The English Fact in Quebec by Sheila McLeod Arnopoulos, Dominique Clift (review)

REVIEWS 217 isalsomarred by errorsof fact. Kostashmuddlesthe Act, the Regulations issued underit, andthePublicOrder TemporaryMeasures Actof November 197 ø. Shetellsusthat ParliamentfollowsRoberts'Rulesof Order, and that 'The War Measures Actwasadoptedbyavoteof 19oto 16.The ...opponents wereall NDPMPS' (•7), who presumably employedtime-travelto casttheir votes. Thesearenottheonlyhowlers. Harold Innisisdescribed asa 'left-wingor "oppositional" economist' (•48). In 1969,wearetold,anAmerican headed the Departmentof Political Economy at Toronto.This newswill surprise W.T. Easterbrook, the nativeManitobanwhothen headedthat department.On pagexviwearetoldthatbetween1958and 1964C.D. Howewasministerof tradeandcommerce - ruling,doubtless, notmerelyfrombehindthethrone butfromtheopposition benches andfrombeyond thegrave aswell.Andsoon. Oneisnotsurprised thatwhenoneseeks thenotestoChapterIII in PartvI one findsnothing. The mistakes are worryingbecause they makeone wonderaboutthe reliabilityof thenarrativethatdescribes SUVA andtheotherculturalartifactsa narrativethatmanywillfind invaluable, butthatfewreaderswillbeableto check. Kostash believes thatCanadians are'mutilated people' whom'onlythe revolution canheal'(•47).Perhaps mutilated people produce imperfect books. IANM.DRUMMOND University ofToronto TheEnglish Factin Quebec. SHEILA MCLEOD ARNOPOULOS andDOMINIQUE CLIFT. Montreal,McGill-Queen's UniversityPress,198o.Pp.xvi, •39. SheilaArnopoulos and DominiqueClift are bothexcellent journalists with extensive experience in reportingonQuebec affairs.Theyarenot,however, verygoodhistorians andit shows. Thefirsttwoessays inthiscollection present an enormouschallengeto a reviewer for rarely have so many dubious statements beenputforwardwithsuch conviction. LordDurhamappears tobe the majorinspiration behindthe historiography with odd touches of Tom Naylor.Thus we havethe QuebecAct asa 'complete about-turn'because Britainwas'almostresigned to thelossof itsolderNorth Americancolonies' (19),aswellastheinsistence thatCanadianentrepreneurs reliedon 'speculationandpromotion 'instead of ensuringa 'morebalanced development' (17). The 186os,we are informed, were marked by the resumptionof FrenchCanadian 'obstruction of politicalprocesses' (31),thusnecessitating Confederation . Fortunately theauthorsabandontheirhistorical frameworkafter Chapter Two and,apartfrom occasional lapses, getonwiththejob of describing the periodtheyknowat firsthand.The remainingessays concentrate on the dilemmafacingthe English-language minorityin Quebecfrom 196oto the 218 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW present.The presentin this casebeing •979, the year beforethe Great Referendum. The argumentof eachessay isstrongly influenced byarathercurious view oftheevolution ofNorthAmerican society. Arnopoulos andCliftbelieve that theUnitedStates isintheprocess ofbecoming amorepluralist society capable ofaccepting culturaldiversity inalldomains. The •964CivilRights Actissaid to have'established the principlethatcertaingroups- blacks, womenand PuertoRicans, for example- neednotabandon their particularidentities to enter Americansociety.This marked the beginningof an agressive new collective rightsorientationin theUnitedStates' (47). Thisdevelopment issaidtocontrast sharply withbothEnglish Canada and contemporary Quebecwherea modelof recognition of individualbut not collective rights isfollowed. Quebec, theauthors suggest, intends toimpose the Frenchlanguageand cultureuponall citizens muchasthe Englishlanguage andculturehavebeenimposedon citizens in otherprovinces. The authors clearly believe thattheAmericanalternative exists andshould befollowed in both Quebecand in English-speaking Canada.This view influences every judgmentofferedaboutbothmajorityandminorityrolesin Quebec. TraditionalEnglish -speaking groupsare condemned for their failureto actlike minorities seeking accommodation throughadefense ofapluralistic vision of Quebecsociety. Instead,traditionalleadershavefoughtto maintaintheir community's status aspartof theEnglish-Canadian majorityandhaveblindly opposed Quebecinitiatives on politicalautonomy, language, andculture. ForArnopoulos andClift anewtypeofEnglish leadership isrequiredandis beginning toemerge.'Theseindividuals arerisingabovetheEnglish community 'sethnocentricism and abandoning the corporateelite'stendency to remainsegregated . By personal exampletheyarejoiningmainstream Quebec and introducingthe Englishcommunityto newformsof participation and influence'(• 53). Thesenewleadershaveabandonedtheir identification with English Canadaandareworkingouta newself-conscious minoritystatus. This approachisan oldandfamiliaronein EnglishMontreal'sintellectual andactivist circles. The problemisthatfewpeoplehavebeenpersuaded that their future prospects wouldbe enhanced by sucha policy.The authors recognize thisbut choose to avoidan analysis of thecauses of theminority's reaction,preferringto argue for accommodation withoutexplainingwhy conscious minoritystatus in aFrancophone milieuseems such apoorchoice to mostAnglophones. The English-speaking population ofQuebec ispresent in thatprovince in suchlarge numbersprecisely because a very large sectorof the Quebec economy wasthoroughly integratedintotheCanadian andAmerican cultural andlinguistic world.If thosesectors of theeconomy aretobeintegrated intoa Francophone matrix then there is simplyno reasonfor largenumbers of non-Francophones to livein Quebec.Self-interest willcontinuetodetermine theroleof theminority.It mustresistspecific attempts to severitseconomic, REVIEWS 219 political, andlinguistic linkswiththeEnglish-speaking world.Smallnumbers maychoose toassimilate andsome individuals willplayakindofbrokerage role in speaking for their particularcommunity but thevastmajoritywillhaveto choose between defence ofasignificant English-language sector withinQuebec ormigration tootherpartsofNorthAmerica.Thereisnorealistic thirdchoice. Asthedemographic materialin theappendices notes, only6.• percentof the Anglophones and •8.2 per centof the immigrantcommunityin Montreal presentlyuse French in their jobs. The important trend in the •97os was out-migration, notassimilation. If thereistobereversal of thistrend,it willbe because the minoritygainsconfidence in itsabilityto functionin a bilingual Quebec. TF. RR¾ CO}'}' WilfridLaurierUniversity The Black Cockade.VICTOR$UTHREN.Don Mills, Totem Books, A Division of Collins, •98o.Pp.246.$2.75paper. A King's Ransom. VICTOR SUTI-mF.N. Don Mills,Collins,•98o.Pp. 2•7. $•3.95 cloth. Historical fictionis,byandlarge,amongthemosttransitory ofliterarygenres. When, rarely, a historicalnovel doesendure to enter the canonof great literature,it isusuallyfor virtuesthatgobeyondthe merelyhistorical, asin Tolstoy's WarandPeace. But howmanypeoplenowreadhistorical novelists celebrated in theirtime...