Quebec Rejects Secession Bid

Re “Quebec Rejects Bid to Secede From Canada; Margin Is Tiny,” Oct. 31:

Canada has survived another vote to split into two or more independent countries, but only barely. What should concern us in this country is not just the consequences if the separatists eventually achieve their goal, but that their purpose is to preserve a heritage they believe cannot survive in a multicultural society. Early attempts to retain that heritage began with suggestions that their language be used alongside English. Then came demands that it be the official and even exclusive language of the province. Finally came the belief that the heritage could be maintained only in the form of a sovereign country.

In America, we hear similar voices today. One can only hope that we see where such trends led in Canada, and find a multicultural solution that avoids a separatist vote in our own country.

WILLIAM S. LaSOR JR.

Trabuco Canyon

*

* Explain to me why we wanted independence for Latvia and not Quebec?

JAY CROSBY

Oxnard

*

* Re “Love’s Labor Lost: No Divorce for Quebec,” by Stanley Meisler, Commentary, Nov. 1: As an expatriate Canadian, residing and working in the U.S. since the early 1980s, I have long admired Meisler’s deep understanding of and sensitivity to the complex ethnic, linguistic and political experiment that is Canada. In many ways, Canadians have coped better with their ethnic and cultural diversity than we have here. A stroll down main street in major cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal will attest to that. Virtually every race, language and culture in the world is represented and usually in a cleaner, less crime-ridden and more harmonious setting than in comparable American cities.

It is truly sad and ironic, therefore, that Canada’s two main founding cultures, the English and the French, cannot mend their 200-year-old wounds. As Meisler so clearly points out, however, love or at least respect for others is gradually giving way to ultranationalism, bigotry and intolerance. This is a despairing lesson not only for Canada, but also for us and the many other ethnic “hot spots” in the world today. One thing is certain, conflict or separation is not the solution; the planet is way too small for that and its remaining resources far too few.

KLAUS R. BRASCH

San Bernardino

*

* Quebec, 1995: California, in about 10 years. Uncontrolled immigration across our southern border, bilingualism and affirmative action have sown the seeds of separatism here. If these three ethnic entitlements are curtailed now, the seeds may not grow into the raging ethnic chauvinism tearing at Canada. But let these three demons run unchecked another decade and separatist California will be a fait accompli .

NED McCUNE

Costa Mesa