Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
How is that any different from an anglo living in, say, Drummondville? Even if the anglo watches the CBC News at night instead of TVA, there is probably going to be some baseline level of integration with the community where they work, shop, maybe belong to a community organization or two, etc. I guess it's possible that someone could use technology to live remotely in English Canada and seal themselves off totally from their immediate surroundings, but it strikes me as a bit unlikely.
There are people in Manitoba who live their lives mostly in Punjabi, German, Russian, Chinese, Cree and even French, but they are still considered Manitoban.
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There aren't many anglos in Drummondville and even fewer who don't speak French.
But still, do you know what the percentage of unilingual anglos in
Quebec City is? It's around 15%.
That's not exactly unicorn territory.
The area of Gatineau where I live isn't as homogenously francophone as Quebec City is, but it's still close to 90%. I have lived here for 20 years and there are people I know (not personally, but that I recognize) who still respond with a semi-flustered "what's that?" to bus drivers and grocery store clerks who greet them with a "bonjour".
And they've been living here for as long as I have. Some of them I took the bus with most every day for 10-15 years.
You could drop me in the middle of Thailand and within a fairly short time I'd have the basics of everyday communication down pat. Wouldn't you?
BTW, if these people want to do this, it's fine. But it's a bit rich after that to complain that people don't view them as fully Québécois and part of the "us". Especially when you have so many other people (often with greater challenges) who put in so much effort to integrate.
So yeah, things are a given when it comes to who is "Manitoban" in Manitoba for a reason. There are also reasons for the way things are in Quebec as well.