Why do many french Canadians feel they are victims of discrimination?

Answer 1

I'm French Canadian, and I don't know of any French Canadians who feel they are victims of discrimination. I think this impression that people have (usually English Canadians) comes from two places. The first, which is typically misunderstood is the desire for public services in French. Francophiles (people who ONLY speak French) technically have the right to request any public service in French. Doctors, road signs, bus drivers and birth certificate forms are all examples of things that we have the legal right to access in French. While there is an abundance (perhaps an overabundance) of these in Quebec, Francophiles in other areas of the country have a much harder time accessing these things.

The second, which is the more contentious of the two issues (though the first is fairly contentious among English Canadians), dates back to the First World War, in which French Canadians were promised that they would not be conscripted into a war which they felt did not concern them. Ultimately, they were conscribed like everyone else. It was the opinion of many French Canadians that the British government had done no favours for us, so why should we risk the lives of our fathers and sons for them? The same conscription crisis happened again in the Second World War, although many more French Canadian volunteered for the Second World War, seeing that it was more clearly a war of morality, versus a war of empires, which the first was. When they came back, they felt that in general, the Canadian government did not care as much about French Canadians as English Canadians, and gave us less rights. They formed a movement called the Seperatist movement, petitioning Quebecois people to pressure the government to allow Quebec to become its own country. Twice the entire country voted, and the most recent time, it was within a 5% marigin, to keep Quebec in Canada.