By Johanne Adam
In November 2018, the Ontario government created a political storm with decisions impacting the Franco-Ontarian community that sparked reactions in Francophone communities across the country.
On December 1, two weeks after the announcement, thousands of Franco-Ontarians expressed their displeasure loud and clear at demonstrations around the province.
“This is a first, in the recent history of the country’s Francophones,” said uOttawa's Linda Cardinal, research chair in Canadian Francophonie and public policies. “It even exceeds the protests that followed the announcement of the closure of the Montfort Hospital in 1997. It’s unprecedented.”
The current movement appears to have united Francophone communities — including Quebec — around the demands of Ontario Francophones. That’s why three uOttawa professors, Cardinal, Martin Meunier and François Rocher, decided to organize a day to study these issues (La francophonie canadienne et le Québec : un avant et un après Doug Ford?).
On January 31, three panels of experts took part in discussions about relations between Quebec and Canada’s Francophone communities. Politicians, academics, journalists and others reflected on the socio-historical context of recent events. They also discussed future prospects for Canada’s Francophone communities: Will they be in a stronger position in their relations with governments? Is Quebec support needed to reverse decisions affecting Francophone minorities?
Sonia Lebel, Quebec minister of justice, minister responsible for Canadian relations and the Canadian Francophonie and minister responsible for the status of women, gave a short speech. “It was an opportunity for the minister to bring us up-to-date on Quebec’s thinking concerning Francophones and Canada,” Cardinal said.
Benoît Pelletier, a uOttawa law professor, founder of the Centre de la francophonie des Amériques and former Quebec minister, spoke at the conclusion of the event.
Rekindling solidarity
“This new solidarity is an opportunity to think differently about the Canada of tomorrow and relations between Francophones in Quebec and in the rest of Canada,” said Meunier, chair in Quebec, Canadian Francophonie and cultural changes.
“We discussed about transforming the link between Quebec and the Francophone minority communities,” said François Rocher, professor in the School of Political Studies of the Faculty of Social Sciences.
“As academics, we’re looking to understand what’s happening now, to prepare the ground for the future,” Cardinal said.
The story behind the movement
Solidarity has already existed among Canada’s Francophones. Nonetheless, from the 1960s, Quebec tended to favour a new nationalism that did not see these Francophones as part of its future. This position led to resentment among Francophones in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada, who felt abandoned by Quebecers.
Recent events in Ontario have shown that Quebec does indeed see itself as part of Canada’s Francophone community.
“You feel something new emerging from this crisis," Meunier said. "Can we call it a pan-Canadian nationalism? I don’t know. One thing’s for sure, that all of a sudden, some Quebecois, both federalist and nationalist, now seem to be taking part in the Francophone cause in Ontario or elsewhere."
“Could the momentum for solidarity spread to other Canadian provinces?” Rocher wondered. “The issues we raise do not only affect Franco-Ontarians. They also affect Francophone minorities who see their rights brought into question by their respective governments. Think of New Brunswick, where a Conservative government has joined forces with a party that rejects bilingualism.”
“Never have this many commentators discussed Ontario in the media,” Cardinal said. “This must continue to fuel a collective reflection, and people must see that the story isn’t over.”