Language Wars – Coming To A Sign Near You Soon

Posted on 17/05/2013 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Alba – Albain – Scotland

More new from the Pax Anglia, via the Dunfermline Press:

“… councillor Dave Dempsey is proposing that road signs in Fife be in English-only.

His motion, “Council agrees that there is no need, point or advantage in road signs in Fife being in any other language or languages than English” went before fellow councillors yesterday (Thursday).

It was prompted by press reports last month of a £350,000 plan to promote Gaelic in Perth and Kinross and Councillor Dempsey now hopes to “lay down a policy marker”.

[Dempsey said] “Gaelic was never really spoken in Fife – it’s spoken in other parts of Scotland but not really when you get this far south and east.

“I understand the need to keep the language in existence but language is used to communicate and everybody can speak English.”

Yes, well colonisation does tend to end up with the natives foregoing their own language and adopting that of the overlord – just so they and their children, and their children’s children, can survive to see another day. Not to mention that there is little point in keeping a language in “existence” if no one is allowed to use it – because they are told that they must use English instead as Councillor Dempsey suggests.

Meanwhile some good news from Wales for at least one of the indigenous Celtic languages of the island of Britain. From a report in the Daily Post:

“WELSH children are twice as likely to speak the language than pensioners or those of working age figures from the 2011 census reveal.

The figures show that across Wales, 37.6% of under 16s are now able to speak Welsh, compared to 15.5% of 16-64s and 16.2% of over 65s.

The discrepancy between different areas of the nation are evident, with 89.1% of Gwynedd children speaking Welsh – compared with 22.7% in Merthyr Tydfil.

Interestingly, it’s also revealed that women are more likely to speak the language than men.

It’s also proven that national identity plays a large role on one’s ability to speak the language or not.

A quarter of people who identify themselves as Welsh, also classed themselves as Welsh speakers, and two-fifths of those who identify as Welsh and British can speak the language.

Unsurprisingly, the popularity of Welsh medium education has seen a huge rise in parts of the South Wales valleys, with children in Blaenau Gwent being 23 times more likely to speak the language than a pensioner in the same area.”

Wales Online has more analysis.

Québec

Finally from Québec an open letter published today in the English language Montréal Gazette written by the province’s Language Minister Diane de Courcy and the liaison with the Anglophone community Jean-Francois Lisée, both from the ruling PQ party. It deals with the wide range of opinions expressed in recent months around Bill 14 which will expand legislation protecting the rights of the province’s francophone majority and encouraging French language use amongst the English-speaking minority and new immigrant communities. Sensibly the new series of regulations will accommodate the concerns expressed by the anglophone and bilingual communities of some towns and municipalities.

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The United States And It’s Irish Revolutionaries

Posted on 14/03/2013 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

John Boyle O'Reilly Irish revolutionary and Fenian prisoner in Australia

John Boyle O’Reilly, Irish revolutionary and Fenian prisoner in British Australia, 1866

Two articles from the United States exploring the Irish Republican heritage of Ireland and the US. First up is the Past Imperfect history blog of the Smithsonian Museum examining one of the most famous prison escapes in history: the Catalpa Rescue of 1876. Carried out by the American-based Clann na nGael (CnanG) and its counterpart in Ireland, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), the operation freed six Fenian revolutionaries from British captivity in Australia and galvanised world opinion in favour of the cause of Irish freedom.

“The plot they hatched was as audacious as it was impossible—a 19th-century raid as elaborate and preposterous as any Ocean’s Eleven script. It was driven by two men—a guilt-ridden Irish Catholic nationalist, who’d been convicted and jailed for treason in England before being exiled to America, and a Yankee whaling captain—a Protestant from New Bedford, Massachusetts—with no attachment to the former’s cause, but a firm belief that it was “the right thing to do.” Along with a third man—an Irish secret agent posing as an American millionaire—they devised a plan to sail halfway around the world to Fremantle, Australia, with a heavily armed crew to rescue a half-dozen condemned Irishmen from one of the most remote and impregnable prison fortresses ever built.

To succeed, the plan required precision timing, a months-long con and more than a little luck of the Irish. The slightest slip-up, they knew, could be catastrophic for all involved. By the time the Fremantle Six sailed into New York Harbor in August, 1876, more than a year had passed since the plot had been put into action. Their mythic escape resonated around the world and emboldened the Irish Republican Brotherhood for decades in its struggle for independence from the British Empire.”

From the mid-1800s onwards several Irish-American revolutionary organisations operating in the United States and Ireland (as well as globally) were referred to as Fenians, an umbrella title used both by supporters and opponents. These were the Fenian Brotherhood (the FB and the original Fenian organisation), the Clann na nGael (the CnanG which has survived in various forms into the 21^st century), the United Irishmen, the Irish National Brotherhood and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (the original and long-lasting sister-organisation of the Fenian Brotherhood).

Meanwhile the Huffington Post carries a story on New York’s Irish revolutionary links examining the American-related lives of James Connolly, Jim Larkin and Éamon de Valera.

The Battle of Eccles Hill a young soldier of the Irish Republican Army military wing of the Fenian Brotherhood

The Battle of Eccles Hill – a young soldier of the Irish Republican Army, the military wing of the Fenian Brotherhood (FB), lies slain on a roadway during the 1870 invasion of Canada

Out of interest, below is a casualty list of the first known soldiers of a military force styling itself the Irish Republican Army or IRA to die on active service. The thirteen men were slain or mortally wounded while fighting in Canada during the Fenian Invasion of June, 1866, and all were members of the military wing of the Fenian Brotherhood; known variously as the Irish Republican Army, the Army of the Irish Republic, the Irish Army, the Army of Ireland or the IRA.

“Thomas Rafferty, 18th Regiment “The Cleveland Rangers”, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Died on active service 02-06-1866.

Patrick Buckley, 18th Regiment “The Cleveland Rangers”, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Died on active service 02-06-1866.

Major John C. Canty [Caunty], 18th Regiment “The Cleveland Rangers”, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Died on active service 02-06-1866.

Colour-Sergeant Michael Cochrane, James Hugh Haggerty’s Company, Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. Died on active service 02-06-1866.

James John Geraghty [Gerrahty], 18th Regiment “The Cleveland Rangers”, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Died on active service 02-06-1866.

Captain Donohoe [Donoghue], 19th Regiment “Irish Republic Volunteers”, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Died on active service 02-06-1866.

Lieutenant Edward R. Lonergran, 7th Regiment “The Irish Army of Liberation”, Buffalo, New York, United States. Died on active service 02-06-1866.

Edward [Richard] Scully, 18th Regiment “The Cleveland Rangers”, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Died on active service 09-06-1866.

Private John Lynch, 18th Regiment “The Cleveland Rangers”, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Died on active service 11-06-1866.

Sergeant John Lynch, 18th Regiment “The Cleveland Rangers”, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Died of wounds received while on active service 27-07-1866.

Lt. Colonel Michael Bailey, 7th Regiment “The Irish Army of Liberation”, Buffalo, New York, United States. Died of wounds received while on active service 18-01-1868.

S. Thompson, 13th Regiment Memphis Company, Tennessee, United States. Died of wounds received while on active service ?-?-?”

During the Easter Rising of 1916 and the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic, several existing Irish revolutionary groups came together to form a new Army of the Irish Republic or Irish Republican Army. These were principally the Irish Volunteers (Óglaigh na hÉireann or ÓnahÉ) and the Irish Citizen Army (Arm Cathartha na hÉireann). This is why the IV/ÓnahÉ is commonly known in the English language as the Irish Republican Army or IRA.

Below is the RTÉ drama-documentary, “The Catalpa Rescue”.

Inside The IRA – 1994 (ansionnachfionn.com)
Dolours Price (ansionnachfionn.com)
The Associated Press – Reporting The News Or Shaping The News? (ansionnachfionn.com)
Unionism Closes Ranks (ansionnachfionn.com)

The Journey of Nishiyuu – Indigenous Rights In Canada And Québec

Posted on 09/03/2013 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

The Journey of Nishiyuu – Supporting the Idle No More movement in Canada and Québec

Some more news on the continuing protests by the indigenous peoples of Canada as they seek to build on the momentum created by the Idle No More movement and the recent hunger strike by the Theresa Spence. From the Star:

“On the frozen shores of Hudson’s Bay in January, a small group of Great Whale Cree strapped on their mukluks, pulled on their parkas and set out on an epic and frigid journey on foot to Ottawa.

