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Montreal Gazette
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
Opinion: We're unlikely partners with a shared vision of a better Quebec
Op Eds We are unlikely partners. But shared history has brought us together, and a desire to make some history keeps us working together to express a common and powerful desire for a better Quebec. The Mouvement national des Québécoises et Québécois and TALQ (formerly the Quebec Community Groups Network) have been engaging over the past several months, in positive, constructive ways, about how we can, together, build some important bridges and light a path to greater understanding and unity in our wonderful, shared province/nation. It is worth noting that those talks also occurred recently in a convivial dinner on May 19, the Journée nationale des Patriotes. It was a nod to the publicly expressed will of former QCGN president Marlene Jennings, who in a 2023 column in The Gazette argued that National Patriots Day should be more inclusive and refer more fully to the participation of anglophones in the events leading to the 1837-1838 uprising. We agreed that the English-speaking community of today is not the enemy many Québécois still believe it to be. Along with that, we reiterate what we have been saying for many years: The English-speaking community of Quebec is not in itself an existential threat to French in Quebec. At the same time, the anglophones among us need to recognize more fully that their fellow Québécois whose mother tongue is French don't lie awake at night trying to figure out ways to suppress them, their institutions and their constitutional rights. Many of those institutions, by the way, such as hospitals, CEGEPs and universities, serve all Quebecers, regardless of their language. We understand and agree that threats to the French language are serious — but they are more continental or global in origin. They are found in the powerful magnet of American culture — film, television, music, social networks — and its pervasive and seductive presence around the world. We have a shared interest in making our own cultural production easier to discover and to understand, and in so doing contribute to worldwide diversity. We must not make English-speaking Québécois the convenient scapegoat of this difficult problem. We work better as allies to vigorously protect and promote the fundamental language of Quebec, which, we both agree, is French. We both understand and agree that expending more energy on ancient grievances — on either side — is not something that will move us forward. This fledgling collaboration is a leap of faith (if we can say that in a secular society) — c'est un beau risque, for both of us. There are some essential things on which we don't and won't agree. We know this, and we respect each other enough not to try to change hearts and minds. But we can and do agree on the need to recognize and respect each other as fellow, equal citizens with far more in common than we often think. With more shared history than is usually taught or acknowledged, with more shared passion for this special place in the world than many of us realize. Late last year, the outgoing Commissioner of Official Languages, Raymond Théberge, produced a report on this very subject, and pointed out in some detail just how well individual English- and French-speaking Quebecers get along on a daily basis, as they share common concerns, values, interests and needs. Think about it: We wait for the same hours and hours in the emergency room; we drive the same rutted roads; our children go to the same crumbling schools; we both cheer loudly for les Canadiens; and we both take joy from a walk in the woods in Montreal or Les Cantons-de-l'Est. We curse the same snow plows, complain about the same price increases at the SAQ or in the Hydro-Québec bill. We share so many elements of our lives in exactly the same way. We are Quebecers. Nous sommes des Québécois. There are lessons here for us all. Having the courage to work together despite a lengthy and turbulent history is an enormous first step. We are immensely proud to be taking it. This is what happens when we talk. We begin to understand each other more fully, and then we begin to realize we are stronger together than we are as adversaries. Frédéric Lapointe is president of le Mouvement national des Québécoises et Québécois. Eva Ludvig is president of TALQ (formerly the Quebec Community Groups Network).
Montreal Gazette
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
‘Fascist' Quebec nationalist group's rally gets drowned out by counter-protesters' dance music
News By A gathering of around 50 members of the Quebec nationalist group Nouvelle Alliance was met Monday at La Fontaine Park by a much larger cohort of counter-protesters who prevented the group from accessing the Dollard des Ormeaux monument and attempted to drown out speakers they referred to as 'fascist.' The Nouvelle Alliance rally was intended to mark Journée nationale des Patriotes — previously Fête de Dollard — and was planned to take place at the statue of nationalist icon Adam Dollard des Ormeaux. But the counter-protesters beat them to it, setting up at around 9 a.m., organizers said. Montreal police set up a perimeter around that protest, pushing the Nouvelle Alliance demonstration onto the sidewalk. Self-proclaimed identitarian nationalists, the Nouvelle Alliance is considered by many observers to be a far-right movement and mainstream sovereignists have rejected the group from their ranks. Among the counter-protesters were sovereignists opposed to the group, one of whom brandished the tricolour Patriote flag. Nouvelle Alliance president François Gervais admitted that members would be joining a Société St-Jean-Baptiste march Monday despite not being entirely welcome. But Gervais maintained the group is neither based on far-right ideals nor fascist. 'We could waste our time trying to respond to these insults, these labels. The fact is that they aren't logical or rational arguments. 'Our history, our culture, our nationality and our identity are important, are things that we exalt,' he said. Those calling the group fascist and far-right are 'trying to stick a label on us to demonize us, to isolate us.' Gervais said the group had wanted to set up shop at the Dollard des Ormeaux monument, but the police boundary was preventing them from doing so. Indeed, Montreal police officers were out in full force, almost matching the Nouvelle Alliance's numbers. The park was encircled by police cars; two officers were on horseback and many were decked out in riot gear. The Nouvelle Alliance demonstrators left around noon, with police reporting no incidents. Across the police line, well over 100 counter-protesters blasted music, doled out hot dogs and chanted anti-fascist slogans. The gathering was intended not only to stand against the Nouvelle Alliance, but also to counter rising far-right sentiments, said Noémie, a spokesperson who declined to share her last name. 'Creating links between individuals to have stronger, tighter communities is a good way to counterbalance this division,' she said. The Nouvelle Alliance rally was 'concerning,' she said, 'but we don't want to surrender to fear and that's why we're here, together, in a rather festive atmosphere.' Far-right groups can be countered 'with ideas like those shared today, which demonstrate solidarity, inclusion, openness,' said Manuel, another spokesperson who also declined to share his last name. He scoffed at Gervais's rejection of the fascist and far-right labels, referring to the group as 'ethno-nationalist' and saying its alignment with the far right is 'well documented.' While the mood among Nouvelle Alliance members was serious, the counter-protester camp was jubilant. They clapped along as they chanted 'tout le monde déteste les fascistes.' And when Gervais began his speech — which spoke of a need to protect Quebec's identity and ended with chants of 'vive le Québec libre' — the counter-protesters blasted dance music, making Gervais's remarks nearly unintelligible. This story was originally published May 19, 2025 at 3:34 PM.
