Oldal 177 [177]
GROWING TOGETHER OR APART?...
(Although he does not question the term, the word “integration” is often
negatively charged among people of immigrant extraction, due to its closeness
to the concept of assimilation. In a 2020 interview with me, fellow filmmaker
Aloisio why she does not like the term and why she prefers the notion of
multiple belongings.)? However, despite Godbout’s apparent focus on the
outdated term “integration”, the material he shows us indicates that Hirsch’s
concept of interconnection may in fact be closer to what he has in mind. He
provides us with keys to understanding other individuals and communities
through contact and reflection, and focuses on the notions of discussion and
exchange.
I should note here that the concepts of interconnection and interaction
should naturally include Québec’s Anglophone population, although the
scope of this article does not allow me to dwell on this glaring gap. The
province’s “old-stock Anglophones” do not figure in Godbout’s film, nor
indeed in those by Groulx or Aloisio, which is perhaps unsurprising, given
the focus of those films. However, in Aloisio’s film, the Italo-Quebecer Mauro
is more comfortable in English than in French, and may indeed be more
Anglophone than he is Italophone. This highlights the importance of English
as a lingua franca for many in Montreal. It also calls into focus the narrow
linguistic categories into which people are often placed in Québec. Many in
fact have several home languages or languages in which they are completely
fluent, and should not therefore be pigeonholed as Francophone, Anglophone
or Allophone.
WAYS OF BEING QUEBECOIS: PASSING BETWEEN IDENTITIES
The four main thirty-something figures showcased in the film were termed
“des passeurs” by Nicoud at the time of the film’s release.'° This well-chosen
epithet suggests that these figures “pass on” their experiences, as well as acting
as models for younger generations. Importantly, the term also expresses
the “in-between” and mobile nature of their identities. Two are politicians:
Ruba Ghazal, who was born in Palestine and Farouk Karim who was born in
Madagascar. One is an educational commissioner, Akos Verboczy, originally
from Hungary and author of the provocative 2017 autobiographical work
Rhapsodie Québécoise, which is about his own immigration to Québec and
° Dervila Cooke, “Let me explain: this is who I am”, Interview with Anita Aloisio, with
introduction, in R. Mielusel - S. Pruteanu (eds.), Citizenship and Belonging in North
America: Multicultural Perspectives on Political, Cultural and Artistic Representations of
Immigration, New York, Palgrave MacMillan, 2020, 151-168.
10 Nicoud, Claude Godbout touche-a-tous.