Drawing inspiration from Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence during her fast more than 1,500 kilometres to the south, six youth and a 49-year-old master hunter decided they too wanted to do something to draw attention to aboriginal issues and joined the ad hoc actions of the Idle No More movement taking place all over the country.

Almost two months after they departed Whapmagoostui-Kuujjuaraapik, Que., in –40 C weather, the walkers have covered more than 1,000 kilometres and rallied about 100 people to join them from communities along the way.

On March 25 the marchers expect to reach Parliament Hill, where New Democrat MP Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou) will gather a welcoming party to greet them.”

The Journey of Nishiyuu – supporting indigenous rights and the Idle No More movement in Canada and Québec

You can view more details here at the dedicated website, Journey of Nishiyuu, or at First Peoples World Wide.

Cree Idle No More walkers reach Algonquin community (cbc.ca)
Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence seeks UN intervention (climate-connections.org)

The Rising Stars Of Québec Nationalism

Posted on 05/03/2013 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Québec solidaire

Interesting article on the two rising stars of political nationalism in Québec both of which have begun to challenge the traditional dominance of the Parti Québécois (PQ) when it comes to eliciting support from the province’s separatist-minded voters. The first is the left-wing Option nationale, led by Jean-Martin Aussant, a party that is attracting a younger more dynamic generation of pro-independence activists, not to mention some high profile defectors from the PQ itself. The other is Québec solidaire, led by Amir Khadir, another party to the left of PQ which is also enjoying greater success with younger voters.

Meanwhile this pointed description of his forthcoming visit to “Canada and Québec” by the French PM Jean-Marc Ayrault may signal an interesting turn of diplomatic attitudes in Paris away from the somewhat hostile anti-separatist approach favoured by former President Nicolas Sarkozy.

‘What rights will we recognize?’: Jacques Parizeau muses on anglo rights in an independent Quebec at sovereignist rally (news.nationalpost.com)
Parizeau tells separatists to ‘not be afraid of their dream’ of an independent Quebec (montreal.ctvnews.ca)
PQ should use public funds to promote sovereignty, Parizeau says (ctvnews.ca)
Marois holds slim but steady lead in Quebec polls (theglobeandmail.com)

How Can The Irish State Ignore The Wishes Of 41% Of Its Citizens?

Posted on 21/02/2013 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Tiocfaidh Ár Phéig

An article in the Irish Times by Seán Tadgh Ó Gairbhí examining the reaction of people in Ireland to the texting in the Irish language by the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is well worth reading. As are the many Comments underneath. Some are positive. Some are simply depressing.

“On Monday night, Chris Hadfield became the nation’s favourite Canadian astronaut when he tweeted a picture of Ireland from space accompanied by a message in Irish – “Tá Éire fíorálainn!”

In charming us with a few judiciously chosen words of our native tongue, the commander was following the recent example of two more illustrious foreigners.

In May 2011, the Queen of England left our then president Mary McAleese open-mouthed in disbelief with a majestically delivered “Go raibh maith agat” and, just a few days later, Barack Obama had a crowded College Green in raptures with that riff on his can-do battle cry for the ages, “Is féidir linn”.

It appears that the sound of a stranger speaking Irish gives us a fuzzy feeling of self-worth, a feeling not to be had from, say, speaking Irish ourselves.

“Wow, I can feel the warmth of the Irish all the way up here. . .” Hadfield later tweeted, adding a “go raibh maith agaibh!” that ensured there was more Irish used in the International Space Station this week than most Irish people would use in a year.

Still, there was something genuine about the affection for the language evident in the response to Hadfield. Maybe this was because the commander’s tweet, for all its otherworldliness, was more authentic than either Obama’s or the banríon’s cúpla focal.

Meanwhile, in a galaxy not so far away called the Gaeltacht, Irish is dying as the language of the home and community. It is dying because that is what usually happens to languages like Irish, but it is also dying because of official neglect and a failure to take the measures needed to save it.

The most recent study in this area suggested that unless radical action was taken, Irish had only 15 to 20 years left as the primary community language in even the strongest Gaeltacht areas.

That was in 2007.

In response, three years later, in 2010, the last government published a 20-year strategy for the language. Three years on and the present Government has been slow in implementing that strategy. Instead, it has diluted what was already an overly aspirational plan by making several decisions that undermine it.

It is difficult to ascertain how many people really care about the preservation of Irish as no government has been willing to take a political gamble that the type of affection provoked by Hadfield’s tweet might be sincere.

This is despite the existence of plenty of earthly evidence that proves a considerable majority of us have a favourable attitude to Irish.

Would the public support a radical, well-resourced plan to save the Irish language? Would such a plan work? We might never know. Because it seems that, to adapt the tagline from the movie Alien, in the Gaeltacht, nobody can hear you scream.”

Exactly that sort of “gamble” was taken in Québec thirty-six years ago when the Parti Québécois provincial government introduced the Charter of the French Language (La charte de la langue française) in August of 1977. At the time of its introduction it was widely accepted in Québec and Canada that French would soon be a minority language, a language that would almost certainly disappear from the North American continent within the next 50 years. However the Charter and the positive attitudes engendered by its application reversed that situation. By 2011 the number of French-speaking citizens had soared to 80% of the population of Québec with a further 14% reporting various degrees of fluency as non-native speakers.

In Ireland the Irish language has the unique legal position under Article 8.1 of the Constitution of being both the national and first official language of the state. In contrast under Article 8.2 the English language is accorded the lesser status of being simply a second official language. However the primary position of Irish is undermined by the anomalous Article 8.3 which permits the state to conduct any and all official business through either of the two official languages. Which is why we currently have a de facto English state in Ireland rather than an Irish one since the English language has always been the default option preferred by the political establishment.

One way we could change this situation is through an amendment of Article 8.3 of the Constitution, as I argued here. A carefully worded and thought-out amendment making Irish the default language of the state (which is clearly the intent behind Article 8.1) would transform the rights of Irish-speaking citizens and communities in this country.

As things stand over 41% of the population of Ireland declared themselves to have an ability to speak Irish in the 2011 Census of Ireland. That is 1.77 million people, a rise from 1.66 million in the previous census of 2006. Another rise was the number of daily and weekly speakers of Irish, 4.4% of the population or 187,827 people (making Irish the second most-spoken language). On top of this was the 613,236 who claimed to speak Irish less than weekly. Using these and other statistics from the 2011 census we can calculate that out of a total population of 4,588,252 people some 801,063 are speakers of Irish: that is people who speak Irish daily, weekly or less than weekly. That is the number, as unwilling as some Anglophone fundamentalists are to accept it, who speak Irish in Ireland. 801,063 people or some 17% of the total population.

In addition to that number there is another 24% of the population who either have some degree or knowledge of Irish or else wish to express their identification with it. To mark the language as their own. This is what happened in the 2011 Census and this is the 41% of the nation’s population that supports, wholeheartedly, the Irish language and the rights of Irish-speaking citizens.

As much as the militant extreme of English-speakers would wish it otherwise, with their knowingly untrue claims that Irish-speakers represent 1% of the population or statistical falsehoods about Polish being the second most spoken language in Ireland (2.6% of the total population, in fact), this is the unpalatable truth they fear so much. Irish-speaking citizens are not a majority, or even a particularly sizeable minority. But they are 17% of the population of Ireland. And together with English-speaking peers they make up the 41% of the population which supports our indigenous language and culture.

And it is time that they made their voices heard.

Attacking The Weak By Pretending They Are Powerful – How Ireland’s Media Elite Work (ansionnachfionn.com)
Where’s The Irish At The Irish Constitutional Convention? (ansionnachfionn.com)
There’s No Irish In Ireland! (ansionnachfionn.com)
My Identity Is Not Negotiable (ansionnachfionn.com)
The Erosion Of Irish-Language Journalism (ansionnachfionn.com)
Move Over Belfast – Welcome To Béal Feirste (ansionnachfionn.com)

The SWP, Idle No More And The Basque Country

Posted on 16/01/2013 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

A stall run by the Socialist Worker’s Party (UK) held in the southern part of Trafalgar Square, central London, during the 2011 anti-cuts protest in London.

A recent busy week has meant that a number of interesting stories have passed by without comment. From me at least.

