From: "Ralph Hage" <hage.ralph-AT-courrier.uqam.ca>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 21:11:47 -0400
Subject: Re: maybe not zionist... but definitely bigoted





---- Messages dŽorigine ----
De: LFontaine <LFontaine-AT-teaser.fr>
Date: jeudi 11 avril  2002 11:39
Objet: Re: maybe not zionist... but definitely bigoted

> I would like to ask anyone to name a country or region where 
> Immigrants *are* treated like the rest of the population (I'm 
> Sincere).

Even if all the countries in the world treated immigrants differently it 
still would not be ethical. The fact that a practice is universal does 
not give it ethical sanction (the obvious example is slavery: there was 
a time when it was a universal practice; did that make it right?) 
Besides, federal institutions in Canada have a better record of 
integrating minorities than do the provincial.


> I fail to see how voicing my opinion (and I deliberately tried to 
> make it clear that it was my opinion!) should open the door for you 
> to insult me.  It's OK, I mean, I'm not so easily offended.  You 
> have no idea what I will or will not sign, and if you were so 
> certain why bother mention it unless you simply wanted to 
> agressively challenge me in public.  I decline.  I don't live in 
> Quebec and I never have.  However, I do support preserving 
> languages.  

Well apparently you ARE insulted easily, because it was the farthest 
thing from my mind to insult you; but you are right when you say that I 
was challenging you (which is not the same as insulting you). 
 
> It almost sound as though the opinions are that since the French 
> Quebec population is racist, the French language does not deserve 
> to be preserved.  This is a point I would like to get cleared up, 
> if anyone would like to clarify in a sincere way.
> 

I did not say that the French population is racist: that would be an 
enormous over-generalisation. What I did say was that there was racism 
in Quebec - a fact that is statistically obvious. I also said that a 
nationalistic ideology was encouraging that racism in the name of 
protecting language. I might add, that the situation in Montreal has 
been proven to be the worst in Canada. Now does that mean that all 
Quebecois are racist; I myself believe that such a statement would be 
racist in and of itself. In fact, that is far from being the case. But 
what I do find from my interaction, is a refusal to admit that there is 
a deep problem despite all the evidence. That same nationalistic 
ideology encourage a majority in Quebec to view themselves as the 
victims of English Racism. This view can justify a lot of things, 
including reserving jobs in education for instance almost exclusively to 
Quebecois and excluding all visible minorities (including by the way 
French speaking ones; your theory about the necessity for immigrants to 
learn French is simply irrelevant in Quebec; almost all immigrants to 
Quebec speak French, this is one of the requirements for immigration).
Ralph Hajj
Portfolio:  http://www.geocities.com/cathedral12001
> 




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