourself like most English Canadians.
I wish someone would write a book about William one day :) he's amazing 😊
I find it very funny to see how a group feel that their culture and community is treathened in a sea of 400million anglos in North America vs barely 9millions francos in NA. Such privileged people.
So in response we should be french fascists wow great idea. Fucking farmer
Tes vraiment pas intelligent frere
Yeah, I mean, why don't the Palestinians just move to Jordan?
@@ridesharegold6659 Yeah they should. Bye, sandies.
@@ridesharegold6659 Are you actually kidding me???
It is telling that Montréal remains a vibrant & exciting city despite the doom 'n gloom presented here.
The narrative presented the historic events & figures through a very meticulously placed lens.
Neither the dire predictions nor the over-all premise aged well.
Sadly, propaganga hsa become far less transparent in the intervening years.
But it was more vibrant before, when most Canadian corporations were based there, instead of Toronto. 😔
@@jaiboregio But Montréal survived the exodus. Imagine Toronto if the corporate sector packed their bags. They would not fair as well as Montréal has. (although it won't be long until the same investment-sector condo-glut makes Montréal as unaffordable as Toronto.)
The entirety of mostly-English speaking Canada is made to have signs and product labels and announcements on public transit, highways/road signs, etc. in BOTH French and English. But as soon as you cross the border into Quebec, all signs, road signs, and public transit announcements are French only. So the entire country - mostly English speaking - accommodates the minority's language, but that one French province refuses to return the favor. This is incredibly unwelcoming and just plain obnoxious.
My mother was born in rural Quebec and was a native French speaker. She had generations of roots in French speaking rural and non-rural Quebec. She married an American and then moved to the States, where I was born. Due to a family issue, we moved to Montreal from Boston in the late 1960s which was unfortunately right at the time of the Quebec separatist movement and bombings and kidnappings, Pierre Laporte's murder , etc. With an American husband and 3 young English speaking kids, my mother, a native French speaker who had lived all of her life in Quebec, felt incredibly unwelcome. The city was not at all the one she had left just 10 years before. We kids were treated with a certain level of hostility both by some of our classmates and even teachers, simply for being English speakers. My dad then died and my mother, against the urgings of her large Quebec-living family, actually returned to Boston rather than live in a city that had changed that much for the worse, and whose violent separatists were doing IRA style bombings and kidnappings.
So to those commenters on here ridiculing and belittling the experience of English speakers, what do you say to the fact that the whole of Canada accommodates the French language even though the vast majority of Canada does NOT speak French, while the province of Quebec refuses to be similarly accommodating? What excuse can there be for this?
Most of Canada does not have bilingual signs
@@heartman2013 And we should not...
Signs on roads are just a symbolic accommodating. The reality is that an anglohphone citizen or a tourist can easily be served in English in public services. For a francophone in the ROC, it is not that easy to be served in French. English is a language so powerful it doesn't need any special protection. It is de facto used in many countries even where is has no official status, like in Israel, Scandinavian countries, Netherlands and so on. In Quebec it is widely used too. The reason why many Quebecers don't speak English as well as Scandinavians, is that the level at school is pretty basic, like the core French in other provinces. In some provinces it is even not a compulsory subject. And finally, Quebec is a unique place it North America and they want to preserve their heritage. The English colonizers were the most racist and supremacists who wouldn't share North America with the French, the Spanish and the Dutch.
@@boogyjuggy actually all of north america should probably be learning english, french and spanish as knowing multiple languages is only an asset. but people (possibly people like you) suck, and i feel increasingly weird living in a place that only really has signs and announcements in english despite it being the only language i know. i can live comfortably with english and learning languages as an adult can be difficult but i increasingly feel less good about it, so hopefully i can finally get myself to learn those languages. so, to object to your statement, signs should be in multiple languages, what the fuck does it matter to you if a sign is in multiple languages?
Read about linguistic assimilation and the hegemony of English around the world. Comparing English and French is not a fair comparison, because one of them in the unofficial "international language" of the world. It has been known to drive out any minority language, and even threatens other majority languages on their own turf. In this age of globalization, the French language would almost certainly disappear if it were not protected to the extent it is in Québec. French needs protection, and English does not, whether in Canada or elsewhere, simple as that. I mean, look at the EU- only 1% of EU citizens speak English as their native language, and it's still often a struggle to obtain information on their websites (europa.eu) in a language other than English.
