Heritage Minister James Moore had a point of sorts in saying there wasn’t enough French content in the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics. There could have been more.
But it was hard to keep from yawning. His complaint sounded 20 or 30 years out of date, from a bygone era. Bilingualism is still a noble cause but in the public psyche it has faded in importance. It was part of the Quebec grievance era. That era, beginning with the arrival of separatist forces in the early 1960s, spanned almost four decades.
It was remarkable when you think about it. Quebec angsts, Quebec separatists, Quebec issues dominated the national agenda to an astonishing degree. There was the rise of René Lévesque, the October Crisis, the election of the Parti Québécois, the 1980 referendum, bilingualism uproars, the repatriation debate, Meech Lake, Charlottetown, Jacques Parizeau, Lucien Bouchard, the 1995 referendum, the Clarity Act. There was the run of Quebec-based prime ministers — Trudeau, Mulroney, Chretien, Martin.
Nothing lasts forever. The grievance era has passed. Nobody gets excited about the separatist threat anymore. Nobody gets excited about bilingualism anymore. Politically, the province is only half as important as it used to be. With the Bloc Québécois firmly entrenched, winning usually most of the province’s seats, the federal parties aren’t inclined to pay Quebec the heed they used to.
Getting far more cultural visibility at the opening ceremonies were Canada’s First Nations with all their dancing bands. In terms of political correctness, it is the native peoples whose sensitivities now hold sway.
In British Columbia, only 55,000 of four million people are native French speakers. They are overwhelmed in the multi-ethnic province by those who speak South Asian or Chinese dialects.
The opening show did spotlight French singer Garou and three of the eight Olympic flag-bearers were from Quebec. Celine Dion had been invited but didn’t attend. Games CEO John Furlong said only a handful words in French in his welcoming address. Given his appalling pronunciation we were thankful he stopped at that.
The opening couple days of the Games had enough misfortunes — the death of the luger, the glitches with the hydraulic lifts at the torch lighting, the spring-like weather. Organizers didn’t really need complaints about not enough French to rain further on the parade.
Such complaints may have some merit. But Canadians don’t want to hear them anymore. They have heard them for 40 years running.
Lawrence Martin is a journalist and author of 10 books who writes about national affairs from Ottawa.
