What was odd about this is that all over the island anglo groups participate in neighbourhood events. Hell, even Westmount has a Saint Jean Baptiste Celebration. But I guess French quebec was unaware that anglos actually put on parties for the 24th and part of the celebration is in English. I guess anglos should be seen but not heard?

I have to admit though that when they interviewed the guy from Lake of Stew, his french was freaking pathetic. An Ontario french immersion student would have done better. How can anglos who live in Montreal know so little French? As an anglo I was hoping he would be the poster child of the nouvelle génération anglo and be accent free and articulate and turn the old stereotypes on their heads.

An opportunity to make double time.

This whole debate starts when you confuse "La St.Jean Baptiste" with "Fete Nationale"

As a French Canadian originally from Manitoba I tend to favor La St.Jean Baptiste and , while it is not an official holiday in the rest of Canada, I've been to parties organised by french canadians in their communities. they tend to be french promoting french culture and music and that makes sense since St.Jean baptiste is the patron saint of french Canadians.
In Quebec, things get confusing, It you make it a "national holiday" ( please use the french definition of "nation) and you say EVERYONE in Quebec is a Quebecer "a part entiere, them you have to include everyone and that includes Anglo Quebecers.

the positive side to this whole stupidity is that the majority on BOTH sides of the language divide and political spectrum spoke up to say that TRYING to ban these 2 groupes from participating was incredibly stupid and smallminded.

Not only people who advocate independence consider these nations to be such. I am actually rather offended by people who deny the existence of the Québec nation (which I also see as made up of all its components), it sound like a deliberate rejection of Québec's culture and history. Anyone who has lived here and in English Canada can see that there are MANY cultural differences. (And I'm not "pure laine").

I do hope you see the First Nations as nations!

I doubt the crowd at the late, great street event on St-Viateur, with a strong anglophone presence as well as francophones and many other cultural communities, was majority favourable to independence. I'll be attending the party at Parc Jarry; I'm sure there is no single opinion there, with people from so many different cultural communities attending.

Thank you for that clarification; it makes me feel much more welcome now.

I'll be on the beach in Burlington playing my Miracle Fortess CD's. Hope it doesn't rain.

So is Mohawk, Cree and Abenaki. Those languages, of course, are REALLY endangered, and not just perception fueled by a language based hypernationalism and unchallenged assumptions.

It's a simple fact that language laws that determine "official languages" do not change these basic facts. Quebec may be officially French only, but it isn't in reality.

Until Quebec nationalists can acknowledge basic facts, we'll just be revisiting these incidents over and over again.

The whole thing is totally illogical, and in my opinion just continues to promote the Anglo vs. Franco racism and stereotyping that a society like ours should be fighting against, rather than encouraging.

Si le 24 Juin était là pour fêter les Canadiens Français, je pourrait comprendre les réserves envers un groupe anglophone qui font une telle performance, et j'en aurais même moi-même. Par contre, sous la nouvelle définition de fête du Québec, je crois que ça devrait être la fête de TOUS les Québécois.

C'est drôle parce que les souverainistes se tirent dans le pied en agissant ainsi. Il nous montrent une image de ce qu'il perçoivent être le Québec et un avant-goût de qu'aurait l'air un Québec souverain: un pays qui rejette et ignore sa minorité anglophone. Ça ne me donne pas vraiment le goût de voter oui.

I used to really enjoy the Fête nationale events on St-Viateur in Mile-End. Many anglophones took part in that, along with francophones and people of many origins.

Philippe, I agree that part of the problem is also the fact that certain anglophones do not see themselves as QuébécoiSEs and don't really take part in the society or even know much about the current culture here. Fortunately that mindset is in decline. Certainly the musicians invited to the concert in Rosemont are very much a part of the Québec musical scene.

Although Rosemont is certainly a very francophone neighbourhood, there is an old anglophone and allophone presence - there is a beautiful small Irish Catholic church on Rosemont, and Orthodox and Catholic Ukranian churches, and other Ukranian institutions.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%AAte_nationale_du_Qu%C3%A9bec#Le_24_juin_hors_Qu.C3.A9bec

There was a bit of issue when Celine Dion sang some songs in English in Toronto at the St Jean celebrations in 88 or 89.

When ever I identify myself as Quebecois some of the pur laine get their knicker is a knot.

I'm an Anglo, born in Montreal and I work int the language of Molière in Toronto with lots of Quebec ex pats.

There are plenty of occasions to speak English in the world - like every day in 50 US states and 9 Canadian provinces and 3 territories and the West Island, several of the richest countries abroad, European Union institutions and the world of international finance, among others. So having a francophone celebration without disney-fying it, and turning it into a universal celebration of everything & everyone doesn't seem to me, an anglo, as too much of an imposition.

I don't see this as a rejection of a "band-made-up-of-anglophones" so much as a rejection of an "anglophone band". But it serves the ongoing trope of "intolerant separatist" to intentionally confuse the two.