Native English speakers don't understand that it's THEIR language that's subjugating and obliterating cultures around the world, and not the other way around. Call it English language privilege, if you will.
Of course, if you want all of Canada to wind up as a version of the U.S. lite, feel free to repeal the language laws in Québec.
I was born in Montreal from British parents, but we later moved to the United States.
@Khabib in France the word STOP is used for stop signs but the Quebec Government spent a lot of Money taking down STOP signs and replacing it with ARRET.
The Word STOP can be found in every French dictionary.
Yesss get out !
@@jeffreykaufmann2867 Who cares? Imagine still being mad over a word.
@@VinceLocRS montreal is a sad place
@@ubelove4410 For sure, a sad place ranked in the happies city to live in LOL
Les Anglos, contrairement aux Francos ailleurs en Amérique, ont conservé leurs institutions et leurs droits, ils ne sont pas à plaindre. Après tout, il est normal que Montréal soit français, ce sont des Français qui l'ont fondé.
Exactement 👍🏼
Let’s not forget the English,Scott’s and people from all over the world have grown Montreal.The French were the people that made Montreal special.
Not really a documentary more like someone's opinion piece. Where are the facts? The narrator's point of view is so apparent and his statements so vague that it's hard to get any real information. He makes vague references to historical context but not really stating the background about certain practices. He seems to just want to paint a picture and generate a certain feeling of hopelessness. Beside the 300,000 Anglophones who left Quebec and 200,000 Italians, I didn't see here many real numbers or statistics. It's too bad that he didn't try to get more info about that Concordia professor's study about the (bilingual?) Anglophones who didn't get public sector jobs because of their heritage. That would have put more weight into his argument about anglophone discrimination solely based on their heritage. With many vague statements like 'there are many many people', it's a bit hard to take seriously some of his dramatic conclusions. Maybe it's just an old filmmaking style. Funny how the filmmaker blames only the church and French elites for the lack of French Quebecois's access to economic wealth/ good jobs and the basis of their resentment. I don't know if he just was ignorant of the systematic practices of the British elites of only hiring managers or foreman who spoke English, because the business owners didn't need or/and want to learn the language of the majority. In other countries, they called this colonization behavior and people have waged wars to get rid of this systemic exclusion....we just made it mandatory to learn our language and for it to be displayed by all employers. Bilingual signs are allowed but they need to have French as well (many that was not the case when this film was made).
It’s historical revisionism, so Canada's colonization attempts (past, present and future) are seen as actually a good thing, a civilizing act of humanitarianism to save the anglophones who are being oppressed by a “fascist” minority... it’s blantant,y racist if you think about it, as it associates the French-Canadian poverty to culture and society instead of systemic attempts to eradicate our culture.
We see an interview with the students in an Anglophone college or university where a lot of them argue that they do not get or fear not getting a job because they have an English name. Me I would have a quick follow up question to that assertion Do you speak French? If they said No. My next question would be Is the real problem your name or the fact that you don’t speak French in a province where it is the main language? We have to remember this was filmed in 93 back then Anglos who had a mastery of French were not exactly a dime a dozen. I think a lot of the exodus was brought upon by anglos that wanted nothing to do with the French culture. Since it is a gut feeling and not backed up by any hard facts. It is definitely a question that I would have liked the documentary to address but somehow this is not an angle they wanted to explore.
The president of the CP cie told in the sixties that he can't find a french canadian to be on adminsitration council. In fact the anglos had the better jobs and the frenchs the rest. Doctors , lawers and clerks. Cheap labour for the frenchs. In 1970 the frenchs were less paid than the italians and greeks in their own province. Enough is enough...
@@claudebuysse7482 C.P. was the biggest private Canadian company by far. The CDPQ which manages the retirement fund of all Quebecers tried to purchase a majority interest in the C.P. while a separatist government was in power. That created such an uproar in the Anglo community that even though it was a private company the Federal government was compelled to step in and flat out block the transaction. This is one of the thing that annoys Quebecers the most when transactions are blocked on the ground that French Canadian buyers or the Quebec government is behind the transaction. It is even worse when we know that if it was anglophone interest behind the transaction there would be no issues in allowing the transaction to go through.
