A Neverendum Diary

A Neverendum Diary Wednesday, 25 October Jean Chretien and Lucien Bouchard dominate the airwaves as I drive from Montreal to Quebec in the early evening darkness. I am not voting, although I probably could bluff my way into eligibility. As a bilingual francophone living in Ontario, I share the ambivalence of many Quebecois in both camps, though not the frustration of many in RoC about Quebec's historical grievances. I also feel drawn to immigrant and Aboriginal perspectives much more than to Canada's more confident and more dominant anglo-celtic culture, however open and generous. But the illusion of fence-sitting remains cold comfort in a climate where one is expected to take sides. There are open and closed minds, and what in another context Ursula Franklin once referred to as "enemythinking ," both covert and overt, on all fronts. This is scary, whatever the outcome. And while I suspect that the "no" side will win by a narrow margin, I sense that we have reached some sort of watershed, that either way the results will focus the minds and hearts of Canadians on the fact that we are and long have been in crisis. Will this "listening" atmosphere linger enough, and in enough people, to resolve the conflict? I doubt it. If, like me, many Quebecois feel ambivalent, they tend - unlike RoC - to view the current and perpetual crisis positively, and seem quietly assured, whatever the outcome, of a different and better future. Of course, a few predict utopia or the apocalypse - nothing new there - but on the whole I witness little passion. The televised broadcast of the "yes" and "no" rallies in Verdun yesterday and the day before take second place to hockey: while the Quebec Nordiques have transmuted into the Denver Avalanche, Mario Tremblay (a Lac St. Jean "bleuet," no less!) has breathed new life into the Montreal Canadiens. The empty seats so frequently panned by the cameras after Mr. Bouchard replaced Mr. Parizeau at the podium in Verdun likely just meant that there was a Montreal game on that night - bad timing for the "souverainistes," but only ifrallies count for much, which I also doubt. Thursday, 26 October The Royal Family takes precedence over hockey in the realm of popular entertainment - radio personality and prankster Pierre Brassard, impersonating Jean Chretien, engages Her Majesty in a stimulating exchange about the referendum. It is Trent's fall reading week, and I am here to visit family and friends, to attend the Fran~ois-Xavier Garneau conference and to discuss a possible theme issue on Childhood in Canada with a colleague at Laval (to be published in English, it turns out; probably not a bad thing: although Canada remains officially bilingual, we tend to lose readers, and sometimes subscribers, if we publish "too much" in French). Journal ofCanadian Studies· Vol. 30, No. 3 (Auromne 1995 Fall) 3 My parents are adamant that they are moving back to New Brunswick if the "yes" forces win; more sanguine, my brother and his wife would prefer to remain where they are, even if better jobs - at least for those who are bilingual - can already be found in Ontario. How would life be different for my new niece in an anglophone milieu, no matter how vigilant her parents about language retention? While many of my Ontario acquaintances do understand and empathize with the complexities of multiple allegiances, there are many gradations and kinds of concern. Some feel that Quebecois have the right to separate if a clear majority chooses to do so and if other groups' rights in Quebec are respected, but are saddened by the prospect. Some are quietly angry, and when asked admit that they feel Quebec should not be allowed to separate without RoC voting on it. Then there are those few who leap almost with glee on silly statements by Quebec politicians as "proving" what they "knew" all along - that Quebecois are all racist or, at best, ethnic nationalists. Yet another contingent remains disinterested - a "yes" result would reinforce the present, if not past disinclination of academics within this camp to include muuch about Quebec in their exchanges, research and teaching about Canada. While more open-minded about Quebecois...