Introduction; the New French fact in Montreal: francization, diversity, globalization.

Meintel, Deirdre ; Fortin, Sylvie

For some three years the Groupe de recherche ethnicite et societe (GRES), an interdisciplinary group of researchers (1) based at the Centre d'etudes ethniques des universites Montrealaises, has been studying the ramifications of what might be called the "new French fact" in Montreal. (2) As the term was used as far back as 1961 by then-Premier Jean Lesage, the "French fact" was a kind of rhetorical shorthand for the demographic and political reality of Quebec, where French speakers were a numerical majority but still a political minority. This situation was transformed by changes implemented upon the electoral victory of the Parti Quebecois in 1976, most importantly Bill 101, which made French the sole official language of public life in Quebec and, among other things, obliged almost all immigrants to send their children to French-language schools. While quite successful in raising the status and extending the use of French in Quebec, an unintended consequence of the new law and the policies it generated was to greatly advance multilingualism in the province, especially in Montreal (Lamarre, et al.).

**********

A generation later, the social landscape of Montreal has been transformed, not only by Bill 101 but also by the forces of globalization, especially as these affect migration processes. Not only do new Montrealers come from increasingly diverse origins (Piche), but migration processes themselves are changing. Migration is less a "one way ticket" than a multidimensional process that creates multiple affinities and points of reference for migrants. Bipolar trajectories, with or without a certain "back and forth" movement between the country of origin and that of residence, have given way to circulation between multiple locales, such that "success" and even "integration" for migrants may be defined in terms other than those of the host society, as LeBlanc shows in her study of networks and voluntary associations among West Africans in Montreal (See also Le Gall's book review of Tarrius). Fortin also finds multiple migration paths in her study of networks of migrants of France who settle in Montreal; she shows tha t social proximity is not necessarily a matter of cultural or linguistic similarities and that migrants' networks are not clear indicators of their sense of belonging (or not) to the society of residence.

The contemporary situation in Montreal makes clearer than ever the fact that the end point of the migratory experience is not simply assimilation to a hypothetical "majority" (a notion that is critically discussed by Pietrantonio), but rather can lead to enduring diversity and societal transformation. While most research on migration addresses the changes undergone by migrants in the host society, the realities of the Montreal context in recent decades have obliged the GRES, along with other researchers, to focus their attention on how immigration and ethnic and cultural diversity have led to changes in society as a whole. Among the effects of Bill 101, which was passed in a context of considerable social innovation that included, for example, the establishment of a network of local health and social resource centres called CLSC's (Centre local de services communautaires), was the almost overnight diversification of the clientele for French-language institutions, such as schools and health facilities of all k inds. Change has occured on every level, including the demographic composition of the society (Piche), its institutions (Symons, Pietrantonio), along with day-to informal interaction (Lamarre, et al.). While immigration is increasingly recognized as an economic necessity for Quebec, as for the whole of Canada, beyond this, diversity resulting from immigration is increasingly presented as a social asset for the regions beyond major cities in Quebec, such that "regionalization" is a focus of State policy, especially with respect to refugees.

Montreal is known to scholars for its "ethnic retention"; i.e. greater maintenance of ethnic institutions, social patterns (e.g. ethnic endogamy), and languages over time than in other North American cities, a probable result of the "double majority" (Anctil 1984; Avery and Ramirez 1990; Meintel 1998), and the city's historical role as a springboard for new groups who would mostly settle elsewhere in North America, such that many groups, though small in number, early on established their own institutions (churches, press, etc.) in the city. Moreover, political discourse over many decades has focussed on the importance of maintaining the French language and Quebecois culture in the face of pressures to assimilate to Anglo North America.

Today, though, diversity in the long term does not simply imply maintenance of an "ethnic mosaic." It now implies new forms of social mixture, cultural expression, and composite social identities (or so Meintel argues in her article). Hip-hop for example, takes on particular forms in Montreal that have ethnic dimensions without being the artistic expression of one particular group, as per the pilot research currently in progress under the direction of Marie-Nathalie LeBlanc. To study ethnicity in such a context means looking not only at specific, recently established groups in the city (e.g. Fortin, LeBlanc; see also Le Gall 2002, and Le Gall, in press), but also studying cultural innovations such as Brazilian capoeira as it involves young Montrealers of diverse backgrounds, or second-generation ethnic enterprises, where young entrepreneurs who have grown up in Montreal present sophisticated, "globalized" references to their ancestral culture in cafes, restaurants, and artistic productions.

On the level of language, one is tempted to say, as did a student of our acquaintance, "Codeswitching (alternating between different languages in the same conversation) is a code." The article by Lamarre, et al. highlights the expressive aspects of codeswitching among young adults. Both seamless transition from one language to another (switching between English, French, and other languages) and altering languages as the composition of the conversational group changes (downshifting from three to two languages, for example, when someone arrives who does not speak the minority group language) are actions typical of younger Montrealers (Lamarre, et al.). But while Montreal is increasingly multilingual and French has become the lingua franca for a highly diverse population, Fortin's study shows that accent becomes a potent marker of insider/outsider status, a criterion of inclusion or exclusion, and for some, we might add, a way of approaching or distinguishing themselves from the social majority.

