Maram Mahlouf, a 6th grader, moved to Quebec from Germany about three years ago and was in a park in Montreal with his family on Thursday, celebrating the province’s national holiday, or Fête nationale.
She said the day was “really important to me, even if I’m not from here.”
But she disagreed with Prime Minister Francois Lego’s statement earlier in the day that multiculturalism was a threat to the French language and that “we must fight multiculturalism, but not because we are against others.”
Mahluf is from Tunisia, where she attended school in French and, she explained, learned the language while here in Quebec. It is a language that is easy enough to learn for new immigrants, she said.
“I think it’s really important to live in different languages. I speak English. I speak French and I think that helps me a lot in life,” he said.
Lego said Quebec is a small nation that speaks French and “we should be proud of that.”
Instead of multiculturalism, he said he preferred “interculturalism” as new immigrants are expected to integrate and adapt to Quebec culture. He said the French language is the cornerstone of this integration.
“It’s important that we don’t put all cultures on the same level; that’s why we oppose multiculturalism, “Lego said.
Quebec’s national holiday, the Fête nationale, was celebrated on Friday for the first time since the pandemic began. (Graham Hughes / Canadian Press)
Lego said Quebec’s position contradicted the federal government’s approach to multiculturalism.
The comments come a day after French Minister Simon Jolin-Barrett addressed the prestigious l’Academie francaise in Paris.
He described Canadian multiculturalism as an obstacle to Quebec’s efforts to become a separate nation.
Some Quebecers believe Lego is fueling this debate in election year as a way to attract a separatist vote.
“The destruction of multiculturalism in Francophone Quebec is a political winner, at least for Lego, especially when it focuses on French-speaking voters living outside of Montreal,” said Daniel Beland, director of the McGill Institute for Canadian Studies.
“For the most part, it’s not risky for him to do that politically.
Lego’s comments come after his own rejection of systemic racism in Quebec and controversial legislation passed by his government as Bill 21, which bans many public sector employees from wearing religious symbols as a hijab at work.
His rejection of multiculturalism in this context may cause even more concern and confusion in some groups, but for many Quebec separatists, multiculturalism is “a kind of dirty word. They think it is incompatible with their vision of the nation in Quebec.” said Beland.
Beland said he had a long history of disobedience to multiculturalism, which became a federal policy in the early 1970s under Pierre Trudeau. Many separatists believe this is part of a conspiracy to marginalize Francophones in Canada, he said.
Melissa Klais, a spokeswoman for Welcome Collective, a group that advocates for newcomers, said she was shocked to hear Lego’s comments.
She said Lego’s claim that not all cultures are on the same level was “very offensive”, especially for those who come from all over the world and identify as Quebecers.
“I have not met any refugee applicants who do not want to learn French,” she said. “I think the vast majority of them, of course, want to speak the language of the place where they will settle.
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