Quebec, Palestine and Israel

The gazette and news channels have reported language issues in hospitals here in Quebec. The idea comes from complaints of not being served in French by, obviously, French speaking Quebecois. The issue has forced Health Ministers as well as Office de la langue Francaise representatives to comment on the so called issue. To make matters worst, reports from the Office show that the language is on the decline.

The facts are that 15 complaints have been placed last year concerning language issues. Of those complaints, several were due to hearing impaired issues where no one able to use sign languages were present. After analysing the complaints, one can tell that the amounts of complaints are virtually insignificant and what's more is the complaints aren't explained by which region they were found in.

I've been skimming through Letters to the editor sections of newspapers and reading comments from citizens on the subject. It seems some people are taking the issue rather seriously. Some say they live in fear of not being able to be helped when needed. On television, debates come around dismissing the facts that, although they weren't served in French, they were well taken care of. They argue that results are worthless if non-English speaking patients are taken advantage of this way.

This led me to re-evaluate a few parts of the Quebec system. Including l'Office de la Langue Francaise and how much money is spent on the French language here in Quebec. Looking at how much infrastructure is terribly maintained, how urban planning is in terrible shape and how rural planning is even worst, I can't help but wonder if Quebec couldn't attract more people towards its culture if it had more money to spend on these problems rather then on fighting the downhill battle.

I don't believe this is an uphill battle because I don't believe their is a summit to reach. I simply believe this is a fight until the bottom is reached and where the avalanche will finish the fight. The Office de la Langue Francaise operates almost like the Catholic church did while it was in power. It's goal is to create strict sets of rules, make the penalties so that no one dare oppose, and keep control.

When looking at this video of Richard Dawkins in the Gaza strip interviewing a Muslim converted from Judaism, Quebec similarities couldn't help be surface. The situation sounds the same, we have an isolated area of people with different beliefs who are sure of what the problem is and will refuse to see otherwise.

It can be said that Quebec isn't as violent, obviously, but one has to ask if history truely tells the same?