Schnapper (1991) has pointed out that "integration" is a condition of societies, not of individuals or social groups, though the word is typically applied to migrants and minorities. Perhaps because the drive to incorporate immigrants into the nationalist dynamic brought such quick and dramatic changes in Quebec, it is hard to ignore the fact that issues that seem to be "about" immigrants or minorities are in fact "about" Quebec society itself. Piche faces head-on the issues that diversity poses for the nationalist movement. Many of the articles demonstrate, from different perspectives, that what "Quebecois" means, not to mention "Quebecois culture," is now contested ground. "Who is Quebecois?"--or as Fortin asks, "Who can be Quebecois?"--are open questions.

The ideological face a more inclusive nationalism might present remains an open question. At the same time, we believe, the weight of the research presented in this issue does not allow us to reach any premature or facile political conclusions. Indeed, as many of the articles show in different ways, the connection between language and identity is far more complex at present than it once seemed. Quebec's "distinctness" can no longer be conceived of in terms of an ancestral local culture and language. However, we begin to find evidence that there may be a new, emerging "distinctness" that will affect Quebec's role in Canada and its place in a globalized world. That is, in the work of the GRES as a group, we begin to find evidence for the possibility that the kind of pluralism (Juteau 2000) that is being created in Quebec is in some ways unique (Fortin and Renaud, forthcoming) and is often different from what can be observed in other North American cities. On the conceptual level, the group's research, as it is presented here, gives an indication of the complexity of affiliations and allegiances in present-day Quebec, as well as of new identity configurations that call for new kinds of conceptualization. In the future, Quebec's social distinctness may be based on the type of plural society being created there, and most notably in Montreal. In the papers presented in this issue, we attempt to describe and better understand the new social linguistic and cultural dynamic of the city, keeping in mind that Montreal is in some ways a unique case, but it is also, in many ways, affected by the global processes that are shaping life in metropolitan centres everywhere.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We wish to express our appreciation to Robbyn Seller and Marie-Jeanne Blain for their assistance in preparing this issue.

NOTES

(1.) Members of the GRES include Danielle Juteau, Patricial Lamarre, Marie-Nathalie LeBlanc, Josiane LeGall, Christopher McAll, Deirdre Meintel, Victor Piche, Linda Pietrantonio, Bruno Ramirez, Jean Renaud, and Gladys Symons. Marguerite Cognet is an associate member. Sylvie Fortin has been coordinator of the group since 1995 and Deirdre Meintel, director, since 1995.

(2.) This research has been supported by funds from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC, Canada) and the Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et l'Aide la Recherche (FCAR, Quebec).

REFERENCES

Avery, D. and B. Ramirez (1990). Immigration and Ethnic Studies. In A Thematic Guide to Canadian Studies (Ed. A. Artibise). Montreal and Kingston: McGillQueen's University Press, 77-116.

Fortin, S. and J. Renaud (forthcoming). Strategies d'etablissement en contexte montrealais: une diversite de modalites? Actes du colloque Racisme et discrimination: les tensions et les defis d'une societe plurielle, Centred' etudes ethniques des universites montrealaises en collaboration avec Immigration et metropoles, Montreal, February 27 and 28, 2003.

Juteau, D. (2000). Les ambiguites de la citoyennete au Quebec. Les grandes conferences Desjardins 7, Programme d'etudes sur le Quebec, Montreal, McGill University.

Lamarre, P., J. Paquette, S. Ambrosi and E. Khan (forthcoming). Langue et alterite en contexte de pluriethnicite: le code cegepien montrealais. Les Cahiers du GRES 4(1).

Le Gall, J. (2002). Le lien familial au coeur du quotidien transnational: les femmes shi'ites libanaises Montreal. Anthropologica 44(1): 69-82.

----. (in press). Le Rapport l'Islam des Musulmanes Shi'iites Libanaises Montreal. Anthropologie et Societes 21(1) Spring, 2003.

Meintel, D. (1998). Les comportements linguistiques et la nouvelle pluriethnicite montrealaise. Etudes Canadiennes/Canadian Studies 45: 83-93

Schnapper, D. (1991). La France de l'integration: sociologie de la nation en 1990. Paris: Gallimard.

Sylvie Fortin recently obtained a Ph.D. in anthropology at the Universite de Montreal. She co-ordinates the research and publication activities of the Groupede recherche ethnicite et societe (GRES). Her recent research focusses on migration pathways and the social ties of migrants from France in Montreal and, more generally, on issues of economic, social, and symbolic inclusion and exclusion. Her research interests also include the health and social service sector in pluriethnic settings. In 2000, she published Destins et Defis, a study of the economic and social exclusion experienced by Lebanese migrants in Montreal.

Deirdre Meintel is a full professor of anthropology at the Universite de Montreal and has been the director of GRES since 1995. She is also a member of the research team at the Centre de recherche et deformation at a local clinic (CLSC Cote-des Neiges) that serves a large pluriethnic clientele. She is the author of numerous works on migration and family issues, as well as questions of identity. She has published articles in journals such as Culture and the Revue europeenne des migrations internationales. Dr. Meintel has preciously researched the issue of transnationalism in Cape Verde. Along with ethnicity and migration, her other main interest is religion and modernity. She and Marie-Nathalie LeBlanc recently co-edited an issue of Anthropologie et societes on this subject.