Long, long ago in a country far, far away a young Irishman had an encounter with several members of a highly secretive rebel alliance called the Socialist Workers Party or SWP, a tiny if influential left-wing British political grouping. These guys fancied themselves as Marxist-Trotskyite revolutionaries eager to proselytise amongst the unconverted (or uneducated, as they saw it). I was neither a follower of Marx or Trotsky nor was I particularly willing to subject myself to a lecture on Irish history from patronising English students whose self-evident belief in their racial superiority was smugly wrapped up in an assumed air of ideological superiority. Thus began my lifelong disdain for the British Left that the years have done little to abate.

So it is with interest that I have watched the SWP in Britain tear itself apart in recriminations following events detailed by Laurie Penny in the New Statesman:

“How do we deal with sexual violence on the left? Here’s a case study.

The Socialist Workers’ Party, for those who aren’t familiar with it already, is a political organisation of several thousand members which has been a prominent force on the British left for more than 30 years. They are at the forefront of the fight against street fascism in Britain, were a large organising presence in the student and trade union movement over the past several years, and are affiliated with large, active parties in other countries, like Germany’s Die Linke. Many of the UK’s most important thinkers and writers are members, or former members.

Like many others on the left in Britain I’ve had my disagreements with the SWP but I’ve also spoken at their conferences, drunk their tea, and have a lot of respect for the work they do. They are not a fringe group: they matter. And it matters that right now, the party is exploding in messy shards because of a debate about sexism, sexual violence and wider issues of accountability.

This week, it came to light that when allegations of rape and sexual assault were made against a senior party member, the matter was not reported to the police, but dealt with ‘internally’ before being dismissed. According to a transcript from the party’s annual conference earlier this month, not only were friends of the alleged rapist allowed to investigate the complaint, the alleged victims were subject to further harassment. Their drinking habits and former relationships were called into question, and those who stood by them were subject to expulsion and exclusion.”

There is more about this unfolding scandal over on the Cedar Lounge Revolution and Lenin’s Tomb, not to mention the personal blog of sci-fi author and long-time SWP-supporter Ken McLeod.

Meanwhile the protests by the Native American indigenous rights organisation “Idle No More”, which have swept Canada in recent weeks, continue despite the so-called revelations about the limited nature of the hunger strike entered upon by Theresa Spence, leader of the Attawapiskat First Nation (one of the recognised aboriginal peoples of Canada). Chief Spence’s month of fasting seems to have done little to alter the perceptions, or prejudices, of the citizens of European or White Canada which according to recent polls have grown even more intolerant As anyone who has read or viewed the anglophone media in Canada over the last five weeks will have noticed the level of hatred towards aboriginal Canadians, even from professional journalists, is really quite astonishing. In contrast the Francophone media has been considerably more sympathetic to the desperate plight of the indigenous peoples (with a few notable exceptions).

“You’re in the Basque Country, not in Spain”. A notice directed at tourists in a lamp post in Bilbao old town.

Finally a huge demonstration in the Basque Country drew tens of thousands of marchers demanding the release or repatriation of Basque political prisoners incarcerated across Spain and France. From EITB:

“Tens of thousands of Basques marched in downtown Bilbao on Saturday calling for an amnesty that would allow ETA prisoners to serve out the remainder of their sentences in the Basque Country rather than in jails further afield.

Protesters marched to the city’s town hall behind banners saying “Human rights, resolution, peace. Basque prisoners back home.”

Some protesters waved Catalan flags in solidarity with another northern Spanish region with an important pro-independence movement. One large banner included a slogan in English, saying “Repatriate all Basque prisoners.”

Spain has for more than two decades dispersed ETA prisoners under an amendment to the country’s 1975 anti-terrorism law. One of the purposes of the law was to stop convicted Basque militants from communicating easily among themselves to plan subversive strategies.

There are an estimated 700 ETA prisoners held in jails dotted around Spain and France, and only around two dozen are believed to be in Basque region prisons.”

Support For Hunger Striker Theresa Spence Grows

Posted on 02/01/2013 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

In support of hunger striker Theresa Spence, leader of the Attawapiskat First Nation of North America (Photo: Tamara Herman)

More news from Canada and beyond in relation to the hunger strike by Theresa Spence, leader of the Attawapiskat First Nation (one of the indigenous peoples of Canada), and the protests by Idle No More, the aboriginal rights’ movement. From the BBC:

“Protesters supporting a Native Canadian chief’s 23-day hunger strike have blocked a rail line in eastern Quebec.

While the Attawapiskat leader has continued her fast, First Nations protesters and others have rallied around her and Idle No More to protest a range of issues.

At Quebec’s Pointe-a-la-Croix, protesters on Wednesday blocked cargo transport but allowed passenger trains through.

Ms Spence has staged her protest in a traditional teepee within sight of the parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city.

Ms Spence has urged Mr Harper to “open his heart” and meet native leaders.

Instead, the Canadian government has offered a meeting with Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan.

“I know it’s hard for people to understand what I’m doing,” she told reporters on 28 December. “But it’s for this pain that’s been going on too long with our people.”

Ms Spence invited MPs and senators to visit her teepee on Sunday. High-profile visitors have included former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark.

Supporters of the Idle No More movement held marches, rallies and highway blockades across Canada in 2012, as well as “flash mob” protests with traditional drumming and dancing.”

Meanwhile The New Zealand Herald reports that:

“An indigenous protest movement, which has seen civil disobedience across Canada, has been joined by a group in New Zealand.

The Idle No More uprising, sparked by Canadian ‘first peoples’ incensed by inequality and treaty rights, has gained support from indigenous populations around the world.

It has now reached New Zealand shores, with a Maori women’s group organising rallies and calling for mobilised action.

A rally was held on December 28 on Waiheke Island, and a protest was held outside the Canadian Embassy in Wellington on New Year’s Eve.

An ‘Aotearoa in Support of Idle No More’ Facebook page has been launched, and organisers have warned of disruptions.

“We feel there has been a global assault on indigenous sovereignty,” said Marama Davidson, spokeswoman for the Auckland-based Maori women’s collective Te Wharepora Hou.

“This is the global call we’ve been waiting for. Now, we can join together and start looking at solutions.”

Flash mobs up to 400-strong targeted Christmas shoppers at malls across Canada, protesting against controversial government budget legislation.

The protesters say the legislation fails to constitutionally recognise and affirm treaty and aboriginal rights, and ignores legal obligations to consult and accommodate first nations.”

Is it not time for action in support of Thereas and Idle No More in Ireland and the other Celtic nations?

Indigenous Peoples Fight Back With Hunger Strikes In Canada (ansionnachfionn.com)
Idle No More – Support Hunger Striker Theresa Spence! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Native anger blocks Canada line (bbc.co.uk)

Indigenous Peoples Fight Back With Hunger Strikes In Canada

Posted on 28/12/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Idle No More, the Canadian and North American indigenous rights’ movment

A quick post to draw attention to the protests by the indigenous rights organisation “Idle No More” which have swept Canada in recent weeks. They have culminated in a hunger strike by Theresa Spence, leader of the Attawapiskat First Nation (one of the recognised aboriginal peoples of Canada), which is drawing major media attention now that it has reached its third week.

From the Globe and Mail:

“The aboriginal interpretive centre on an island in the middle of the Ottawa River where Theresa Spence is living out her hunger strike is not an unhappy place. There are fires and drumming and even the occasional round of song.

Native leaders have come from disparate parts of Canada to meet with the Attawapiskat chief who has said she will fast until the federal government gives in to her demand for a meeting among first nations, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a representative of the Crown.

Ms. Spence wants to discuss the treaty that was signed in the first decade of the last century that covered a broad swath of Northern Ontario, including her own impoverished reserve. It promised money, education and health care in exchange for sharing the land.

Ms. Spence, like the descendants of the signatories of similar treaties across the country, says Canada is no longer living up to its part of the bargain.

…her personal crusade began about the same time as first nations across Canada embarked on a widespread and prolonged series of demonstrations under the banner of “Idle No More.” Those actions were also aimed at the Conservative government – specifically at a number of bills that will have a direct effect on aboriginal communities.

…disruptions are continuing across Canada. Boxing Day round dances were organized in shopping malls, and a blockade of a CN rail track in south-western Ontario continued into its sixth day.

