While most public signs written exclusively in French can be viewed simply as inconvenient or disrespectful, plaques honoring military sacrifices raise the issue to another level.
Article Author:
Michael Callin • The Montreal Gazette Special Edition
On August 19, 1942, 5,000 Canadian soldiers The Nazi-occupied French port of Dieppe, which launched the attack. The raid, dubbed Operation Jubilee, was he one of the worst disasters in Canadian military history. Casualties were his 916 killed, over 1,000 wounded, and hundreds taken prisoner. The debate over the wisdom behind the raid, or its complete lack thereof, continues to this day.
But Dieppe's ignorance is not the immediate problem. Rather, what should concern us on this anniversary is the flawed memorial to the event, which was installed five years ago and is now on permanent display in Montreal.
A few minutes' drive from downtown and just east of Habitat 67, the park is a reminder of the sacrifices made by the thousands of Canadians who are underage to vote. A memorial plaque in Dieppe Park outlines the historical horrors they experienced.
All plaque text is in French. No English version.
If we fail to condemn this display of monolingualism in our city, it means that we have been conditioned to a kind of political correctness that is spiraling out of control in Montreal. increase.
Canadian boys who died on the beach at Dieppe joined regiments such as the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, South Saskatchewan, and Calgary's 14th Canadian Army Tanks. In other words, they came from cities and towns across the country. Their native language was predominantly English.
The monolingual plaque in the Parc des Dieppes may be due to Quebec's political legitimacy, which has decreed the extinction of English in public. Liberally challenged by even its most prominent opponents and increasingly accepted as standard fare (c'est normal. It extends to the direction of weakening. Cities around the world respectfully assist their visitors by including the globally recognized lingua franca on signs affixed to cultural buildings. Not so in our city, despite her over half a million English-speaking people living in Montreal.
Park plaques are most notable for the city of Montreal's disrespect for tourists, its disrespect for its English-speaking population, and its impolite adherence to the Quebec nationalist frenzied language. could be a good example. Yet, while most public signs written exclusively in French can be viewed simply as inconvenient or disrespectful, plaques honoring military sacrifices take the problem to another level.
In this case, the rejection of the bilingual text may have been deliberately hurtful. , or maybe not, but the monolingual results are definitely a shame.
Michael Karin was the editor of Montreal Business Magazine. His most recent book, The Kremlin Papers, documented Russia's influence on the American president.
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History in our eyes: Dieppe, August 25, 1985 In memory of
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From the Archives: A small band of city warriors welcomed
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