A country planted in the heart

DAY

Jacques Parizeau taught Quebecers how to stand up.

Jacques Parizeau said to Quebecers: “Don't be afraid to dream, to form a society. ”

That's why all young Quebecers should go see the documentary Jacques Parizeau and his imagined country, by Jean-Pierre Roy & André Néron, which is showing today in eight Guzzo cinemas.

To understand that Jacques Parizeau is much more than his declaration of October 30, 1995, on money and ethnic votes .

WHAT DO I REMEMBER?

Whether you are a PQ or not, whether you are a separatist or not, whether you are a recent immigrant or a long-time resident, this documentary is important because it provides a number of historical reminders. Reminders that put things in perspective.

It was during the Parent commission that Jacques Parizeau realized that Quebecers were the least educated in Canada. His ambition? That Quebecers educate themselves to realize their full potential and take their rightful place in “the concert of nations”.

What would he say today when he saw the resounding failures of our education system? How would he react to seeing these students who fail a basic French exam in secondary five? What would he say today, seeing that “the Ministry of Education increased the marks of the students, which made it possible for those who had obtained 55% to pass the math exam”, as reported Le Journal the day before yesterday?

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

Watching this documentary, one thing strikes us: Mr. Parizeau had great ambitions for Quebec, he believed in its potential, he was convinced that we were “capable”. Why was this ambition lost along the way, why this leveling down?

“WE WERE SO CLOSE TO THE COUNTRY”

It's still quite amusing to note that it was Vincent Guzzo, son of an Italian immigrant, proud federalist, supporter of the NO vote in the 1995 referendum, who 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 “cultural communities”. in a Quebec that has become independent. 

The Prime Minister replied: “For me, there is not and there should never 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 the same. 

VOLUNTARY SERVITUDE

I hope that young Quebecers will go see the film, as they went in large numbers to see Félix Rose's documentary on the Roses. Many of them had developed a political consciousness after watching this film. 

These days, the younger generation constantly has the words “colonization” and “decolonization” in the mouth. 

The sociologist Guy Rocher, interviewed in the documentary, launches this shocking phrase: ” Jacques Parizeau understood that Quebecers were colonized economically, politically and culturally “.< /p>

Will this sentence resonate in the minds of young people? 

Will they realize that today too we are culturally colonized… but that it is with our consent?