A lot of whining Rhodesians here.
Here is a reading suggestion:
Remembrance of Grandeur: The Anglo-Protestant Elite of Montreal, 1900-1950, by Margaret W. Westley .
It shows that the relative decline of Montreal, compare to Toronto, is an issue between Anglophones, that started long before the rise of Quebec nationalism in the sixties.
If the facts matter to you. Only you know if this is the case, or if your opinions are based on something else.....
And the canal to the great lakes killed the economy of Mtl...
The irony of claiming that the anglos really weren't all that rich, and then boasting about all of the buildings and institutions that anglo money built.
The documentary is ridiculously confused. It provided about 2 minutes talking about the majority of anglophones (which included my own ancestors) and then gushed over the rich.
@@firthbythesea
Ce documentaire est de la foutaise.
Remplis de préjugés mensonger.
@@firthbythesea I did get a chuckle from the dichotomy between regular anglos (neither rich nor descended from 18th-19th century capitalists) and the sort of ball where a Scottish lord flew over to officiate.
@@nicolasg.514C'est en plein ça; il reprend le même ton du CJAD de ma jeunesse. Ayoye.
Cette vidéo n'est vraiment pas à jour, Montréal est plus florissante que la plupart des villes canadiennes si ce n'est de tout le monde occidental. Une vidéo sans aucune objectivité, un véritable crachoir pour exprimer son Québec bashing !
Don't get out much do you. As nice as Montreal is, it is not what you think it is.
@@maestroCanuck Perhaps he doesn't, but I do. And I agree with his statement. I've had a way better experience in Montreal than I ever have living in Toronto or Vancouver city for that matter. One benefit being in BC is the beautiful weather. However, exploring the forests in the north of Quebec is mesmerizing during the fall.
@@CanadianWookie Well, I do too and if you go back and read his comment, it does not hold water. I have no issues with Montreal per se, but it is not what that poster claims.
I feel the singe still. I teach at a French cégep, English as a second language. My matrilineal line goes back to Letterkenny when a woman named Mary settled in Coaticook 20 years before the Great Famine. My grandmother was born in Danville and I saw her in the front row on La Soirée canadienne, I was born in Sherbrooke, like my dad. I could not be more of a Quebecker. I resist losing sleep over the overt oppression and censorship (two wrongs don’t make a right), instead I thank my blessings for being more and more proficient in the language of love. The ordinary people do get along.
All the woman Irish until me, who is half, but was raised in an Irish Catholic school.
It is the laws from Durham giving exclusive business support and limiting french speaking population who had develop Canada untill then.
As a francophone, I was curious to see the "other angle" of this story. I was so dissapointed to see that this documentary was even less objective or fair that I couldve imagined. Talk about priviledge lost drama. The self important imperialist tone of this documentary is almost risible with its transparency.
A lot of it is people creating the drama to validate their own perception of being victims. The speach we here from these same people today, that they realize that the protection of the french language is important but that bill 96 goes too far, seems absolutely hypocritical. Every step of the way, they fought tooth and nail against any measures to preserve the french language.
The documentary is in summary an "après moi le déluge" tale. A very contrived, ive told you so tale of warning. After these fine people are gone, they want the rest of the population to cry for they martyrdom and realize how they are unable to thrive, or even survive, without them.
Also, around 6:40 , the Mcgill students confirming that they were moving out of province after their studies. This has been happening for decades. They get cheap tuition here, and then go pay taxes in other provinces. Now that there is a pushback against that by the government (a logical rebalancing done badly for unfortunate electoralist gains), again we here the same cries "How unjust, we were JUST about to try and integrate our students better by teaching them french".
As a Montreal anglo I completely agree with you.
I totally agree, this documentary was so biased.
I do not think many Québécois understand that English speakers and English Canada has greatly changed and progressed since the 1960s and 1970s; however, many Québécois are basing their decisions on non-French on very outdated and untrue notions. Also, many "English-speaking Canadians" also "anglicized themselves back then to better fit in the now outdated British-centric (colonial) way of life back then, even though their families are Greek, Italian, Swedish, etc.
Thanks but why this quebec bashing all over ?
