Daily Gleaner
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Thursday, 15 February 1990

Sir: An open letter to the French-speaking people of Quebec:

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

   My friends, you have been threatening us with divorce for 20 years now.  I will be blunt, as one can only be with a close member of the family.  The time for political games has passed.  The time has come now for plain words, for frankness and honesty.

   A house divided cannot long stand.  I believe you must sign our constitution now, and rejoin the Canadian family.” Please keep your mind open, and let me tell you why.

   We will not accept a constitution which sets one province apart from the rest.  The message is clear: we will dissolve the union first.

   We know: your province is distinct, by language, culture, and legal system.  No-one can dispute this.  But have you not seen the dance, and listened to the music of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton, Acadia, the Prairies? You must reflect deeply: can you really expect the people of these regions to accept your argument that you are more distinct than they?  No, my friends, this goes against the basic human nature.

   We understand your position very well: you are a small island of French in an ocean of English.  Indeed, who can understand your feelings better than we, who live beside an ocean of Americans?  But, we cannot be held responsible for your situation; it is an accident of history.  We know your fears of isolation and assimilation, for we are scared, too.  We have always been threatened from without, and now we are threatened from within. 

   My friends, do you appreciate, in your heart of hearts, that when you voted yes to Canada, we also voted yes to you?  I can remember the overpowering relief, the deep emotion, the unprecedented outpouring of love on that fateful day.  It was the turning point in Canadian history.  We had buried our past, and for the first time our two peoples stood united by choice, instead of by circumstance.

   The opportunity of this unprecedented rapprochement is fast slipping away.  You have gone back on your word, and we are frustrated, confused, and deeply hurt.  We understood when you did not sign the constitution in 1982, for Mr. Levesque was a great man, of great convictions.  We could not expect a man of his philosophical ideals, referendum or no referendum, to go against his own beholds.  But now, eight years later, we feel only that our future is being held for ransom.

   My friends, we have tried, so very hard, to meet you halfway.  We accept that you control the ,political complexion of the House of Commons.  We convert our laws into your language, print our government documents in your language, and print our signs and cereal boxes in your language.  We teach your language to our children in our schools, and we tell our public servants that they cannot be promoted to better positions without knowing your language.  Do you appreciate how difficult this has been for us?

   My friends, we do not understand why you continue to reject us.  We believed our marriage to be renewed, and we have done our best to uphold our side of the bargain.  All we have asked in return was that you cease to threaten the very survival of our country.  Now, you wish to renegotiate, under the threat of secession, and we feel betrayed.

   My friends, it would do you well to walk for a day in the shoes of Atlantic Canadians.  We, of all Canadians, have least benefited from the Canadian union.  We are poor, and we are small.  Our roads are bad, our trains are cut, our fisheries are closed, our food, electricity, and gasoline are expensive, and we see little hope for improvement in the future.  It is difficult for us to feel sympathy for you.

   Our country has many serious problems: environmental destruction; injustice done to our first people; inequities in our federal institutions.  Canada would not be the great country it is today without both our peoples, French and English.  We have built this country together.  Let us get on with the process.

   My friends, 20 years is long enough.  We have now raised almost a generation of Canadians who live with the fear that their fragile country may break apart at any moment.  We are tired, so very tired, of fighting to convince you that you are wanted.  A house divided cannot long stand, and the cracks in the foundation are widening before our eyes.  The decision is entirely in your hands.  Please, sign our constitution now, as an equal member, and rejoin the family while there is still time to repair the damage.

William Mott Stewart

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