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Quebec Sovereigntists & The Lost Cause

Carjosse

Sit Nomine Digna
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Montreal, QC
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With the anniversary of the October Crisis I have been seeing quite a few articles about the sovereigntists that seem to have made the FLQ into martyrs (they did at the time too it seems) and seek to rewrite the narrative of the October Crisis. Akin to how Lost Causers in the US have rewritten the narrative of the civil war from slavery to "state's rights" and Southern pride they want to change the narrative of the October Crisis from terrorism to anti-francophone discrimination and Quebecois "pride". I think it is quite dangerous to glorify and attempt to justify the terroristic actions of the FLQ. No politician in Canada should be apologizing for the October Crisis.

This opinion piece even has links to politicians showing their support for this glorification at a movie premiere for a documentary that espouses this sovereigntist lost cause ideology. In a sane world they should be forced to resign.
 
With the anniversary of the October Crisis I have been seeing quite a few articles about the sovereigntists that seem to have made the FLQ into martyrs (they did at the time too it seems) and seek to rewrite the narrative of the October Crisis. Akin to how Lost Causers in the US have rewritten the narrative of the civil war from slavery to "state's rights" and Southern pride they want to change the narrative of the October Crisis from terrorism to anti-francophone discrimination and Quebecois "pride". I think it is quite dangerous to glorify and attempt to justify the terroristic actions of the FLQ. No politician in Canada should be apologizing for the October Crisis.

This opinion piece even has links to politicians showing their support for this glorification at a movie premiere for a documentary that espouses this sovereigntist lost cause ideology. In a sane world they should be forced to resign.
I agree
 
Doesn't Canada use money from Alberta oil to essentially pay off Quebec?
 
Well, at least the Quebecois then devoted themselves to an electoral solution, where a decade later they just missed succession by less than a point!
 
Well, at least the Quebecois then devoted themselves to an electoral solution, where a decade later they just missed succession by less than a point!
And blame unquebecois immigrants for that loss.
 
Doesn't Canada use money from Alberta oil to essentially pay off Quebec?
Not anymore, now it is the rest of the country subsidizing Alberta as it's oil industry its entire economy relies on flounders. Their solution is to just keep doubling down and blame everyone else.
 
Just wondering? Did you want to see seccession?
I wasn't even born at the time of the last referendum. And I am Anglophone, of course I don't. I am a card-carrying Quebec Liberal.
 
I wasn't even born at the time of the last referendum. And I am Anglophone, of course I don't. I am a card-carrying Quebec Liberal.
As a yank, I was for it (secession). My ski trips to the Laurentians & Le Charlevoix had the vibes of a 'poor man's European vacadtion'. So from a visitor's P.O.V., I'd relish the opportunity to have another distinct nearby country to soak-up their culture.

My first visit was a long time ago, and the Quebecois were damn serious about their culture and even more serious about seperating! And yeah, some of them exhibited some of the stereotypical Francophile arrogance. But I had the language in H.S., so I was able to rudimentally speak their mother-country language with them, and displayed a sincere & genuine interest in their culture (which I had).

Consequently, my experience with them was pretty positive, including two friends I made that lasted for quite a few years (both were lovers - lucky me!).

(BTW - Looking out over the city at night from Parc du Mont Royal, on a snowy winter's night, was an awesome view & experience)
 
As a yank, I was for it (secession). My ski trips to the Laurentians & Le Charlevoix had the vibes of a 'poor man's European vacadtion'. So from a visitor's P.O.V., I'd relish the opportunity to have another distinct nearby country to soak-up their culture.

My first visit was a long time ago, and the Quebecois were damn serious about their culture and even more serious about seperating! And yeah, some of them exhibited some of the stereotypical Francophile arrogance. But I had the language in H.S., so I was able to rudimentally speak their mother-country language with them, and displayed a sincere & genuine interest in their culture (which I had).

Consequently, my experience with them was pretty positive, including two friends I made that lasted for quite a few years (both were lovers - lucky me!).

