In Attack of Herouxville

"In Defence of Herouxville"' sheds the small town in Quebec in a different light. The article praises it for essentially its foot down against allowing such a strong sense of multiculturalism. It goes on to ask the question “how far should we go to accommodate immigrants?” And finally, it basically states that the citizens of Herouxville are smarter than the rest of us.

This is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever read. It is old news that Quebec has always thought of itself as being independent from the rest of Canada. The 1995 referendum in is evidence of this, but how can one agree that Herouxville- one of the most intolerant cities in arguably all of the world justified or smarter than the rest of us? Canada is a country known for its tolerance and allowing people to come in with open arms. Herouxville just shoots that notion to hell.

Canada has never truly had an identity. Before it became independent from Britain in 1867, it was simply known as a colony of the UK, and after that, it still didn’t establish an identity at all.t all. After its campaign to promote immigration in the early 1900’s is when Canada began to start to have an identity defined by multiculturalism. It is known as the mosaic, thus, how can an educated person ask how far we should go to accommodate immigrants when the foundation of its identity is built upon immigrants? This is the only way we differentiate ourselves from the the melting pot-the Americans-by not forcing citizens to assimilate to one prototype. Canada is a country which was developed upon by immigrants, people from other countries, and yet, author Johnathan Kay can still call Herouxville moral? Blasphemy

The 14 page submission has absolutely absurd requests. And continues to call Quebec a separate entity. It is not, and the citizens of Quebec need a sincere reality check. Quebec has always been an nonconformist though. It’s already pretty intolerant of English. It should be obvious that going to Quebec only knowing English is probably a bad idea, but Quebec, for the most part hates everyone-Anglophones, Francophones from Paris and Herouxville is evidence that it dislikes everyone else.

Now I’m not saying that Canada, or any province or city within Canada should bend over backwards to meet the needs of their citizens. There are certain boundaries which need to be created and certain lines that needn’t be crossed. For instance, Canada has two official languages, one of which is necessary for survival in Canada, and ESl and FSL programs cater to that. Furthermore, when it comes to safety versus religions or different cultures, safety is always the priority, like the case of the student with the Kirpan, but not being able to wear a Hajab, or for speaking French to be mandatory, etc, it is truly unreasonable to expect. To ask those things from citizens is absolutely ridiculous and to promote a “follow our rules or hit the road” policy is even more absurd.

What’s even more interesting is the the authour of the article was born in Montreal and graduated from Mcgill. I doubt this is any coincidence. I think it all just comes down to the fact that as harsh as it is to generalize; most people from Quebec are snobby, “think we’re better than everyone” separatists, and are just starting to become a burden on the rest of Canada if they’re going to enforce rules like those of Herouxville and expect people to follow them. In the end they need to realize that they aren’t a separate country, or even a separate state. They are a part of Canada, and need to act in accordance of this fact.

...Down with Herouxville? Down with Quebec?