Letter to Ahunstic federal deputy

Dear Maria Mourani,

I read your newsletter and I'm mostly impressed by the progress and activities scheduled for my new burrow, Ahunstic. However, there is one item on that discussion letter that particularly draws my attention.

The Office Quebecois de la langue française, (which stubbornly writes its own titles in French, regardless of the context), assumes our preferred language is French. I quote : "being greeted [...] in French is more than just a right. It's a matter of national pride!".

This comment, boldly written as a subtitle, claims I do not love my province if I don't speak French. In addition the text writes: "Out of love for our language and respect for what we are..." I am personally offended when I am told, directly or indirectly, that I do not respect "what we are".

I am an accounting analyst in a very successful ophthalmologist multinational, I pay my taxes, and I drive my car on these pothole-filled streets and uncertain bridges that make up Quebec without complaining. I even order my coffee in French at the local Tim Horton’s and salute people with Bonjour !. I believe I speak for all Anglophones in my province when I say I feel attacked and discriminated against by the French Language Office of Quebec and all activists supporting it in their every step, when emotional and personal affiliation with the province of residence is shown as reflected in the language they speak, the latter being none other than French. Canada is built on two pillars, and Quebec is a Province of this body. We share the same constitutional rights, whether male or female, young or old, Anglophone or Francophone. Our freedoms, whether to reside in a province or another, are fundamentally similar to the choice of our spoken language and should be respected as such.

On this note, I recall a document known as the Constitution Act of 1982. Part I, Section 16.1 reads the following :

Official Languages of Canada

“ (1) English and French are the official languages of Canada and have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use […]”

I urge you to act on my behalf, and all those Anglophones on the same side of the Francophone offensive, as chosen representative of the burrow I reside in, to halt the increase in French protectionist movements that threaten our freedoms as Canadians. We love our province and our country, and respect it just the same whether we voice it in English, or in French. Multi-culturism is Canada; this cannot be taken away from any Canadian.

Sincerely and Truthfully,