Page 188 [188]
DERVILA COOKE
Ironically, given the rhetoric of accommodation of beliefs and practices from
the non-majority population in recent years in Québec, Akos describes some
immigrants’ view of French as “la langue pour accommoder les Canadiens¬
francais” [a language to placate French-Canadians].”° Yet in the same article
Farouk is quoted as saying that French is a language for all. He declares that
“la défense de la langue française, ce n'est pas juste le lot des Canadiens¬
français indépendantistes, descendants du chanoine Groulx”. [The defense of
the French language is not only the remit of sovereignist French Canadians
who see themselves as descendants of the nationalist Catholic priest and
historian Lionel Groulx].”' If an individual only uses French in in a utilitarian
way, or indeed rejects the language, it would seem difficult for that individual
to function as part of the body politic and of democratic society through
French. Godbout’s film suggests that full participation necessitates a sense
of being part of Québec and of interaction with the different elements of the
population on a regular and egalitarian basis.
Godbout might call this “integration”, but I prefer interaction, or Hirsch’s
term of interconnection. Commenting early on in the film that the hundreds
of thousands of young people of immigrant extraction in Québec “often”
do not share the culture of the Francophone population, Godbout ends by
noting Québec’s “politically uncertain” future and that a day may come where
the “Génération 101” may be called on to define the “new identity” of “the
Québec nation”. He seems rather pessimistic, as the importance of a shared
“language”, “culture” and “history” is not perceived by all in Québec society.
However, with teachers such as those depicted in his documentary, and
helped by socio-politically minded “passeurs” such as those given a platform
by Godbout, immigrants and immigrant students are off to a good start.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ALLEN, Dawn, Who’s in and Who’s out: Language and the Integration of New
Immigrant Youth in Quebec, International Journal of Inclusive Education,
Vol. 10, No. 2 (2006), 251-263.
ALOISIO, Anita, Les Enfants de la Loi 101, Montreal, Virage, 2007.
BERTUCELLI, Julie, La Cour de Babel, Paris, Les Films du poisson, 2017.
BRABANT, Annick, Immigrer et s’intégrer a l’école: l’histoire des classes
d’accueil, Ville.Montreal.gc.ca, 24 October 2018, https://ville.montreal.
qc.ca/memoiresdesmontrealais/immigrer-et-sintegrer-lecole-lhistoire¬
des-classes-daccueil (accessed 15 December 2019).
20 Cauchy, La Loi 101.
2° Ibid.
* 186 °