Oldal 177 [177]
OCR
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 However, despite Godbout’s apparent focus on the outdated term “integration”, the material he shows us indicates that Hirsch’s concept of interconnection may in fact be closer to what he has in mind.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.