In downtown Vancouver, dozens of supporters disrupted Boxing Day traffic as they marched through the streets in solidarity. Police closed sections of Granville and Georgia Streets and directed traffic as the group wound through the downtown core, banging drums, waving flags, chanting and holding up signs reading, “Assimilate us no more” and “Honour the treaties, stop C-45.” At the intersection of Robson and Burrard Streets, the supporters formed a large circle, stalling traffic for about 15 minutes.”

Idle No More are looking for support from around the world, especially from fellow indigenous peoples. Please contact them here, or express your support on Facebook or add on Twitter.

More below in an interview with Theresa Spence:

Aboriginal affairs minister worried about Attawapiskat chief (cbc.ca)
‘You cannot ignore this request’: Garneau, Trudeau seek action for hunger-striking chief (news.nationalpost.com)
Meet with hunger-striking First Nations chief, former Ontario lieutenant governor tells Harper (o.canada.com)
Interview: Attawapiskat Chief Therese Spence asks for respect for aboriginal peoples (tennesseehawk.typepad.com)

The NDP – A Separatist In Federalist Clothing?

Posted on 15/11/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Interesting article in the Toronto Sun on the phenomenon of a party-within-a-party represented by the separatist inclinations of some Québec-based members of the ostensibly federalist New Democratic Party (NDP) in Canada. Since the party’s electoral landslide in Québec during 2011’s federal elections across Canada (which effectively knocked out the once dominant nationalist Bloc Québécois) accusations have circulated that the NDP’s representatives from La Belle Province are not all that they seem.

“Is Thomas Mulcair’s New Democratic Party federalist in English-Canada while separatist in Quebec? The question could well become very embarrassing if the Quebec New Democrats keep sending mixed messages.

We all remember that many of the MPs elected in the May 2011 orange wave in La Belle Province were also separatists. Among others, Jack Layton’s successor as interim leader, Nycole Turmel, had to admit being a card-carrying member of the Bloc Quebecois and of the provincial radical left/separatist party Quebec Solidaire.

Like many voters in Quebec, many New Democrats don’t see any contradiction in supporting a federalist in Ottawa and a separatist in Quebec City.

Every time Rosemont’s NDP MP, Alexandre Boulerice, asks a question in the House of Commons, the Conservative MP for Nepean-Carleton, Pierre Poilievre, reminds us all that Boulerice has given money to Quebec Solidaire more than 30 times since its creation in 2006 (he continued even after he got elected) and demands that he reveal whether or not he’s a separatist.

I had Boulerice on my radio show two weeks ago and asked him three times if he would vote Yes or No on the question of separation and never got the beginning of an answer.

I know the issue may be difficult to understand for many readers in English-Canada, but being or voting separatist and federalist, back and forth, is not perceived as a contradiction in Quebec politics.”

Cultural Terrorism Masquerading As Vandalism

Posted on 20/09/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

An erratic, near Okotoks, Alberta, Canada

Back in June I highlighted the mysterious act of vandalism inflicted on the Lia Fáil or Stone of Destiny at Teamhair (the Hill of Tara), a crime that remains unresolved, but we are not the only ones whose history has suffered at the hands of cultural terrorists. From a report in the Indian Country Today:

“A rock drill, acid and a power washer; it’s not the beginning of a joke about a hardware store—it’s what was used by cultural vandals to destroy aboriginal pictograms and petroglyphs on a boulder in Alberta, Canada.

The damage was discovered when historian Stan Knowlton, Piikani First Nation, went to photograph and test the markings on the Glenwood Erratic near Pincher Creek in southern Alberta on September 9.

“It seems a little coincidental that the night before I was planning to go in with a high definition camera to record the markings, someone in a truck brings in a generator or compressor, a large hammer drill, maybe lights and a ladder and decimates the very thing I was hoping to preserve,” Knowlton said a report, titled “Desecration of Glenwood Erratic,” which the Pincher Creek Voice published with its story.

Knowlton pointed out in his report that this is just the latest in a string of vandalized pictogram and petroglyph sites in Alberta…

The vandals used a truck to get to the rock—Knowlton saw the tire tracks as he arrived on September 9—and he suspects they used a power washer to remove the lichen covering the symbols before spraying acid on the paintings and drilling away the carvings with a rock bore or hammer drill.”

A gross act of historical revisionism in the most literal of sense of the word and to be utterly condemned.

Police probe reports of vandalism of historic native etchings (calgaryherald.com)
Alberta aboriginal rock etchings defaced with drill, power washer, acid | Canada | News | National Post (straykatstrut.wordpress.com)
Alberta Aboriginal Rock Etchings Defaced with Drill, Power Washer, Acid (sott.net)

PQ Electoral Victory In Québec Sparks Political Violence

Posted on 05/09/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Québécois

A quick post to note the results of the election in Québec where the nationalist Parti Québécois (or PQ) under leader Pauline Marois has had a narrow victory over the incumbent Liberal Party led by veteran politician Jean Charest. However the PQ celebrations were soon interrupted by news of a lone-terrorist attack by an Anglophone extremist on a PC rally in Montréal where Marois was speaking.

From the Irish Times:

“A masked gunman shot dead one person inside the Montreal theatre where the leader of Quebec’s separatist Parti Quebecois was addressing supporters in the wake of a narrow election win in the Canadian province, police said today.

The incident was shocking for Canada, where crime rates are relatively low and political violence is unheard of.

The shooting eclipsed the news that the Parti Quebecois had only just defeated the ruling Liberals and would have to be content with a minority government, effectively ruling out another referendum on breaking away from Canada.

Pauline Marois, the first female premier of Quebec, had just told her supporters the province would one day be independent when her bodyguards rushed her from the stage. She later returned to finish her speech.

Montreal police spokesman Danny Richer said a man aged about 50 entered the back of the Metropolis theater at about midnight (4am Irish time) and shot two people. Police said a man in his 40s died on the spot, another was taken to hospital in a critical condition. The suspect also set fire to the back of the building.

He appeared to shout in French the phrase “The English are waking up”. Ms Marois had promised to strengthen laws designed to ensure the dominance of the French language, which has worried some in the minority English-speaking community.

The PQ won 54 of the 125 seats in the provincial legislature, ending nine years of rule by the Liberals.

The results showed the Liberals had won 50 seats, down 14 from the 64 they held at dissolution. Premier Jean Charest, who lost his seat, emphasised that the PQ had only won a minority.

The right-leaning CAQ, on course to win 19 seats with 27 percent of the vote, wants to freeze all talk of a referendum for a decade and focus on the economy.

The Liberals won three successive elections from 2003 to 2008, but became increasingly unpopular amid allegations of corruption in the construction industry that might be linked to the financing of political parties.

Preliminary results of yesterday’s election are as follows (figures in brackets show the number of seats at dissolution): PQ 54 (47); Liberals; 50 (64); CAQ 19 (9); Quebec Solidaire 2 (1); Option Nationale 0 (1); Independents 0 (2).”

More here.

PQ elected in Quebec, on doorstep of majority (canada.com)
One killed in Quebec speech shooting (english.ruvr.ru)
Separatist Party Wins Quebec Elections (nytimes.com)

On The Hustings In Québec

Posted on 28/08/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Québécois

A guest article for An Sionnach Fionn by Jean François Joubert on the National Assembly election campaign in Québec:

Pauline Marois, leader of the Parti Québécois (the PQ), has had a rough week. In fact the party’s apparatchiks couldn’t be blamed for wanting to hide her until election day, September 4th. This is quite a paradox as Marois’ PQ is poised to become the next majority government in Québec and Marois Québec’s first female prime minister. Still the PQ is far from rejoicing. The problem the party has is one of “division du vote”. Twenty years ago the PQ was the sole democratic vehicle for independence, now the situation has become a bit more complex. The very high margin of error in the polls means almost anything could happen. However change is also about new opportunities and the situation may be more promising for significant change than it has been in any period since 1995.

FIRST, THE PLAYERS

Jean Charest’s Québec Liberal Party. The winner of the NO campaign in 1995, “Capitaine Canada” has been running Québec for the last nine years. When corruption scandals multiplied around him he had the good sense to call for the election during a recess of the public inquiry into the construction industry (and its ties with his party’s financing). His government is also responsible for Bill 78, the internationally criticized anti-demonstration law against student protests (le printemps érable). The Anglophone vote, the party’s traditional liberal base, is fractioning. He is largely seen as writing the last pages of his political book. However, there is a numeric possibility, not small, that he could win a sizeable minority or even a majority vote. The Érable Spring might turn into a year-long protest should that happen.

