In the last couple of weeks we have seen the Parti Québecois form a new government in one province and a separation referendum held in another. I am not very familiar with events on the ground in Alberta, but I lived twenty-six years in the National Capital Region, sixteen of them in Québec, and I wish to offer some personal observations on the events there.
Those who have lived there know that English-French bilingualism is widespread, and so is separatism, and that the separatist community is rooted in the St Lawrence River valley, not France. In the 1960s Québec experienced the Quiet Revolution, freeing itself from the archaic grip of the Roman Catholic Church as it was then. It went on to free itself from the grip of the anglophone business community, and in that it has, I believe, succeeded. Now the avowed aim of the Parti Québecois is to preserve the integrity of the French language and the 500-year-old Québecois culture by separating Québec from the rest of Canada.
My interactions with francophone friends leave me sympathetic to those aims, but critical of the method. Separation would abandon the large and significant francophone communities living in other provinces. In acknowledging these communities, New Brunswick explicitly recognises both English and French as official languages and Ontario and Manitoba do so in effect if not in legislation.
In our own province French-language public schools were first established in 1977. Since 1995 the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique has established French-language schools throughout British Columbia, one of which was the primary school attended by two of my grandchildren.
Separatism also ignores the support given to the francophone community by anglophones in the rest of Canada who welcome the diversity associated with a second official language, adding to the appeal of multilingualism and multiculturalism. Without such public support, French in Canada would surely become more restricted in use, not more extensive. Québec might become another Louisiana.
Our own Church has played its part in this extension of bilingualism. In 1977 the General Synod adopted the name L’Eglise episcopale du Canada, and later replaced it with L’Eglise anglicane du Canada. Both versions are used in practice.
For us here in Christ Church Cathedral, we can be thankful that we have a francophone priest on staff and that the Eucharist is celebrated in French every Sunday afternoon. I have also heard French used at the 10:30 Sunday Eucharist nearest to the Feast of St John the Baptist, the patron saint of Québec.
Where appropriate, it would be good to see us use the full name of our Church thus:
Anglican Church of Canada/ L’Eglise anglicane du Canada