HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1977-02-02, Page 4Page 4
Citizens News, February 2, 1977
WHET ioti eEOPLE
COMPLAINING ABauT-YOU'RE
ALLOWED to Go ANYWHEfE
PLEASE?
Ogel-
"We'll fight to the finish"
Quebec
Canada has a problem — a big one. Will
this country remain united from sea to sea,
or will Quebec separate, likely to be follow-
ed by British Columbia, Alberta and who
knows who else. Canadians are facing a
critical point in the growth of their country,
and it is very discouraging to see how this
crisis is being faced by our Prime Minister,
Pierre Trudeau.
Mr. Trudeau has issued an ultimatum
to Quebec Premier Rene Levesque. He
wishes Mr. Levesque to hold a referendum
on separation in Quebec immediately. If
the people of Quebec vote against separa-
tion, Mr. Trudeau says Mr. Levesque
should resign. If the people of Quebec vote
for separation, Mr. Trudeau says he will
resign.
The conceited arrogance of such a plan
astounds us. Canada can get along without
either Mr. Trudeau or Mr. Levesque and
this challenge issued by our prime minister
is absurd. The problem Canada is facing
does not depend on the political futures of
these two men.
Canada's problems will not be solved
by getting rid of Mr. Levesque, and
Quebec's problems will not be solved by
getting rid of Mr. Trudeau.
It seems Mr. Trudeau has become so
wrapped up in his personal power that he
cannot see to the root of the problem. He
seems determined to treat the symptom of
Canada's problem, Mr. Levesque, than
treat the causes of the problem which have
led us to this point in our history.
Bilingualism seems to us to be one of
the basic problems Canada must face. Our
constitution gives equal rights to French
and English, but those rights exist only on
paper. In Quebec there are severe
limitations on English-speaking residents;
outside Quebec there are severe
limitations on French-speaking residents.
Neither is willing to give the minority a
chance — regardless of whether that
minority speaks English or French.
In Europe most people speak at least
two languages and are proud of it. Why is it
that in Canada we are so arrogant as to
assume our language, whether French or
English, is the best.
To us, one solution seems to be to
somehow reach the point of true
bilingualism, and in this our government
has failed miserably.
It is money wasted if spent on trying to
get adults who don't even want to speak
French to take lessons to do so. The ap-
proach in teaching French in our public
schools has also been money wasted. When
we teach our children to communicate in
English we do it by speaking only English
to them — complete emersion, and they
learn to communicate. We give them six or
seven years to learn the basic communica-
tion before we bother them with difficult
tenses, rules of grammar, and spelling.
If we wish to become a bilingual
nation, or even to stay a nation at all, it
would seem obvious we must begin in
earnest to teach ail children in this country
both languages — and we must do it by a
complete emersion process even if it is
only for one hour per day.
Becoming a truly bilingual country will
not solve all our problems, it will not even
make us unique as many countries in the
world are bilingual. But it just might help
us to understand the problems we face, it
just might give us some pride in being that
much more able to communicate with and
knowledgeable about others in this country
and it just might give us something to begin
to build this country on. At least by saying
"je suis Canadien", I am a Canadian, we
can feel a positive statement of what we
are. Anything would be better than our pre-
sent statement of existence which goes
something like, "I am a Canadian, I am not
an American."
FIRST WITH LOCAL NEWS
NEW HOURS
MONDAY, TUESDAY and FRIDAY
8:30 - 5:30
The
*id
by Cathy McKinley
If this winter ever ends there will be exceeding great
joy in my heart.
I have been pushed, pulled and shoved out of more snow
drifts, frozen the tips of my ears and the end of my nose
more times and shovelled more snow than I have ever done
before. In fact, if you added all the years of my life together
I would still have shovelled more snow this winter alone.
This might be a good time to say thank you very much
to all those who have come to my rescue in the past couple
of weeks, I know there are a lot of you.
But it is not just me that people have been helping. I
have heard more stories of people helping people, in fact go-
ing out of their way to help other people than I could possi-
ble recount.
That perhaps is the onlygood thing that is coming out of
all of this, the way people are pulling together and lending a
helping hand. About the only other good thing I can think of
that this stormy weather is causing is that in the country
there is a shortage of bread and the delicious smell of fresh
home -baked loaves are once again drifting out over the
countryside.
The numerous accidents which "'have occurred all
around us over the past few days make those of us who were
lucky enough to avoid them feel just a little bit humble. And
believe me it is only luck which did keep most of us out of
those accidents if we were driving. To be so completely cut
off as you are these days if you happen to be alone in a car
surrounded by a swirling wall of white is frightening. The
knowledge that if anything is stopped ahead of you, you are
going to hit it because you can't even see the front of your
own car, the fear of stopping yourself for fear you get hit or
freeze to death, the inability to see clearly enough to turn
around and retreat before the storm, all of these tend to
emphasize the complete dominance of the weather and our
own insignificance. It is a very startling experience, but
hardly unique in this land of ours.
• If you are wondering why the paper is so small, or late,
or without too much news, the explanation is a simple one.
Nothing happened last week, from Wednesday on,
everything was cancelled. Finding news where there is
none is a tricky task.
Did any of you happen to notice the new masthead we
have started using this week? The masthead is the
signature of the paper located at the top of the front page.
We decided a new signature would be in order and this is
what we have come up with. If you have any comments con-
cerning it, either good or bad, please let me know. I would
be very interested in hearing them.
Well today is Ground Hog day. According to tradition, if
the ground hog comes out of his burrow today and sees his
shadow we will have six more weeks of winter, otherwise
spring is just around the corner. Maybe there is some merit
in all this snow after all, I doubt if any ground hog will even
be able to tunnel. his way out of his burrow let alone stick
around long enough to see his shadow. Look out spring, here
we come.
11151 WITNEOCAE NEWS
Published Each Wednesday By J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd.
Member:
Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association
Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association
Manager - Betty O'Brien
News Editor - Cathy McKinley
Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385
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