The Parti Québécois is leading the polls right now but Pauline Marois is criticized for her role in the student protests as a too late, half-hearted, politically motivated effort compounded by her position that once elected she will cancel the “Liberal“ hikes in tuition fees and begin an enquiry into the whole matter. She is also criticized for her referendum strategy which is: not until it’s the right time (well OK, if there is a petition signed by 15% of the population but the government has the last word and not likely in a first mandate anyway).

Another part of the PQ strategy is the belief that it is now time for the Parti Québécois to be back in power and that it is important not to divide the vote between sovereigntists (Québec nationalists). Additionally the PQ is positioning itself again as the defender of the French language and all things Québécois such as gender equality and the secular state.

THE NEW PLAYERS

The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) led by a prominent former PQ minister, is a centre-right party that promises to clean up government and make it more efficient and, above all, not to initiate any referendums (the CAQ appears to be siphoning voters left and right equally: PQ and Liberal). Ironically, as was pointed out during the campaign, CAQ’s leader Legault would traditionally head the NO campaign should he be elected in the opposition and a referendum be proposed. He has said he would not take sides in any future referendum, whether on the yes or the no side. This promises to be interesting.

Targeting some of the PQ’s voters on the far left spectrum (as well as other parties like the Greens, the recently defunct but always marginal Communist Party and groups like la Marche des femmes contre la pauvreté) is the Québec Solidaire co-leader Amir Khadir, at one time the most popular politician in Québec. Québec Solidaire or QS has been influential in a great turnaround in Québec politics with a flurry of ideas, innovations and bold actions. Though putting left politics before independence QS emphatically denies it is anything but a party championing Québec independence. Its strategy to achieve this success is perhaps not matching its own strong convictions; it promises to hold public “constitutional assemblies” for two years and then have a referendum on the propositions therein. For an electorate already weary of referendums and debates on the issue of independence, their solution appears to be the worst of both worlds for some.

Finally Option national (ON) like QS plays on the left side of the field: they are in favour of nationalisation of resources, free education from kindergarten to university a unified government-administered Pharma-Québec for all prescription drugs. However, as ON leader Jean-Marin Aussant says, whether you are a liberal or conservative you have to “be” first. For independence the strategy is clear: ON proposes to have the National Assembly group all the powers it now shares with Canada (a sort of DEVO-MAX on steroids, voted right there in the Assembly) and then they will have a wide consultation on a constitution. It is that constitution that would be voted for by all citizens in a referendum. A win/win situation.

(Full disclosure: I support Option nationale)

This week though the media has been monopolized by the gaffes of the Parti Québécois.

GAFFE #1

PQ leader Pauline Marois proposed last week that linguistic tests would be given to all potential election candidates (whether francophone, anglophone or aboriginal) and that they would be banned from running if they didn’t speak French at an adequate level.

She then backed down somewhat saying it only applied to newcomers as people already here would have their rights maintained. Other members of the party reassured the population saying “it was not going to be done right away”. This somehow does not reassure me at all. This from a party that officially has promoted self-determination for aboriginal nations since 1977.

In an election where every point counts, consolidating your base is essential. Appearing so late in the game in this manner is proving to be just plain embarrassing. I will not argue against knowledge of French for public servants and even democratic representatives everywhere in Québec aside from aboriginal communities (a moot point since virtually everyone who is educated in Québec speaks French) but this plan appears ill-conceived, ill-explained and half-baked.

QS and Option nationale has stated in a straight-forward response that independence for Québec means that obviously they also support aboriginal nations’ rights for self-determination and promotion of their own languages. As for the PQ, on this issue it appears that this party has literally stood still for the past twenty years and has some evolving to do.

Other parts of the citizenship program would promote gender equality and a secular state by banning public sector workers from wearing headscarves and other religious symbols (a small cross was acceptable!). Though prepared somewhat for a debate (many of the ideas are in tune with the Algerian-raised PQ candidate Djemila Benhabib, an intellectual opposed to Muslim fundamentalism and a staunch defender of women’s rights) a constructive discussion could have ensued but was quickly avoided when other gaffes came to the fore such as should the cross which has been at the National Assembly be removed. YES! Says Benhabib. NO! Says Marois.

Sigh.

Again, an opportunity lost for intelligent discourse. One positive thing though, it appears the PQ has lost its fear of political characterization and is not afraid to stir up the largely hostile Anglophone press. Sadly, it has simply done very badly in the explaining, justifying and compassion department that could justify some of this stirring up of opinion.

GAFFE #2

During a debate, Legault reminded Marois all it took was 15 per cent of the population signing a petition to hold a referendum on sovereignty (actually this is quite a high number of people and it would be historic) and argues the hardliners would be in a position to decide the date of the referendum and force all of Québec like so many Caribou down a ravine. “Can you stop a referendum yes or no?” asked Legault. A stunned Marois replied not only petitions but even referendums were only consultations, they were not law. Many people would not agree in dismissing referendums as a strategy.

The next day her close collaborators had to remind her publically: it would be quite difficult to disregard a petition signed by 85000 people: the pressure would be enormous.

THE POSSIBLE OUTCOMES

With one week to go to September 4th, here are some of the scenarios: all bets are on.

My predictions are:

Option nationale wins all its ridings and a referendum on a constitution is voted on before Christmas. OK, that is a long shot. Good for 2014.
Liberals win a minority government, CAQ win minority government: unsustainable and would quickly be voted out by opposition parties.
Quebec solidaire, minority-majority. Unlikely but possible. Québec is embroiled in free trade negotiations with Cuba and Venezuela (yes, it is part of their program) and people wonder what exactly will their priorities be from their very large party platform.
PQ, a majority. I do not favour this outcome; though it is hard in our winner-take-all system to work against that. The PQ is not willing to initiate independence nor is it willing to argue for it. However pressure would mount on the AMs [Assembly Members] and perhaps like the dozens that have already left the PQ and Liberals for new parties the trend would continue.
PQ minority with two QS seats and one Option nationale. Most likely outcome right now in a divided but surprisingly stable electorate. Bingo. I do believe that would be a winning combination. Warts and all. PQ pressured by ON and QS to govern from the left and get on with obtaining all powers to the assembly.

Exciting times ahead no doubt!

Finally, the latest poll is here. The results are:

2 QS

1 ON

70 PQ

30 PLQ

22 CAQ

… Jean François Joubert

Pauline Marois And A Step Too Far? (ansionnachfionn.com)
PQ Back In Power In Québec? (ansionnachfionn.com)
The Election Campaign In Québec – The Expected And Unexpected (ansionnachfionn.com)

PQ Back In Power In Québec?

Posted on 01/08/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Québécois

With new elections to the provincial assembly in Québec expected soon the Globe and Mail carries what it claims will be the agenda of the nationalist Parti Québécois (PQ) should it regain power:

“With an election expected to be called this week, the PQ refuses to lay out a timetable for a third referendum on sovereignty in the event of a victory. Still, the PQ promises that it would immediately try and whip up popular support – possibly through a referendum on its constitutional demands – in a bid to obtain more powers and money from the federal government.

“I don’t see how we can lose,” Bernard Drainville, a PQ MNA and lead party spokesman on constitutional issues, said in an interview. “If Quebec wins, it becomes stronger. If Quebec is rebuffed, the demonstration is made that there is a limit to our ability to progress in this country.”

The issue of Canada-Quebec relations is guaranteed to play a part in the provincial election. The governing Liberals are set to campaign on a promise of constitutional stability, arguing that PQ Leader Pauline Marois’s priority is calling a third referendum on sovereignty and causing political chaos in the province. The upstart Coalition Avenir Québec, meanwhile, is trying to attract sovereigntist and federalist voters with its promise of a 10-year moratorium on constitutional battles, in order to focus on economic and social matters.

The PQ is refusing to box itself in on its timetable for a referendum on sovereignty, but vows to quickly make life miserable for the federal government after nine years of relative calm with the Charest government.

The sovereigntist party wants the federal government to turn over its powers and all related funding on matters such as employment insurance, communications and culture, and economic regional development. In addition, the PQ wants the language policies in Bill 101 to apply everywhere in Quebec, including federally regulated sectors such as banks and transportation.

