Pauline Marois Quotes

The anglophones are Quebecers, as are the French, as are the new Quebecers.

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.

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

Many of the most difficult questions concerning the role of ethnic minorities centers on language.

When you're the single French person in the middle of 10 Tunisians, the majority will impose their way of life on the minority.

Ethnic diversity adds richness to a society.

As a child of West Texas, I identify with Hispanic culture every bit as much as I do North American culture.

Recognizing Quebec as being different, recognizing our history, recognizing our identity, has never meant a weakening of Quebec and has never been a threat to national unity.

The Sami, as an indigenous people, as well as the Roma and other groups, have the right to maintain and develop their own language and culture.

We are becoming a society where multiculture means no public culture.

Those who stay in America should be open to society without melting.

The day a race ceases to express its thought and its sentiments in that language which has grown with it and which took form with its ethnic temperament, it is lost as a race. The preservation of its language is absolutely necessary to the preservation of the race, of its genius, its character and it's temperament.

The distinct society were asking for is not a society of privileged citizens. Is a society with a different culture, a society with a different legal system, a society with specific institutions.

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 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.

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.

So far as one can generalize, the most gracious, cultivated, and innovative people in this country are French Canadians. Certainly they have given us the most exciting politicians of our time: Trudeau, Levesque. Without them, Canada would be an exceedingly boring and greatly diminished place

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

In Canada and abroad, the linguistic policy of Quebec is too often negatively perceived. The business community and the media in particular know it very little. For their part, the Americans remain opposed to a legislation that appears to them to reduce individual liberties and limit the use of English. For them, language and culture are two separate elements, they do not see how the protection of Quebec culture also includes the protection of the French language, even though 35 American States have adopted declarations proclaiming English the official language. Thus, must be developed the perception that Quebec culture is a part of the North-American heritage and that it is necessary to preserve it. It is also important to correct the erroneous perceptions regarding the Quebec language policy and its application

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

The constitutional principle of “one country, one nation” is so decisive as to reduce even our hundred and ten million Muslims, sixty million Akhoots, forty million Dravidians, seven million Christians, and six million Sikhs - to the position of mere sub-nations and satellites of the Indian nation, and thereby to disqualify each one of us from claiming the status of distinct sovereign nations in our own homelands.

I am not a racist, only a culturist. I believe Western culture - rule of law, universal suffrage - is preferable to Arab culture. That's why there are millions of Muslims in Scandinavia, and four Scandinavians in Syria. Follow the traffic.

The security and happiness of all minority groups in South Africa depend on the Afrikaner. Whether they are English- or German- or Portuguese- or Italian-speaking, or even Jewish-speaking, makes no difference.

Multiculturalism leads to parallel societies and therefore remains a 'life lie.'

Our immigration policy should not aim to forcibly change the cultural character and social fabric of Canada, as radical proponents of multiculturalism want.