A country planted in the heart

Jacques Parisot showed the Quebecers how to stand up.

Jacques Parisot said to the people of Quebec: “Do not be afraid to dream, to create a community.”

This is why all young Quebecers should go see the documentary Jacques Parisot and His Imaginary CountryWritten by Jean-Pierre Roy and André Nero, which opens today in eight Gozo cinemas.

To understand that Jack Parisot is much more than his October 30, 1995 announcement regarding money and racial votes.

What do I remember?

Whether you’re PQ or not, whether you’re a separatist or not, whether you’re a recent immigrant or a longtime resident, this documentary is important because it provides a number of historical reminders. Reminders set the record straight.

During the Parents’ Commission, Jacques Parisot realized that Quebecers were the least educated in Canada. his ambition? That the people of Quebec educate themselves to realize their full potential and take their rightful place in the “Group of Nations”.

What would he say today when he saw the resounding failures of our educational system? How would he react to seeing those students who fail a basic exam in French at the fifth secondary level? What will he say today, seeing that “the Ministry of Education raised the grades of the students, allowing those who obtained 55% to pass the mathematics exam,” As Le Journal reported yesterday ?

How will Mr. Parisot react when he sees that the younger generation does not meet even the “minimum expectations required” by our school system?

Watching this documentary, one thing amazes us: Mr. Parisot had great ambitions for Quebecers, he believed in his potential, and he was convinced that we were “can.” Why was this ambition lost along the way, why this decline?

“We were so close to the country”

It’s still interesting to note that Vincent Gozzo, son of an Italian immigrant, proud federalist, supporter of the “no” vote in the 1995 referendum, produced this documentary.

And you will surely smile when you see this exchange between Mr. Parizeau and a worried immigrant who asks him what will happen to the “cultural communities” of Quebec that have become independent.

The Prime Minister replied: “For me, there is not and should not be anything other than ‘Quebecers’. In my case, my family arrived 330 years ago, and there are others who arrived five years ago. As citizens, we are all equal.”

Voluntary service

I hope the young people of Quebec will go see the movie, as they went in droves to see Felix Rose’s documentary about roses. Many of them have developed a political conscience after watching this movie.

These days, the younger generation constantly carries the words “colonization” and “decolonization” in their mouths.

Sociologist Guy Rocher, interviewed in the documentary, made this harrowing sentence: “Jacques Parisot realized that Quebecers were economically, politically, and culturally colonized.”

Does this sentence resonate in the minds of young people?

Will they realize that today, too, we are cultural colonizers…but with our consent?