Love Infusion, Inc. Artist, Abstract, Photography, Digital Art ✨

Any Quebecers here? I’d love to hear your experiences growing up & living here. I have a story I really feel needs to be told, about the good ol’ English/French life here in Quebec.

Ask anyone who knows me – I’m a Montrealer & a Canadian. I am not a “Quebecer” & am not a big fan of being called that. Quebecers are the people who have made us not feel welcome in our own home.

Lui, il la l’affaire!! – a little French slang that basically translates into, ‘This guy – he’s got IT!’ Slang is so Quebec. Quebec sure knows how to butcher a language. It does that in spades.

50 Commonly Used Quebec Slang Expressions Translated To English

Quebec French gets butchered, depending on the area, compared to what I refer to as ‘Proper French.’ Fluent since I was maybe 5ish, I can barely understand French from say, Lac St. Jean. First time I heard it, I whispered to a friend, ‘What language is he speaking?’

France seems to elegantly & effortlessly put the butchered mess back together. Of course I kid, it’s Quebec who tore it to shreds loll. I could listen to French from France all day, especially from the south, like Marseilles. But from Quebec, meh, not so much. And that’s mostly because it’s tied into the politics, & the disapproval I (many) have been served from the French ‘Kebeckers,’ since about .. always.

I don’t doubt that people have said the same about Canadian or American English, compared to what I refer to as ‘Proper English‘ loll I could listen to them all day. Especially if they’re from Manchester.

Languages & accents from around the world are beautiful, & I for one embrace them.

Ask any English Quebecer what their experiences have been. I know there’s hundreds of untold stories out there.

I was very lucky to have a Quebec mother & a Toronto father, who taught me both from the get-go. This allowed me to pick up Spanish quite easily. And now thanks to the wonderful app Duolingo, I’m learning my fourth language – Italian. The more languages the better, & the more doors that open up to you.

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Just words, until you do it & it transforms your life.

Sadly, all Quebecers don’t see it this way. I’m about to turn 48 – and since I was a child in the schoolyard at recess, I’ve been told that we’re not wanted, we’re not liked, & the English suck. I don’t know any English speaking Canadian living in Quebec who doesn’t have a French vs. English fight story. Ask the hockey players what the games were like when an english team met a french one. It’s always been the French against the English or the English against the French.

So it’s no surprise I didn’t much like the French because of this when I was younger. Before I woke up & realized that’s not how you do it, I’d give back what I got – if you’re going to be an asshole to me, I’m going to be an asshole to you – a taste of your own medicine in hopes you stop doing it. Thankfully I learned there was a better way.

Honestly, I speak it only when I have to which is at work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful I’m trilingual. But we’re continuously told we’re not wanted here – in the very place I was born in, live in, & that I’ve called home my entire life. But I have a suggestion to make it more harmonious for us & future generations: They need to embrace what they sadly don’t see as a gift. Because it really is.

Their reasoning? They want to preserve the culture, but especially because they’re afraid to ‘lose the language.’ But I speak it the least amount possible & I’m still as fluent as ever – they won’t ‘lose the language.’ Seems like ‘simpleton think’ to me.

I don’t know anywhere else outside of Quebec that actually has something called “The Language Police.” I wish I was kidding – but I’m not.

They’re looking at it from upside down for some reason & I wonder if I can flip it around & offer them a different, more loving way to look at it.

It doesn’t make any sense to shoot yourself in the foot like they do – the only limits we have are those we place on ourselves could not ring truer than here in Quebec.

Cue the separation nonsense. French Quebecers have had a decades-long fantasy slightly detached from reality – of wanting to separate from Canada – and thinking that it could survive. But Quebec is Canada’s reject. Ask anyone who lives in the other provinces how they feel about Quebec & they’ll probably tell you ‘We could do without them.’

One thing they never seem to consider, is how the how they think they could survive when they refuse to speak any other language but French. The amount of Quebecers here – with English literally in their lap – who don’t speak or understand a word of English is truly mind-boggling. But they just refuse to have anything to do with it.

And so if they didn’t have to, there’s absolutely no reason why any of the other provinces – or the entire United States – would want to have anything to do with Quebec anymore. Maybe unless they couldn’t live without maple syrup loll In fact had you heard of our ‘Maple Syrup Heist⁉️It’s the biggest heist in Canadian history!

“Three men sentenced for $18-million Quebec maple syrup heist.”

On my many travels I always – and I mean always – encounter frustrated Quebecers in various English or Spanish speaking countries getting upset at the people for not speaking French. Oh the arrogance & ignorance of people expecting the world to accommodate them!! It’s unreal.

No dummy it’s up to you at least learn the basics of the language of a country you plan on visiting. Or at the very least check your arrogance when they don’t speak yours.

Honestly – I feel sorry for them. They come across as simple-minded folk with a pinch of ignorance & a dash of arrogance. And after having just moved back here after 25 years – to my complete astonishment – I’ve discovered something very ugly about them I never noticed when I was younger: I’m sad to at they are extremely racist.

I’ve been in the bar & restaurant industry for over 20 years. For the past 10 I’ve been working for a classy, popular Steakhouse/ Ribhouse, Baton Rouge, found across Canada. I’m in my 4th year at my current location. And much to my dismay, I’ve seen their racism first hand – and they’re not shy about it. Seeing such behaviour in public, makes me shudder to think how they act in private.

Once a Quebec couple sitting next to a black family with a baby asked me to “do something about them.” With huffs & puffs & eyes-a-rolling they dared to utter ‘We could really do without them‘ – they literally wanted me to get them to leave. I mean are you fucking serious⁉️

I’ve had my head ripped off by Quebec customers for daring to say ‘Hello’ before I said ‘Bonjour.’

We are instructed by our managers that it is imperative we speak the French word first.

I wish I was kidding but I’m not.

I mean what kind of a dumbass do you have to be⁉️

In another instance a Quebec trio sitting in a booth next to an Asian family of 5 sitting at a round table blew my fucking mind. Upon receiving their meals they noticed they were missing a set of utensils. The man looks at the Asian family & accuses them of taking them, saying it has to be them. No dummy it was me, who just hadn’t brought out the third set yet. But that didn’t stop the man from sneering at them & aggressively confiscating a utensil set from their table.

Sadly I now finally understand why my very own mother told me I should change my Facebook cover photo of me with a dark-skinned Dominican. Because I’m with a dark-skinned Dominican.

Heartbreaking. Quebecers as a whole have a whole lot of self-work to do. And growth.

People are so ready to criticize and blame others for wrongdoings – but so few look at themselves.

Quebec could never, would never survive on its’ own.

Will will French Kebecers ever wake up & embrace the gift that lays literally in their lap ⁉️