Taken by DanJackson_UK, Flickr Creative Commons
Fresh on the heels of the Bouchard-Taylor commission is a new pledge that the Quebec government will require immigrants to sign. The pledge asserts “Quebec values” including French as an official language, gender equality and the separation of church and state. Link to the cbc.ca story is here.
This pledge doesn’t seem to have any practical application. What do they expect to happen: someone travels all the way here, refuses to sign the pledge, and Quebec manages to keep out those who don’t want to assimilate? Or, conversely, an immigrant signs and we can expect no cultural tension from then on in? The only real effect this pledge appears to have is to offend many and create further divisiveness both in Quebec and throughout Canada. Read the remainder of this post ››
The comments on the CBC story are, as usual, more disheartening than the story itself: while some criticize the idea of the pledge, many do so while making fun of Quebec; others applaud the move as a good one to “protect Canadian culture.” Are we this insecure about Canadian culture that we think a pledge is going to protect it?