The beauty of Montreal is that it makes it interesting that you can speak both languages and it makes it fun it is a distinct city from the rest of Quebec and should always stay that way.
There is no beauty in systemic racism, discrimination and intolerance.
@@rcbrascanYes i totally agree,I was stating that Montreal's identity and true nature is it's bilingualism.Montreal in fact is the little Canada of Quebec.Making it only French deprives it of it's distinctness and diversity.
@@jiop538 les fédéralistes me feront toujours rire par leurs fantasmes aveugles de la réalité.😂
@@rcbrascan You are a joke! The anglo in Quebec are by far the best care minority in the whole world! They have their hospitals and their schools and tribunal and stores and it's by far the most bilingual City (Montreal) in Canada.
On top of that the anglo in Quebec never respected the french language and they never made the effort to learn it before the liberal party (their party ) did pass a law to made french the official law of Quebec.
Intolerance? It was most of the other province like Ontario and Manitoba that had laws to make french illegal that are the racist and that discriminate.
@@jiop538 Making Montreal only french? You were listening to red neck propaganda again?
As an Anglo Montrealer, I like how this video is meant to make us look like the bad guys and have the entire comments section sympathizing with Quebec Francophones for their language and culture. First of all, Anglophones are only a small minority in Montreal and only want to preserve English in the Montreal region. There’s English in areas up north like Quebec City but that’s not cuz of us, it’s cuz those places are tourist spots. And yes, we may have it easier than French minorities in English Canada, but if y’all want to use that as an excuse, then why do the vast majority of Quebec Francophones have no problem catering to English media and entertainment but want to make English a problem with Anglophones? Hypocrisy much?
I'm punching the TV watching this litteral apartheid english propaganda. It almost sounds like a South Africa documentary in 1993.
I grew up in Montreal and left in 1971 for New Brunswick. I left partly because of the rise of francophone nationalism that made others feel unwelcome. i wasn't English. I was a Polish immigrant but treated like an Anglo by the pur laine.
Do you speak french in this officially bilingual province ? I don't think so...
Montreal is a beautiful city my family comes from Griffin town, The Ponite and Verdun. We left in 1998 for Ontario
Lived in CDN for the first three years of my life, left for Scarborough, Ontario.
I live Verdun, you must be missing Wellington and verdun beach
Back then the water was not clean for swimming, my Aunt actually got polio
1890: The legislature enacts An Act to Provide that the English Language shall be the Official Language of the Province of Manitoba (better-known as the Official Language Act abolishes French as an official language of the legislature and requires that only English be used in Manitoba courts.
Ontario apologizes for 1912 regulation banning French in schools 'Regulation 17 showed a disregard for Franco-Ontarian identity and equality, and on behalf of the government of Ontario I offer an apology'
Ontario did not officially recognize the right of francophones to receive French-language education in elementary and secondary schools until 1984.
Le ton utilisé dans de ce documentaire est exactement pourquoi on vous aime pas
Que les québécois n'oublient pas ce qui est arrivé aux francophones de Louisiane, ces enfants à qui on a asséné pendant tant d'années, quand ils parlaient leur langue à l'école "speak white". Je ne pleure pas sur ces pauvres anglos qui se sentent discriminés. La sphère anglo-saxonne est vaste et s'ils veulent rester dans leur entre-soi, qu'ils la rejoignent. Ils ont échoué à éradiquer la culture française, et en tant que français je m'en réjouis. Ne leur lâchez rien!
27:44 So... basically the current situation in Montreal. Tell me again how the English are the oppressed ones in this story?
Québec is the only french speaking province in all north america... what is the problem about trying to preserve it....
Montreal is the only bilingual city in Quebec ,what is the problem about trying to preserve it especially as you have witnessed in this film its been around since 1760 the rest of Quebec which is 90% is French only,trust me its doing super fine,you cant see an Anglo for miles in Trois Rivieres.You know something look at Europe a country like Denmark its language is Danish and it s surrounded by 43 other countries and itès been around since the ancient times for heavens sake Danish should have vanished eons ago but no its alive and kicking and they have no language laws no stress.If Denmark which is a lot smaller than Quebec can make it so many times more Quebec can too.Please once and for all its not about the decline in the Language it has as much decline as any other language and when did any English province try to invade Quebec to remove the French?There is only one truth and all Francophones have to believe it because it is the real truth:Separatists and Nationalists HATE anything English ..except for Money because when you are in MOntreal and you leave it to go east Everything is completely French ,you cant even find a fly that speaks or Buzzes in English.And that is the truth.The attack is on Montreal not the rest of Quebec.Point finale.