“We want to move from a position of weakness to a position of strength with Ottawa,” Mr. Drainville said. “We will work to make gains for Quebec, to obtain a maximum amount of money and powers. We will work to obtain the largest possible number of victories for Quebec and Quebeckers, on all fronts.”

The PQ refuses to promise that it will hold a so-called “sectoral referendum” on its constitutional demands, but Mr. Drainville said that his party is ready to use “all means” at its disposal in its constitutional battles.

“We will not only rely on tribunals or letters to our federal counterparts. We will do it by involving the Quebec population in the process, by asking Quebeckers to support us,” he said. “We want the government’s demands to be the people’s demands.”

The PQ promises to negotiate in “good faith” with Ottawa, stating it will be up to Quebeckers to pass judgment on the federal government’s openness to the province’s demands in the events of a referendum on sovereignty.”

In The Shadow Of The Maple Leaf

Posted on 11/07/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Children of the First Nations in Canada (Photo. Andrew Stawiciki)

In recent years Canada has become something of a prestige go-to-destination in these economically straitened times for many people in Ireland seeking a better life overseas. For a whole generation of Irish people Canada has become the new “America” – though one markedly more familiar in its cultural and social attitudes than its southern neighbour.

Yet there is another side to Canada, a far darker and more troublesome one. Der Spiegel International shines a light on it:

“The view from our van could be straight out of a tourism brochure. There are snow-covered peaks, forests painted in fall colors, and next to the road flows a mountain stream where fishermen are catching salmon.

As we travel deeper into this idyllic landscape, the mood of our driver, Gladys Radek, becomes darker. She plays the Patsy Cline song “If I Could See the World (Through the Eyes of a Child),” over and over again. It is a ballad about longing for a childhood like the one Gladys never had.

Gladys was born 56 years ago on the reserve for the Gitxsan indigenous people in British Columbia, but she never gets homesick as she drives along Highway 16, the “Highway of Tears.”

“There are too many ghosts,” she says.

The ghosts are the women who have been disappearing without a trace along the 700-kilometer-long (435-mile-long) stretch of highway. Official police statistics list 18 women in all, 17 of whom are First Nation, as much of the indigenous population in Canada is called. Amnesty International assumes, however, that there are considerably more. Not a single case has been solved.

It is a three-day trip from Prince Rupert to Vancouver, where we meet with the private detective Ray Michalko. He was once a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Mounties. Six years ago, the Mounties formed a special commission to look into the Highway 16 cases. They invested $11 million (Canadian) to investigate the murders, but without success.

Michalko is not surprised. “They put 50 people in front of computers and hoped that a serial killer would jump out at them,” he says. Data was collected and profiles were created. The only thing that is not being done, Michalko says, is real detective work.

He couldn’t stand by and watch anymore, he says. That’s why he drives along Highway 16 now, knocking on doors and asking questions. Michalko doubts that the special commission wants to achieve serious results. Each real result would only produce uncomfortable questions.

On the route from Prince Rupert to Prince George we pass Moricetown, the reserve where Gladys grew up. Her mother still lives here in one of the prefabricated houses that one can pick up at any home improvement store. The whole reserve is filled with them. The muddy street that connects them is littered with garbage — TVs, wrecked cars and empty beer cans.

When Gladys’ sister Peggy opens the door, a musty smell drifts our way. Peggy, Gladys explains to us later, has spent two years in prison for assaulting a man who was trying to rape her. Her mother is sitting silently on a sofa filled with holes, gazing absent-mindedly. Her hair falls in oily strands from her head, and her blind eye peers eerily around the room.

“It is unbearable, how our people are forced to live,” Gladys says, when we turn back onto Highway 16 an hour later.

It is almost a miracle that she escaped this misery. Her parents were almost always drunk. When her younger brother starved to death, they were in a bar. Gladys was five then. That’s when she was taken away from her parents.

Her foster parents didn’t provide her with a childhood she would have wanted either. Her foster father started raping her when she was eight. When she was 13, she had the courage to report him to the reserve police. They shrugged their shoulders in response. After that, she packed her bags and ran away.

Gladys could easily have become one of the missing on the Highway of Tears. But she survived, moved to Vancouver, and raised five children. Now she is working as a spokeswoman for an organization for “Missing and Murdered Women.” Her group estimates that there are 500 missing and murdered women in Canada.

“Someone has to give a voice to the many families who don’t know what happened to their loved ones,” she says. The worst, she says, is the feeling of being alone in your pain.”

No Democracy, Now!

Posted on 10/07/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Québécois

Right-wing Canadian journalist Andrew Coyne expresses a view in the National Post on Québec independence that I suspect many Canadians will agree with. For readers aware of Ireland’s historic relations with the so-called United Kingdom, not to mention any contemporary Scots striving to sever their relationship with the UK , the contempt for democracy and the rights of peoples will ring all too familiar:

“The country is “sleepwalking into a perfect storm,” the political scientist Donald Savoie writes, hetero-metaphorically. Others are more laconic. “A turning point may have been reached that makes the uncoupling inevitable,” writes the National Post’s John Ivison…

Fortunately, such a scenario is impossible. Not unlikely: impossible.

Even if the PQ [Parti Québécois] were to win the election, and even if it could persuade Quebecers to overcome their visceral aversion to another referendum, and even if it were to ask a clear question and to win a clear majority, the next stop would be nowhere. Whatever conditions the Clarity Act may impose on the federal government’s participation in negotiations on secession, the real obstacle is more profound. The federal government has no legal authority to negotiate any such thing. Nor does anyone: there is no duly constituted representative of “the rest of Canada,” nor any means of duly constituting one.

Suppose there were. Even to enter into negotiations on such an extraordinary matter as the dissolution of the federation would require — legally, arguably; politically, certainly — a referendum of the rest of Canada, to mirror the one in Quebec.

The negotiations, if begun, would have to reach agreement on a truly dizzying number of issues, all of them zero-sum, with demands for input at every stage from multiple parties. Even if these could be sorted out, the result would require ratification in every province, very likely by referendum. All this, remember, while a simultaneous set of negotiations was under way on the shape of what remained.

The next referendum, if it comes, will be unlike any previous. As the feds are legally barred from accepting the result of any but a clear question, they can scarcely participate in a referendum that did not ask one. But the PQ will never ask such a question, if no other reason than because Ottawa insists it must. We are far more likely, then, to see some sort of preposterous charade along the lines of “do you agree that Quebec should assume such and such powers” — no more illegitimate than previous questions, but without the sanction of precedent. In which event the proper response of federal leaders is to ignore it. It always was.”

Polling The Future (ansionnachfionn.com)
Jonathan Kay: Andrew Coyne’s legalistic write-off of separatism ignores the emotional logic of divorce (fullcomment.nationalpost.com)

A Québec Spring?

Posted on 25/05/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Miriam Smith present’s a good analysis on ipoltics.ca examining the influences behind the current turmoil in Québec as students face off against the country’s centre-right provincial government under the federalist Québec Liberal Party and its leader Jean Charest:

“Another important ‘big picture’ factor in the current crisis is the role of Quebec nationalism. Quebecers tend to have a different view of the state and of collective responsibility than other Canadians. In part because of the role of nationalism in Quebec society and the sense that the francophone minority is on its own in a sea of English, collective institutions such as the church (first) and the state (later), have been assigned the role of cultural and linguistic protection.

This has spilled over into other areas of social policy. Generally, the Quebec government has been more generous than other Canadian provinces in providing services such as day care. As well, groups such as the women’s movement, trade unions, and student organizations have regularly engaged in institutionalized consultation with provincial governments and party allies such as the Parti Québécois. Therefore, there is more of a sense of social solidarity or the social model, as it is sometimes called in Quebec, than in most other Canadian provinces.

It’s also important to recall that francophones in Quebec were disadvantaged in terms of higher education prior to the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s. The modernization of higher education in Quebec as well as various measures that encouraged the use of French in the workplace during the 1960s and 1970s contributed to an expansion of access to higher education for francophone students. Cutting off access to education has a different resonance in Quebec than in other provinces. While in Ontario higher education might be seen as a ticket to a middle class job or as a potential engine of economic growth, in Quebec, higher education is inextricably linked to cultural, linguistic and national identity.”

