Diversity: Did Quebec Save Their Culture

1813 Words8 Pages
Canadian Educational Diversity Paper Noreen Atkinson Canisius College Foundations of Education EDU 505D Thomas O'Malley [pic] Canadian Educational Diversity Paper [pic] [pic] Did they save their culture at the cost of their education? For more than 150 years, French Canadians in Quebec have rallied around one phrase. That familiar and daunting idiom continues to resound today. It is a call of unity, a call of pride. It represents a people who feel their heritage, culture and language may be in danger of extinction. “Vive le Québec”. In the mid 1800’s, traditional French Canadians chose to remain in the rural areas of Quebec as far away as possible from the influence of the English. Many other groups lived in close social circles to maintain their beliefs. The Mennonites, Amish and Quakers kept close knit communities as well, but there was a slight difference in Quebec. What is the French question in Quebec and how did it affect their education? Is this really a diversity issue? I contend that it is. French Canadians were absolutely sure they would lose their language and culture if they ventured into mainstream Canada, so many French Canadians remained employed in the traditional jobs of agriculture, mining and forestry. They stayed in their small villages and towns carrying on in the footsteps of their parents; it was tradition. They married within their ethnicity and maintained the family values of their forefathers. In the late 1800’s a large wave of immigration hit Quebec carrying mostly people of Italian and Slavic heritage. These immigrants arrived in this country determined to make a new life. And a new life they did indeed make. They wasted no time starting businesses and working in the cities of Quebec. Within a few

More about Diversity: Did Quebec Save Their Culture

Open Document