A letter,
Écrit le 16 novembre 2018

I present to you an open letter I never thought I would pen.
I write it in this language for all my English friends.
I’m blessed to live in a reality submerge in two beautiful cultures.
Family, work and heritage in French. Socials, media and love en anglais.
A reality that is surely shared,
Stuck between two worlds; thoughts in one, emotions lived in the other.
A world so intertwined you don’t belong to either.
What if one day one simply went away?
The bonding of everything you are everything you’ve known erased from your day to day?
Next thing you know punishments will be in place, just like they did back in the day.
You see, not long ago a similar thing happened… the English in power assimilating the French to their language. Caught up in their agendas a resistance evolved, rallying all the French communities involved.
They gave more to this country than words can describe.
First living among the first nations and giving up their lives.
They birthed the Métis culture while honoring Marie and their God.
They resisted through the Great Depressions, doing what was needed to survive.
Away from big cities, politics and power their children worked harder than you could ever imagine.
Generations of women sacrificed for their bodies, no use for dreams they needed to populate the country.
A dark and layered thing is the past of the French. Years of resistance, with no end.
They stepped away from the church but not their morals and values.
What we want now is to learn and continued to be served in our language.
For my unborn children and theirs who might never know.
For them we can’t let go.
You can take away my higher education but eliminating the service assisting 600,000?
Kill the French language! – is that what they want?
Thing is we French can put up a good fight.
We must now unite as a bilingual province.
Allies together making a difference.
The youth will rise as it did before with love and support of the elders who have experienced their own cultural war.
They made noise and had a plan of action for French education, won in high spirits after years of determination.
They fought for everything we take for granted, I can’t imagine how they must feel knowing what’s about to happen.
Remember your heritage, remember our worries, because one day we might not be able to express our stories.
The news of these changes is bigger than the small communities I’m representing. It ignores the refugees and new Canadians who also use French services in this nation. From our schools and programs the arts are the next to go. Hell, 1$ beer but no consent being taught? That’s just wrong.
I finish this letter more bitter than ever scared and worried about tomorrows political weather.
A cultural genocide is on its way if we don’t speak now… we will be to blame.
Let the French speak their language, why do you even care in the first place ? A language that transcends continents through its own past of oppressions.
Sharing a dark history we don’t want to see repeating, trust, we need these services for our grandparents and children.
Would you care if the story was different?
Perhaps if the English we’re facing assimilation?
We must fight for what’s right and learn from the actions we did wrong in the past.
That’s why we need to talk and implement decolonization and recognize the stolen land we call home.
Living in harmony by embracing and respecting all cultures that make up our beautiful nation – Is what we need to do so we can love one another, work together and make this place amazing.

Avec amour,
Alexandre Aimée