You already have everything in Quebec to protect your language: French Schools, French Libraries, Radio, Television, Theater etc.
The only Languages in Quebec that are fragile are the native Indian Languages.
French is the most widely spoken language in Quebec so how can it be the most fragile?
@@jeffreykaufmann2867 It’s not fragile due to Quebecois vigilance and their amazing language policy, which has served as a model to protect indigineous tongues as well. Keep in mind also, natives in Quebec speak their native language at a far higher rate than most of English Canada, and the language threatening native languages is English, even in Quebec.
@Mario Lebeau So America is historically an Italian continent discovered by Christophe Colomb and it should all be Italian And the world was historically Adam and Eve and we should all be speaking Hebrew.And France was discoverd by anglo saxons and it should be English and the Moon was discovered by Americans and it should be American.WE all can play your game.It doesn't mean nothing who was there first.Its who made it what it is and Montreal apart from the first French from France the European french not les Quebecois that made something small but when the English came it became a huge city so if it wasn't for the English Irish and Scottish Montreal would be as big as Chicoutimi. And You guys were creverde faim you had no jobs it took the English business people to come here and open factories to give you jobs and save you from une famine and this is how you treat us after we save your ancestors life?
@Mario Lebeau yes you helped we both n build it together that is why we need to respect each other
Bleh. Victimization at its best. Was a load of crap back then. Still a load of crap now.
Today the Federal government would prevent such a film from being produced in the first place, out of fear of offending a big part of their electorate rather than teach history. Politically incorrect but true sadly.
Fully agree, it’s a shame. Only in Quebec is the english language a disease; everywhere else in the world it’s an asset
Est-ce qu’il y a d’autres films de propagande du KKK?!😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂😁😘
@@robin-bq1lz cest pas du KKK, tu dois re etudier l'histoire
@@MrViyasan tu devrais aller la réviser , juste pour voir les liens entre les orangistes et le KKK😂😘, maintenant les angryphones sont surtout des francophobes fanatisés ignorants et américanisés a l’extrême de la stupidité jouant les petites victimes hypocrites.😁😘👌
Calling a Francophone a Pepsi is a very Quebec insult. (I think the opposite from a Francophone is to call an Anglo un bloke
It's funny how anglophones recognizes oppression only when they are the ones suffering it...but don't seem to acknowledge the centuries of opression and torture my people have suffered at their hands. Boo you, you have to speak french in Montreal....When my parents were kids, they had to go to english school (before loi 101) just to have any prospect of a decent future in their own city...but of course with a french name, they already had one strike...
Immigrants back then were not allowed to attend French schools. Today young Quebecers tell seniors who don’t speak French, “parle en francais. Cest Quebec “
it's 2024 and we are doing fine speaking French!
It's the same in New Brunswick, if your English and decide to go up north, you experience resentment and a general "why are you here" mentality. Eventhough I understand and speak French, the comments while grocery shopping and enjoying the festivities was disheartening. I always feel like I go out of my way to be nice to people and rarely get the same in return which kinda sucks because I like people in general.
Sad. I suppose some people find it hard to accept their way of life has ended.
I didn't know it was like that in New Brunswick. Aren't there mixed marriages between French and English people in N.B?
@@jeffreykaufmann2867 no. Marriage back in time was based on religion. French Catholics would marry Irish Catholics in Quebec.
@@klarissaclairiton9010 French Marrying Irish is a mixed marriage.
Well I mean, almost all of the Acadian areas have been flooded with anglophones. The anglophones in their province, which used to be majority francophone, even elect governments that are hostile to/neglect francophone communities. A bit of resentment makes sense, you’re taking their community.
The same is about to happen in Catalonia, Spain. They've started to persecute Spanish, Catalan separatists say Catalonia is a country apart from Spain and that they are not Spaniards.
