Quebec Jews Discuss Their Future Under Separatists; Urged to Get Involved in Province’s Politics

The 120,000 Jews in the province of Quebec were urged this week to “face the French fact” and “get involved” in the political affairs of this province which faces major changes, including possible separation from the rest of Canada. The appeal was made by leaders of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Jewish academicians and a former member of the Quebec government who participated in a meeting Sunday night attended by 500 Montreal Jews at the Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem Synagogue in Cote St. Luc.

The meeting was called to provide “a clear understanding of the problems and challenges facing Quebec’s Jewish community” in the after math of last November’s election victory of the separatist Parti Quebecois. It was the first in a series of meetings arranged for the purpose of testing the awareness of Quebec Jews to changed conditions and their willingness to defend their acquired positions. The discussion elicited varying opinions from knowledgeable Jewish leaders. Some viewed the possibility of a separate Quebec with no qualms. Others regarded such an event as a disaster for Canada.

Dr. Victor Goldbloom, former Minister of Environmental Affairs and presently a Liberal (opposition) member of Quebec’s provincial assembly, told the audience that important changes have been taking place here since 1960, not since the Nov. 15 elections. “We have to watch carefully for any trend leading to discrimination against the Jewish community,” Goldbloom said, adding that “So far I haven’t detected any.” He said that great pressures could be expected on those who wish to participate in Quebec public life to do so in French. “Inability to speak French will create difficulties in communications with the French majority,” Goldbloom warned.

He said that the projected referendum on whether or not Quebec should separate from the Canadian confederation “will decide the future of this province” and he urged the Jewish population to speak to their fellow Quebecers in French about the advantages of living in one Canada.

CANADIAN PROBLEM NOT JEWISH ONE

Jean-Claude Lasiry, professor of psychology at the University of Montreal, said there was a risk of a hardening in the Quebec line with regard to “Francization” of the province. “The province of Quebec is a Canadian problem, not a Jewish problem and therefore we should react to it as Canadians and not as Jews,” he said. Lasiry, the son of Jewish immigrants from Morocco, observed that a great number of young Jews, both Anglophone and Francophone, are in favor of a separate Quebec.

Irving Cotler, professor of law at McGill University, said that “separation is not inevitable but if the dignity of Quebecers cannot be realized but as an independent Quebec, then let it be so.” In the future, he said, Quebec may become as French as Ontario is English. “Secularization of education, health care and social services is already taking place. If the Quebec government follows the line of its own determination, it must understand our own Jewish determination as well,” he said.

He warned that “If the Quebec government takes an anti-Jewish position, it will necessarily be opposed because we shall not tolerate anti-Semitism in any form.” Cotler added that “We must let the French majority know that our commitment to the State of Israel is an important fact in our lives.”

Alan Rose, national executive director of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said that the CJC would react to any discrimination if it occurs. “We will have to test the Quebec government by the way it treats the Jewish community,” he said. He said that Quebec Premier Rene Levesque will appoint a liaison to the non-French communities. Rose told the audience that he had met with Camille Laurin, Minister of State for Cultural Affairs, who told him that he would be glad to see ethnic minority cultures flourish but did not promise anything.

CJC WARNING AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM

Rose said he told the minister that “recognition of nationalities must be mutual” and that “I am proud to belong to the Jewish minority but I refuse to be a minority within an English minority. I want to be a minority within a majority.” Rose said he had urged Laurin to enact legislation to revise Bill 22 which requires all children to attend French schools except those of English parents.

He told the audience that he had also met with Levesque before the elections and warned him that Jews would leave Quebec, not because it is French but only if the new government became “uncivilized.” He said he was convinced that if Quebec separates “that means the end of Canada.”

Rose said Levesque told him at their meeting that as a war correspondent he had visited Dachau two days after its liberation and was fully aware that extreme nationalism ends with Dachau-like tragedies. But Rose predicted that if Quebec separated, not only Jews but many other ethnic groups, including French, would leave the province. He said that “25,000 French Quebecers are now living in California.”