CANADIEN

The day one of our soldiers (or an American one) empties a round into bin Laden, he won't be thinking about the gender of the soldier, or his/her sexual orientation, place of origin, skin coulour, etc. He'll be dead.

The implants must not be working, you forgot that you were the first one to talk about Japan and China. But let's talk about Canada.. You know, the country with rwo NATIONAL and official languages, and where individuals decides which of the two languages they use when communicating with their government. and when pretending to impose English on others, try to spell words correctly So now you wish that Quebec will leave? No more assimilation? The collective will be ashamed of you. And btw, you'll lose that battle too. I already do. It's called paying taxes.

If you were smart enough, you would realize that generalization in this case would be to assume that anyone who think that a job for those who can work it is better than handouts is in the wrong. Or generalization could be to assume that anyone who think some people need a good kick in the rear-end is a jerk. Obviously, if I held such opinions, you would know it by now. Or generalization would be something like constantly putting immigrants, French-speaking Canadians, Muslims, the poor in the same bag. You know, like what you do.

No, I'll just assume that a few examples (of immigrants, why should I be surprised that an immigrant-basher like you would only use those) does not disprove the reality that humger is a reality in our society. And guess what, I'll be right.

Sorry for taking it off yours in the first place. If the pool was in Coronach and if the hospital was in Hodgeville, you would not complaining about how they "get things that other communities are not getting", so cry me a river. is in fact based on your complaining about the so-called "disproportionate" amount of money spent on them, as well as your stated opinion that fights like the one Franch-speaking CANADIANS in Saskatchewan still have to pull for their education right are non-functioning and anachronistic.

Which is why they no longer authorize the use of Chinese languages in China or the Japanese language in Japan, right? Telling choice of name... The assimilating machine whose motto is "resistence is futile", and who loses in the end.

Indeed, it is not black and white. Why then the quasi0automatic assumption by some that, unless one has a disability, being poor isnecessarily the result of bad choices and that most people with not enough to eat are scam artists of some sort or lazy drunks.

Less we forget. Wanting to maintain one's own Canadian language is a form of defamation towards the English=speaking larger community. And an education as well as government services in our country two national languages is special treatment. But the French-speaking inhabitants of Gravelbourg are "special" indeed - they are supposed to ask permission before being treated like the Canadians they are.

I have indeed seen the "huge" (30, 40 cars ?) a the Daily Bread main DISTRIBUTING facility (that's where they receive and re-distribute the food at the local food banks). That building is huge, and that's what is needed to accept all the food being donated. That kind of bulding, in an industrial area, does come with wide parking space. But perhaps Muddy's fears would be less if the central point for the reception of food and its re-distribution was in a suburn bungalow with no parking space? Just asking.

People have a right to speak and use whatever language they want... That right by itself does not entail an obligation for anyone to speak it as well. This is not to be confused with the right to receive government services and education in their own language. As for the "let's just create a language that is easy to learn" argument... Sorry if I sound harsh, but it just does not make sense. A language is more than a set of sounds, characters and rules; retaining it takes more than simple rules, it takes contact with it in daily life. Constructed languages do not achieve that.

Am I right in assuming that the families or SOLDIERS who had to rely on food banks did so because they were just lazy drunks? Nothing to do with low salaries and lack base-related earning possiblities for the soldiers' spouses. News to you. Food banks usually DO screen people for eligibility. According to the (Toronto) Daily Bread Food Bank, almost half of the users of their services are immigrants; perhaps their bad decision was to come here after all. And i wonder how many Muslim or Jewish immigrants actually buy beer instead of food. Almost half of the users have a serious illness or disability, more than a third are chldren... their bad decision was? Users spend on avarage 77% of their income on housing... the recommended pecentage is 30%.

People who have nothing better to do in life than to engage is generalizing cr*p like blaminjg the poor and the hungry for their condition to the tune of "if only they were not guzzling beer" have a great deficiency in logic and plain decency. Feel free to take that fact personnally, or even to report me if you think I am breaking this forum rules. It will not change my opinion.

I wonder how Switzerland is surviving with its three official language and a fourth one being recognized on top of that. The "difficulty" in learning English or any other language does not primarily resides in its structure or rules. The key to learning a language properly is exposure to people who speak it and use it in daily life. Esperanto is apparently easy to learn, yet almost nobody speaks it.