They have never been... Catalans have always try to build their own thing because they do not believe they have a good deal with Spain. You should listen to them instead of oppressing them... They would be easy to accomodate...
Laughing at the people commenting who haven't even watched the documentary to realize that it's from 1992.
Almost 30 years later and there's still the same hand wringing. English Montreal hasn't vanished, young people still come to the two anglophone universities, and Quebec will keep coming up with policies that hurt francophones.
Are you serious ? Quebec charter of values , the multitude of new bills further demonizing English …. It just got worse and normalized Anglo suppression into a non issue.
Tu as raison mon ami
- sad but truth
@@georgiejackpot9540 alors ta thérapie a toujours pas réglé tes psychoses de redneck du klan des morons….👏🏼👏🏼😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂😁😘
They come to the universities because theyre cheap. They don't stay once they graduate.
"Hurt" francophones. Keep playing the victim
fake news from Ottawa french is dying in the R O C and its starting to fade away in dowtown Montreal due to the out of control immigration
I live in an area of Edmonton that has a large French speaking population. French is certainly not dying in my area. I hear it every day.
le colonialisme et le mépris d une minorité de canadians in quebec
This documentary is quite biased. History is relative. It doesn’t represent the French’s history in a neutral light. It Cherry picks history in favour of the English.
Most Montrealers are bilingual, the super French nationalist are far and few...English is still very much present in Montreal, the bilingualism of Montreal is what makes it so unique. I am all for protecting the French language, (sometimes a bit absurd and over the top).
Ça sent l’angryphone moron qui est jamais sorti de son petit quartier de peur de sortir de ses fantasmes de fédérastes, et tu peux toujours aller vivre au N-B si tu trouves ça si spécial.🤣😂🤣😂🤣 J’adore les ignorants…😘
No sir, it's the French Canadian culture makes montreal unique. English Canada is about money and work work work. That's why you Anglos move to Quebec because is different from the rest of English Canada but unfortunately the Anglos don't appreciate cultures
@@ericktwelve11 I disagree, the english music scene is huge in Montreal and they contribute alot to the Montreal culture. Montreal is different than the rest of Quebec because of the mix of the english culture. Its unique and both language contribute to it.
@Eric Tremblay it's alright,but it's better without English, French adds a bit of flavor.
What a profound statement. the "Anglos don't appreciate cultures" I can see you're not prejudiced. @@ericktwelve11
Omg! That Van horn mansion😢
Being an Anglo growing up in Montreal in the 1950s 60s I found this documentary quite nostalgic. According to Conrad Blacks 2014 book " Rise to Greatness The history of Canada, Montreal is a product of French Canadians Catholics and the English loyalists who wanted to preserve their culture from the American Republic. With the decline of Catholicism in Quebec and the increase in the Spanish population in the US it will be interesting to see how Montreal - Canada will evolve in the next 100 years.
Maybe the USa government would pass his 101 law to preserve English dominance...
The english-speaking issue in Québec is now mostly due to "les ethnies" : the immigrants.
This is a wonderful documentary that is teaching me a lot about the history of our city and all the challenges that we still face! I am a proud Bulgarian raised in Montreal, working in English and French. I see how English is still villainized for political reasons
Tu dois pas lire souvent le Québec bashing quotidien, mais j’adore ta victimisation ignare.👏🏼😂
.... what ?
Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. George Orwell - " 1984"
These italians prefering english to french which is close to french as a latin language this is crazy
It's because like much of the other immigrants at the time, they had that "this is America, so we speak English" mentality, and that is why the government eventually stepped in and said "not so fast, this is a French-speaking province". Now about 60% of anglophones and 75% of non-francophone immigrants living in Montreal are able to speak at least basic French.
A lot of Italian in Montréal can speak French lol
Hahaha that is so true .. because I have
three Italian neighbours who each own
duplexes here in Ndg Montreal .. and I always
speak to them in french because they cannot
speak english:-).. btw I am old and can't ever
remember having an Italian friend who could
not speak french! @@Willsmith547
Simple it was the language of elitists in the city and the one the most useful one to get a job.
You never get people "on your side" but forcing them to do something on the turn of a dime. In hindsight, French Quebecers would have done much better by not treating those different than themselves just like they had been treated (because that obviously did not work).