(BTW - Looking out over the city at night from Parc du Mont Royal, on a snowy winter's night, was an awesome view & experience)
The current CAQ government and the PQ really like to use Anglophones as a scapegoat and increasingly seek to actively repress not only the use but knowledge of English. They have become Francophone supremacists.

The legislature recently passed a motion saying that MLAs can only speak French and not English in press conferences. I would just start doing it in German.

Simon Jolin-Barrette can go **** himself.
 
Not anymore, now it is the rest of the country subsidizing Alberta as it's oil industry its entire economy relies on flounders. Their solution is to just keep doubling down and blame everyone else.


Not yet I believe. I expect Alberta is still a net contributor to the federal government than receiver (at least pre covid)
 
With the anniversary of the October Crisis I have been seeing quite a few articles about the sovereigntists that seem to have made the FLQ into martyrs (they did at the time too it seems) and seek to rewrite the narrative of the October Crisis. Akin to how Lost Causers in the US have rewritten the narrative of the civil war from slavery to "state's rights" and Southern pride they want to change the narrative of the October Crisis from terrorism to anti-francophone discrimination and Quebecois "pride". I think it is quite dangerous to glorify and attempt to justify the terroristic actions of the FLQ. No politician in Canada should be apologizing for the October Crisis.

This opinion piece even has links to politicians showing their support for this glorification at a movie premiere for a documentary that espouses this sovereigntist lost cause ideology. In a sane world they should be forced to resign.

Carjosse:

I was 10 going on 11 years old when the October Crisis occurred. There was a series of bombings which had preceded it for a few years and that alarmed us more than the dual kidnappings of Cross and Laporte. It was really weird experiencing the dissonance between the national media and the local media. The national media played up the terrorism and threat to the country angle while the local media, especially newspapers, focused on the struggle of the Quebecois to join the great wave of decolonisation which had swept the world in the late 1950's and 1960's. Being Anglophones my neighbourhood was generally unsympathetic to the FLQ but in many other regions of the City of Montreal and throughout the province there was great sympathy for what was going on.

There were two watershed moments for my family. The first was the invocation of the War Measures Act. Within hours of its implementation our phone started to ring as distressed friends and professional acquaintances began calling to report that their family members, their friends or their colleagues were being rousted out of bed, roughed up, arrested without charge and detained indefinitely. About 400 hundred people, almost all of whom had nothing to do with the FLQ, were arrested and taken away in a massive clamp down. When I walked to school there were armed soldiers stationed at major intersections and armed patrols moving through the neighbourhood. Our mood changed from fearing the kidnappers to fearing the power of the state.

The second watershed was the report that Labour Minister Pierre Laporte had been killed and his body found in the trunk of an abandoned car on the South Shore of the river. That death/murder crystallised the mortal peril that we as a province and as a country were in and hardened hearts and minds against the FLQ and the nationalists despite the heavy handedness of the War Measures Act. From that point on all of our attention was focused on the grieving Laporte family and all of our prayers were directed for the safe release of the U.K. trade envoy James Cross. Millions of people in Quebec and many more in Canada held their metaphorical breath and hoped for a peaceful outcome which would spare the country more bloodshed and fear.

The next phase of the crisis took on an almost fantastical nature as terrorists, government officials and foreign statesmen negotiated the release of James Cross and the safe passage of the FLQ cell members who had kidnapped Cross to Castro's Cuba. I remember watching on B&W TV the motorcade driving to the airport and watching the terrorists board a plane and leave, fully expecting a firefight to break out at any second. But it did not. They left. Cross was released unharmed and all efforts turned to finding the FLQ cell which had killed Minister Laporte. It seemed like an eon but they finally found and arrested the cell. However the Nationalist/Separatist movement had undergone its baptism of blood and was now confident and here to stay, but thankfully in a more peaceful movement.

The point of all this is that this crisis and the follow-on separatist movement were not seen as simple terrorism by many Quebecers at the time, nor is it now seen as a lost cause. The desire for separation from the rest of Canada is still strong in about 30% of Quebecois and another 20-25% are on the fence and could go either way. Canada cannot become complacent if it wants to preserve unity.

Cheers and be well.
Evilroddy.
 
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