Polling The Future (ansionnachfionn.com)
Trade unions outside Quebec funding student protests (cbc.ca)
Red River of Protest Runs Through Montreal as Students Continue Fight | Common Dreams (2012indyinfo.com)
Quebec corruption inquiry commissioner gives opening remarks (news.nationalpost.com)

Turbulence In Québec A Sign Of Radical Political Change?

Posted on 23/05/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

So, it seems that the governing (and as we would say over here, “unionist”) Liberal Party in Québec is set on throwing away its chances of re-election in the upcoming provincial elections expected later this year or in early 2013. From the National Post:

“Montreal police brought the hammer down on student demonstrators Tuesday night, enforcing a controversial law that brought tens of thousands into the streets in a protest earlier in the day that drew international support.

By the end of a cat-and-mouse operation that marked the fourth straight night of clashes, police spokesman Simon Delorme said that at least 100 people had been arrested and two police officers had been injured.

Four other people were taken to hospital but the extent of their injuries was not immediately known.

Projectiles were thrown at police and gusts of pepper spray tinged the air as riot equipped police sent people scattering.

Skirmishes broke out in different sectors of the city, sending busloads of Montreal or provincial police to quell the disturbances. Police on horseback provided additional backup as did a hovering provincial police helicopter.

One of the tactics of the night-time marches has been to walk against the flow of traffic, which often gets honks of support but sometimes brings scowls.

Police declared the evening march — the 29th of its kind since the protest started 100 days ago — illegal when some projectiles flew through the air at them. And they invoked the controversial Bill 78 and a Montreal by-law that forbids masks during public protests.

Shortly before the evening demonstration commenced, supporters in central Montreal districts came out onto their balconies and in front of their homes to bang pots and pans in a seeming call-to-arms.

As well, the powerful Montreal transit union also gave protesters a boost when it called on its members to avoid driving police squads around on city buses during the crowd control operations. Montreal police have for several years used city buses as well as their cruisers to shuttle riot squad officers around to demonstration hotspots and as places to detain prisoners.

The night-time march snaked through several Montreal neighbourhoods after it kicked off from Parc Emilie-Gamelin, a spot where all the night marches begin and which is named for a beatified nun who gave comfort to condemned rebels in the 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion.

The chanting march had not gone far before pyrotechnical devices were thrown and were followed near the downtown core by beer bottles. Police flooded Ste-Catherine Street, the city’s commercial core where chain stores sit side-by-side with upscale boutiques and told everyone to get off the streets or face arrest for participating in a riot.

The daytime march was considered to be one of the biggest protests held in the city and related events were held in New York, Paris, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.”

Altogether remarkable and an electoral gift to the nationalists of Parti Québécois (and other nationalist parties) given recent events not just in Québec but in Canada itself.

Watch this space.

(More here)

Montreal police use controversial provincial law to quell protest (canada.com)
Thousands of students march in Montreal as tuition protest marks 100 days; 100 arrested (foxnews.com)

Polling The Future

Posted on 15/05/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Following on from yesterday’s post about the effects of the right-wing policies of Canada’s Tory-led federal government on the separatist-inclined province (or should it now be nation?) of Québec, some more news on recent polls there. With provincial elections in Québec expected before the end of 2013 or earlier, the province’s government, currently in the hands of the federalist (or as we would say, unionist) Liberal Party, may pass into the control of the nationalist Parti Québécois (PQ), albeit with a narrow majority or in coalition with other Francophone groupings in the regional assembly.

However nothing is certain and the turbulence in Québec politics witnessed over the last twelve months has only recently abated. From The Globe and Mail:

““Dogged by student strikes and the looming inquiry into construction-industry corruption, [Liberal Party premier in Québec] Jean Charest is nevertheless in a neck-and-neck battle with the Parti Québécois as the remaining lifespan of his government can be counted in months.

According to ThreeHundredEight.com’s seat and vote projection model, the Parti Québécois currently holds a narrow lead over the Quebec Liberals with 33.1 per cent to 32 per cent support. While this represents a significant gain for both parties since the end of February, with the PQ picking up 3.7 points and the Liberals three, it is a far closer race than was recorded by the polls only a few weeks ago.

Throughout March and the first half of April, the PQ was averaging a lead of almost seven points over the Liberals. A remarkable turnaround after almost a year of being on the brink of catastrophe, the PQ was on track to form the province’s next government with a majority. But with current levels of support, Pauline Marois [PQ leader] would have a tough battle just to land a minority.

François Legault’s Coalition-Avenir-Québec has dropped 6.8 points since the end of February and trails in third with 20.4 per cent support, though some recent polls show that the right-of-centre party might have a little more life left in it.

Québec Solidaire stands at 7.5 per cent while the provincial Greens are projected to have 3.9 per cent support. Other parties, including the hard-line sovereigntist Option Nationale, pull together 3.2 per cent support.

Based on these numbers, the Parti Québécois would likely win 60 seats in the 125-seat National Assembly, putting it three seats short of an outright majority. The Liberals would win 53 seats, down 11 from their current crop of MNAs, while the CAQ would win 10 seats and Québec Solidaire two.

A close result like this has the potential to make for a complicated post-election period. Both the Liberals and PQ could look to the CAQ for support in order to govern, while if the PQ and Québec Solidaire, both left-of-centre sovereigntist parties, managed to win an extra seat or two they alone could command a majority of seats.

Political support in Quebec has swung widely for the last 12 months, ever since the New Democrats demolished the Bloc [Bloc Québécois, the nationalist party at the federal level] and the PQ’s internal troubles sent them on a downward spiral (which only reversed itself earlier this year). The CAQ has gone from the government-in-waiting to also-ran and now to kingmaker status. Through it all, the provincial Liberals have staggered from crisis to crisis. Jean Charest has been waiting for an opportune moment to call an election, but with things so tumultuous in the province there is no telling which way the wind will blow when the next window opens.”

Meanwhile the National Post has some very interesting letters from a host of readers debating the merits, or otherwise, of Québec independence, or the breakup of the Canadian federation if you prefer (thanks to Laurent Desbois for the heads-up and link to the video featured below). Some pretty blunt stuff here, and quite a bit of it spells out the nastiness that lurks underneath the great debate in Canada (particularly it must be said on the federalist or unionist side: that is from Canadian Nationalists), but a few perceptive thoughts too. And here is a familiar one for Irish readers (and now some Scottish ones, too):

“Provided the conditions of the Clarity Act are met, some areas of Quebec may be allowed to secede from Canada. However, the majority of Quebec’s current landmass was added to the province by the British Crown long after New France/Quebec was ceded to Britain by France in 1763. These lands would certainly stay in Canada, as would other regions where federalist votes prevail. The issue is not the separation of Quebec, but its partition.

Michael Peacocke, Ottawa.”

And this:

“I’m not sure that a velvet divorce is in Canada’s future but more in all likelihood would be a rocky divorce. So let’s get on with it as Canada’s and Quebec’s future would best be served just like what happened with Czechoslovakia. Canada should keep the mostly English south shore and Quebec would get Baffin Island in return? Wouldn’t be nice not to be a bilingual (questionable) nation any longer as they will always be 95% socialist and we just 15%.

Charles Steele, Vineland Ont.”

Troubles ahead?

The Canadian Right Pushes Away The Québécois Left (ansionnachfionn.com)
Québec Nationalism On The Rise Again? (ansionnachfionn.com)
With students in streets, Charest faces tough slog with PQ in polls (theglobeandmail.com)
Lucien Bouchard takes on Quebec’s ‘general malaise’ (cbc.ca)
Riot police clash with protesters at Quebec Liberal Party meeting (theglobeandmail.com)

The Canadian Right Pushes Away The Québécois Left

Posted on 14/05/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

There’s a recent article in the Global Post examining the actions of the Conservative Party government in Canada and the fallout from its increasingly unpopular policies, particularly in the autonomous province Québec. This time last year the nationalist movement in Québec looked like it had taken a major step backwards with the collapse in the vote of the province’s Bloc Québécois (BQ), the nationalist party at the federal level. There were very real worries that this would have a knock-on effect on its sister party, the Parti Québécois (PQ), which operates at the provincial level within Québec itself as it faced its own troubles (many of them down to internal rivalries or debates about the party’s future direction).

