Mordecai Richler Quotes

Canada is not so much a country as a holding tank filled with the disgruntled progeny of defeated peoples. French-Canadians consumed by self-pity; the descendants of Scots who fled the Duke of Cumberland; Irish, the famine; and Jews, the Black Hundreds. Then there are the peasants from Ukraine, Poland, Italy and Greece, convenient to grow wheat and dig out the ore and swing the hammers and run the restaurants, but otherwise to be kept in their place. Most of us are huddled tight to the border, looking into the candy store window, scared of the Americans on one side and of the bush on the other

English-speaking Canada, far from stifling Quebec, has acted...as a committed partner, a buffer, shielding its culture from the rest of an English-speaking continent that Quebecers perceive as a threatening force.

French-Canadians have no need to be afraid of the English ... instead, let us admire their energy and perseverance; let us imitate them. To be excellent French-Canadians we need to have, along with the qualities of our race, the best qualities of the English-Canadians.

Canada was conceived of by men of two different equally rich cultures, of two distinctive communities. Bilingualism and biculturalism are facts of Canadian life and should not be hidden or avoided. They're important, even vital to Canada as a nation, but they’re assets, not liabilities, positive factors, not negative ones.

I am branded in Quebec as a traitor to the French, and in Ontario as a traitor to the English. In Quebec I am branded as a Jingo, and in Ontario as a separatist. In Quebec I am attacked is an imperialists, and in Ontario as an anti-imperialist. I am neither. I am a Canadian.

We [French Canadians] may not assimilate, we may not blend, but for all that we are still the component parts of the same country.

We are Quebecois.

A constitution can permit the co-existence of several cultures and ethnic groups with a single state

There's a huge Indian population here in Toronto. Also, Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Edmonton - Canada really is a great multicultural country.

Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world.

You know, I would like to ask to the other parts of Canada to respect the minority of the French Canadians.

Never mind what makes Canada's constitution so special. Probably something to do with hockey, or the inalienable right to poutine, or securing the blessings of Rick Moranis.

Australia has an increasingly multicultural society.

I can't think of this country without Quebec. Je parle francais. And when I think about being a Canadian, speaking French is part of it.

I am so proud to be a Canadian.

Why would I be embarrassed about being Canadian? I'm very proud. We're just the nicest people. Everyone likes us.

I knew I had to write about Canada. I just could not find in literature any examples of the immigrant experience that I've had.

We want an independent Quebec within a strong and united Canada.

I am first Prime Minister of this country of neither all together English nor French origin .... I am determined to bring about the Canadian citizenship that knew no hyphenated consideration.

No common education has served to remove and soften the differences of origin and language.

When you start exporting ideas, philosophy, behavior, products, ways of living, it becomes an assault on the culture. Americans have to understand that.

Immigrants bring growth, creativity, and opportunity to America. They are the cornerstone of much of our great nation's cultural heritage.

A Canadian nationality—not French-Canadian, not British-Canadian, nor Irish-Canadian: patriotism rejects the prefix ... is what we should look forward to.

In Quebec, people are moved too often by passion and too little by intelligence.

Culture is more important than politics.