Quote:
Originally Posted by pallo
oh yeah i know all about the history of course, but one can't deny that many local people are uneasy about going inside a shop and start speaking English because they don't know what reaction they will get... then of course there is the recent issue of French school boards confiscating schools from English school boards so they can turn them into French schools....
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I have been to Montreal many times and never felt like I would get attacked for speaking in English. I have tried doing some broken French, but I found that more useful in Quebec City and rural Quebec, as most Montrealers will pick up on this and just switch to English because, by and large, Montrealers are fluidly bilingual. If anything, I feel bad for not being able to speak French better, as it is the dominant language of the city and province. I think it's good when visitors at least try with the local language. Anglophones have an entitlement and a privilege so when any protections AGAINST this are formulated, it is viewed as an attack, which is comical to say the least.
Yes, there is an Anglo minority and it was historically very powerful, but I don't think it's had that hard of a go at things. The Anglo community of Montreal has way more robust institutions and services than any French, Indigenous, or other community in Toronto or Halifax or Calgary. There are still English bookstores, English schools, hell you can even see movies in English. The most prestigious university in Canada, which happens to be in Montreal, is also an English university.
The language protections are in place because of the pervasive influence of English and how, up until the 1970s, in Montreal, the powerful were all Anglophones and viewed Francophones as second-rate citizens in their own cities, hence the separatism and Quiet Revolution. Yes, at times they seem a bit extreme, and I don't always agree with individual new bills and policies, but on the whole, I get the rational behind it. Montreal would simply be New Orleans linguistically otherwise and a lot would be lost as a result. Quebec is merely protecting itself from an English hegemony.
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