Shawville, Quebec

2,648 miles

Aug 11 – Crossing the Ottawa River on Chenaux Road, crossing (virtually, of course) from Ontario into Québec, I wondered whether my rusty French language skills would be helpful in this francophone land.  I had studied French in high school and college, but never felt at home using it.  (Having a Parisian hotel custodian correct my pronunciation of a simple “Merci” did nothing to boost my confidence.  On a long ago (real) trip to Québec, I got a much friendlier reception for my efforts.)  

When my virtual trip was stymied by my medical crisis in early June, I began to brush up on my old French language skills to remind myself that I would soon, or eventually, be entering Québec.  I found an online language program, DuoLingo, to help me.

Reality check moment:  This is a virtual trip.  Why do I think I would need to know the language?  Well, remember Maple, Wisconsin, and the Messer Trail?  Remember Yellek?    Communicating by e-mail with the tribal leader Bob Goulais enhanced my understanding of the complex relationships of Anishinaabe people!  And knowing what words to choose in those communications (“First Peoples” in Canada, specific tribe & band designations) showed enough knowledge & respect to get me a thoughtful response.  I know that Québecois calls for autonomy within Canada are based on language and cultural distinctions.   I want to be able to make some connection to the people, so I was hoping that my brushed-up French would be adequate.

At the Chenaux Rapids, the Ottawa River is managed by a dam and a hydroelectric power station.  Two islands in the river help the road to get across in stages.

I arrived in Shawville via Google Street Views.  One friendly house on the main street welcomes me with a rocker on the front porch and a “Bienvenue” sign.  

Many of the houses share a distinctive style of architecture: 2-story red brick with a porch and railings and partial façade of white-painted wood. 

When I continued to explore into downtown Shawville, I saw Canadian flags galore!  And a few flags of Québec.  I guessed from this photo that Google Street Views captured Shawville preparing for Canada Day  (July 1^st).

The public bibliothèque (library) and the hôtel de ville (city hall) were clearly labelled in French and English.  

The stop signs were bilingual, and even included this attractive sign underneath to indicate a 4-way stop intersection.  It reminds me of a gingham tablecloth or a quilt pattern.

French & English school busses

When I researched Shawville, I found out that it is not Francophone, as I had expected as soon as I crossed the provincial border.  It is overwhelmingly English-speaking and Protestant, settled in the mid-19^th century by Protestant Irish (probably Northern Irish) immigrants.  For decades, the residents have been in conflict with the government of Québec and its language police.  Yes, Québec has language police!  

In 1977, the government of Québec declared that French would be the only official language of the province, and established the Office Québécois de la Langue Française (Québec Office of the French Language).

As summarized by an article in Wikipedia, the fundamental French language rights in Québec are:

1.      The right to have the civil administration, the health services and social services, the public utility enterprises, the professional corporations, the associations of employees and all enterprises doing business in Québec communicate with the public in French.

2.      The right to speak French in deliberative assemblies.

3.      The right of workers to carry on their activities in French.

4.      The right of consumers to be informed and served in French.

5.      The right of persons eligible for instruction in Québec to receive that instruction in French.

This law followed more than a century of English-speaking domination in government and society, it caused quite an upheaval at the time, and there seems to be some belligerence in its enforcement. 

In 1999, an inspector visited the town to photograph business signs that were not in compliance with the language law (French only, or bilingual with French more prominent than English).  Business owners were unwilling to pay for extra signage that did not serve their customers’ needs, and had been receiving notices of violations and fines due.  They were fed up with the harassment.  Several of them confronted the inspector, followed her around, and told her to stop taking pictures.  The mayor even joined the confrontation in support of his constituents, and the inspector did leave town.

Seventeen years later, how are the French-English-speaking relations developing?  How is the Province du Québec fitting into the nation of Canada as a whole?  I was able to read some of the Wikipedia page about Québéc in French!  It made the point that the official language of Québec is “français québécois”, which is distinct from the language of any province in France, because it was influenced by social and commercial interaction with Algonquins in the New World.   This cross-cultural interaction is a point of pride for them, but the invasion of “franglais” (French-English) patois into the province has been resisted by prescriptivist compilers of dictionaries and the language police.

St. Jean Baptiste Day festival

Apparently political separatism is no longer an urgent goal for the Québécois citizens, but they are not generally fans of Canada Day, and many prefer to celebrate their own “national festival” of St. Jean Baptiste a week earlier.

So many discoveries for one day!

info:  Wikipedia.com

Québécois separatism:  http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/07/01/canada-day-quebec-_n_1640823.html

Shawville confrontation:  http://vigile.quebec/archives/996/shawville.html

images:  Google Street Views