Now things have turned around somewhat after a period of considerable (and at times turbulent) change within Franco-Canadian politics. BQ is no longer looking the spent force some believed (or in the case of Canadian federalists, hoped) it to be, and may be ready for a comeback as some Québécoise voters seem to be already disenchanted with the federalist National Democratic Party (NDP) who they unexpectedly turned to in droves last year, in preference to their traditional BQ loyalties. At a local level some polls are predicting a strong showing for the PQ in expected provincial elections in Québec this year or next, and the target of retaking the government of the province may be back in the party’s sights again.

Meanwhile the Canadian federal government under right-wing Tory leader (and unapologetic Amerophile) Stephen Harper, celebrating a year in power on the back of a parliamentary majority, is continuing to enact a series of measures that seem almost purpose-designed to aggravate the traditional centre-left and social-democratic impulses of Québec’s population, both nationalist and federalist in nature.

“Harper celebrated his anniversary with a speech vaunting policies he said will “sustain the economy of tomorrow.” Many in Quebec beg to differ. They see an attempt to remake the country into an austere capitalist bastion, where the interests of Big Oil trump environmental concerns, where “tough on crime” means soft on gun control, and patriotism involves reverence to the British monarchy.

It’s a version of American Republicanism meeting the European welfare state. The difference is that in Canada, the clash involves a province the federal government estranges at the country’s peril — one that has already held two referendums on independence, the last one, in 1995, coming within a few thousand votes of making Quebec a separate country.

The warning signs are many, some coming from high-profile “federalists” — the term used for those who want to keep Canada united. The most noteworthy is Justin Trudeau, a federal politician from Quebec with the opposition Liberal Party. His father, the late Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was a long-time prime minister and stalwart in the battle for national unity.

“There is a way of viewing social responsibility, openness to others, a cultural pride here in Quebec that is necessary to Canada,” the younger Trudeau told the public broadcaster, Radio Canada. “And I always say that if I ever believed Canada was really the Canada of Stephen Harper and we were going against abortion and going against gay marriage, and we were going backward in 10,000 different ways, maybe I’d think of wanting to make Quebec a country.”

The statement made headlines across the country, largely due to Trudeau’s pedigree. He’s also touted as a potential future leader of the Liberal Party, which last ran the country from 1993 to 2006. That ended when Harper first gained power with a minority government.

Separatist forces in Quebec sang hallelujah, while some federalists were shocked. In a later interview, Trudeau didn’t back down.

“The separatist option is not the bogeyman it used to be,” he said. “You ask me what the bogeyman is? It’s the one sitting in our prime minister’s chair right now.”

Quebec’s independence movement grew out of the so-called Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, a period when the province’s French-speaking majority shook off cultural domination of the Catholic Church and economic domination of the English-speaking minority. Since then, support for sovereignty has rarely dipped below 40 percent, and politics have been decidedly left of centre.

Harper spent years wooing Quebec, recognizing that winning many of the province’s 75 seats in the federal House of Commons has historically been the ticket to majority government. He even passed a law describing Quebec as a “nation” within Canada.

For almost two decades, Quebecers sent left-wing separatists with the Bloc Quebecois to parliament. Then, in the May 2011 federal election they suddenly gave most of their seats to the federalist New Democratic Party, which has socialist roots. Conservatives won only six seats in Quebec, but formed a majority government by capturing Ontario and the Western provinces. And the clash of visions began.

Needles to say, Harper’s fascination with the British monarchy — restoring the “royal” designation to Canada’s air force and navy, hanging the Queen’s portrait in federal buildings and celebrating her diamond jubilee — doesn’t go over well in Quebec. It’s a province where license plates read “je me souviens” (I remember) — a reference to England’s 1759 victory against France in a battlefield near Quebec City, which turned Quebec into an English colony.

The most bitter fight is over Harper’s new crime law, which imposes minimum mandatory sentences and gets tougher with young offenders. Quebec’s government, which prefers to stress rehabilitation and a more lenient approach to young offenders, has been scathing in its criticism.

“I don’t recognize myself in this Canada,” fumed Quebec’s justice minister, Jean-Marc Fournier, after a recent meeting with his federal counterpart.

All this is music to the ears of Quebec separatists, already honing their arguments for a provincial election that could come this year. “Quebec no longer exists for Ottawa,” said Bernard Drainville, a key politician with the Parti Quebecois, which held two independence referendums when it was in power.

Harper’s majority government has only been in power one year. Already, many fear his greatest legacy may be the breakup of the country.”

Québec Nationalism On The Rise Again? (ansionnachfionn.com)
Québec Independence – Only A Matter Of Time? (ansionnachfionn.com)
Hebert: Harper’s alienation of Quebec just what the Liberals need – Toronto Star (thestar.com)
Ignatieff insists remarks on Quebec were taken out of context (theglobeandmail.com)
Celebrate the Charter, but don’t forget the scars of patriation (theglobeandmail.com)
Kelly McParland: Mulcair and the separatists, a love story (fullcomment.nationalpost.com)

Gaelic North America

Posted on 03/05/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

I’ve discussed the popularity of the Irish language in North America before but it’s not the only Gaelic tongue enjoying a renaissance there. In Canada they take their Gaelic heritage, Irish and Scottish, very seriously and in recent years it is the Scottish language that has seen substantial investment by the regional government in the easternmost province of Nova Scotia.

Halifax Newsnet reports that:

“Nova Scotians interested in improving their understanding and use of the Gaelic language will be able to further their study with a new bursary program funded by the government of Scotland and administered by Gaelic Affairs.

The bursary will support five Nova Scotians attending language training in Scotland with travel, meal and accommodation costs. Individual bursaries will be valued at about $3,100.

“Language learning can occur more quickly through immersion and this new bursary program from the Scottish government will provide this opportunity for Nova Scotians,” said Gaelic Affairs Minister Maureen MacDonald. “The province is pleased to help promote the program through Gaelic Affairs and its community partners.”

Recipients will enrol in Gaelic-language study at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, a national centre for Gaelic language and culture, in Alba, Scotland. They will choose a Gaelic dialect as a focus for their study and interview a native Gaelic speaker of the dialect to learn more about the language and its related cultural customs, practices, values and beliefs.

“With links between Scotland and Nova Scotia so strong, it made perfect sense to open up Gaelic language training in Scotland to a small number of Nova Scotians,” said Scotland’s Minister of Gaelic Alasdair Allan. “I will be delighted to welcome the successful candidates to our shores later in the year.”

Applicants must be at least 18 years old and permanent residents of Nova Scotia to qualify for the bursary.”

Meanwhile The News carries an article on new funding being made available for Nova Scotia’s popular Gaelic College:

“Students attending classes this summer at the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts will see a significant improvement to their accommodations.

With $117,667 in funding provided by the federal government, the Gaelic College Foundation is undertaking a number of improvements to the college site to meet the current and future needs of its students and visitors. These include renovations to the residence, construction of new classrooms, indoor stage improvements and upgrades to the outdoor performance centre.

“Our government is focused on jobs and growth and through key investments to help communities build on their strengths, we are supporting local and regional economic development and jobs for Atlantic Canadians,” said Minister of National Defence and Regional Minister for Nova Scotia Peter MacKay, in a statement Monday. “The Gaelic College has a significant impact on tourism in Cape Breton. That’s why we’re pleased to support the college in its efforts to preserve and promote the language, heritage and culture of Nova Scotia’s Gaels.”

The total cost of these enhancements at the Gaelic College is $309,987.”

And now this from the Cape Breton Post:

“The Nova Scotia government is developing a new interactive website to promote and preserve the Gaelic language and culture.

Minister David Wilson says the site will offer samples of local Gaelic dialects, songs, stories, music, dance and customs.

The site is called “An Drochaid Eadarainn,” which means “the bridge between us.””

Scotland Moves Forward – While Ireland Goes Into Reverse (ansionnachfionn.com)
Surprise Results For New Irish Language Survey In The North (ansionnachfionn.com)
Caithness – Its As Gaelic As Gallaibh! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Wales, Scotland And Manifestations Of Greater England (ansionnachfionn.com)
The Banality Of Discrimination (ansionnachfionn.com)
Boost For Scottish Medium Education In Glasgow (ansionnachfionn.com)
Everyone Loves The Scottish Language But The… (ansionnachfionn.com)
Clilstore trials at Ulster (guthan.wordpress.com)

An Sionnach Fionn

Éire Ghaelach – Éire Shaor

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