I received a report to day from a museum I was connected with in Montreal, the Donald Stewart Museum. It is a museum in an old fort. It was founded almost entirely  by English-speaking Quebeckers, supported by them, and still depends heavily on the support of English-speaking Quebeckers.

The report I received was entirely in French. They are not allowed by law to send any communications in English. They must be in French only. The same applies to a wide range of business establishments, even if all the employees and customers are English. (When I last live there, alll English book stores had to label all shelves in French.)

recently, a paramedic was sent to the home of a young girl who was experiencing a seizure. The father could speak French, but wanted to communicate with the paramedic in English to ensure he got all the terms right. The paramedic refused to listen, citing his right to work in French only.

The little girl died. An enquiry cleared the paramedic saying he was quite within his rights to refuse to listen to anything in English. (The paramedic was bilingual).

There has been constant harrasment from both the PQ and the Liberals to downgrade English rights to none at all, to hamper any English organizations - including schools - and to force English to leave the province.

I don't mean that they downplay English needs - as French needs are downplayed in some provinces. I mean a sustained campaign to destroy English institutions, to exclude them from Quebec life, and to drive the English out. This has been going on for thirty years - with scarcely a peep from the rest of Canada.

I live now in New Brunswick where, it is true, there are numbers of English who are bigots. But there is no campaign to chase francophones out. Indeed, the use of the French language is encouraged - and bilingualism is required of all government services.

Quebec had been, since 1800 or so, a hotbed of bigotry and hatred. I really wonder why the rest of Canada doesn't ever seem to give a damn.