Language is indeed a tool of communications. But it is, first, and foremost, a instrument of expression. This is how it is a component of identity. "Teachers" beating Aboriginal children for speaking their own languages in the residential schools understood it full well. They were not just trying to teach a more practical way to communicate, they were trying to assimilate the children. What is staggering is the assumption tha twe French-speaking Canadians are just "impractical" or "illogical" for wanting to retain what makes we Canadians. French is not Swedish, German or Spanish; it is one of Canada's languages. The first French-speaking Canadians outside Quebec did not come to predominently English-speaking areas but more often than not were already there when their English-speaking neighbours came in. What is also staggering is the non-sense that wanting to be educated in one's Canadian language or to access government services in that langauge equates not wanting to learn the other main Canadian language. Go to Gravelbourg, Hearst or Caraquet; you will not find a lot of French-speaking people there who say that English as a second language is not a useful tool in the environment they're in. Actually, you might find a better mastery of French AND English among the younger generations, those who could be educated in their own language. It makes sense to those who live in them, and the right of Canadians to make that choice makes sense.

The exact same problems as with French-speaking Canadians outside Quebec putting pressure for services and schooling in French. No more, and no less.

The one serious flaw with the "common planned second language" idea is the one that plagued esperento: the lack of one essentail component of any language, a population using it as its primary language. The problem the teaching of second languages is two-fold: the methods used to teach them, and the lack of opportunities to practice them. That kind of opportunities come with with contact with people and communities that use them as their primary languge (or one of their primary language) of daily life. Creating a language with a set of simple rules will not work, because there will be no group of people using it as their primary mode of communication.

Language is more than a communication tool. It is a component of one's identity. That dimentison cannot be ignore in a debate on language policies and language rights. It is easy to say language is a secondary or tertiary concern when the language one speaks is the dominent one. I doubt that English-speaking Quebecers would agree with you that language is a secondary issue when they are told by the government how much of it they can put on a sign, whether or not their children can be schooled in it, where they can or cannot get health service in their language. You talk about segregation... What French-speaking Canadians outside Quebec have been fighting for and have obtained is NOT segregation; it is the tools to be fully members of society.

So, next time you put a job wanted ad and a deaf person comes in applying, you'll hire him/her, right? Indeed, you're a proof of it.

Get a job, right? Most of the increase in usage of Food Banks in the late 1990's came from people WORKING FULL TIME at minimum wage. In one pathetic case a few years back, families of soldiers in Alberta has to rely on a food bank. There are food banks in universities.

That must be why I never voted Liberal, not one single time. .You mean, the same way way some people (yes, meaning you) use the "what about health care, what about safety, what about protecting our children" pathetic substitute for an argument when they realise there is no logical reason to trample on the rights of others? Really, you argument that life, health, water safety etc. are of secondary importance to French-speaking Canadians is laughable. After all, the fight to obtain and maintain government services in the Canadian language of one's choice is about improved access to health care, water and food safety information, etc. Not that I am not flattered to be part of the select group of people you consider less worthy than you - the gays, the immigrants, Muslims, the unemployed... Am I forgetting anyone here? Stick to promoting slavery, will you?

Those who see the history of French-speaking Canadians as one of opression are not wrong, theu think it's still like that. Quite a difference.

The cry of "the bad Anglo government is trying to humiliate us" is a form of bad victimhood not founded in the intent of the organizers of this year's re-enactment. That being said, one has to wonder why two previous re-enactments, in the past 10 years, attracted no attention and no condemnation. Could it be because the organizers of these two other events planned and publicized them in a more intelligent fashion? Who knows? Which is why, while I am a huge fan of alternate history scenarios, I stay away from them as a tool to debate today's issues. I would say by the time Lord Durham's dream fell apart, around 1850. Now, if you we talking about Acadians, Franco-Ontarians, the Métis of Manitoba, I'd say assimilationist policies, such as mandatory English education, lasted well passed the middle of the 20th century. And these had an impact on how French-speaking Quebecers saw Vsnsfs.. Indeed. Yhe problem is... it's both of them, and none of them, and one or the other at the same time.

Exactly. I believe prejudice is a demonstration of lack of judgement. As you should. But "criticism" that's starts with "they're all the same" and demonstate the same attitude as those who are being denounced is not criticism, it is nihotry mixed with hypocrisy. I would be the last person to claim that there no bigoted, intolerant, racist currents in Quebec's society that are given far too wide a berth. But they exist in other provinces too. And what a rag like the National Post or web posters known for their prejudice tar the whole of Quebec population (or any society as a whole for that matter) with the same brush, it's the pot calling the kettle black.

Could it be the same reason why Holocaust deniers and white supremacists find themselves at home in some English-speaking Canadian circles? See above. And my previous posting. Attacks and threats motivated by hatred occurs west of the Ottawa River and east of Gaspé too. Unlikely you, I have enough judgement not to blame those on an entire society. Lack of confidence, false notion of supremacy, That explains your anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-Quebecer rants.

Or go to New Brunswick and have your car vandalized because it has Quebec license plate. Go to a Toronto restaurant and have deliberately slow service because you and your dinner partner converse in French. Go to Vancouver and have not only your car, but yourself as well, attacked. Real events, with real people.