'We learned the language' immigrants tell Quebec commission

Learning French is difficult but worthwhile for people who choose Quebec as their new home, a group of immigrantstold a provincial commission on Monday.

The Bouchard-Taylor commission onreasonable accommodation held a town hall-style hearing in Drummondville Monday night, drawing more than 200 people who wanted to talk about speaking French.

It's not an easy language to learn but it's part of starting a new life in a new country, said Clara Hortua, a Colombian native who has lived in Quebec for three years.

"If you want to, you can," she told commissioners Gérard Bouchard and Charles Taylor.

But speaking French doesn't seem to help new immigrants find meaningful work, and it's frustrating for professionals who come to Quebec and don't have their credentials recognized, Hortua said.

Luz Fary Perdomo Pinzon, a professor from Colombia, said she started learning French from scratch at the age of 46.

"There is surely a place for me and my children, and for all people ready to invest themselves," she told the commission.

"I've convinced that as an immigrant, I have the right to keep my values and my identity. At the same time, I have the responsibility to learn the language, to understand how this society works and to integrate," she said to applause from the audience.

Others who testified asked that old-stock Quebecers show a little more patience with immigrants, recognize their skills and give them enough time to learn French.

Others asked whether established Quebecers would fare so well if they had to go live in Japan or China and were forced to learn a foreign language.

Drummondville resident Alexandre Guilbeault asked the audience to raise their hands if they thought they could— only about half a dozen people did.

"We tell [immigrants] to come here. And never has anyone asked that Quebec become a Muslim nation," said Guilbeault.

The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks surfaced at Monday's hearings, with an Algerian-born teacher urging moderate Muslims to speak out more often about thorny issues around identity and religion.

"The moderates, among Muslims here, why are they so silent?" asked Lydia Parrès, who has lived in Québec since the 1960s.

"Quebecers are waiting for [us to speak] to allay their fears, and distinguish so-called moderate Islam with this bloodthirsty Islam."

Others continued to voiceold-stock frustrations about Quebec's culture being threatened by newcomers.

André Bissonnette described himself as a "frustrated Quebecer" who said he's tired of watching immigrants impose their religion on Quebecers.

"I'm not a practicing Catholic, so why would I yield to the religion of others? They can go worship in their churches, I have nothing against that, but don't make us follow you."

The Quebec government established the Bouchard-Taylor commission earlier this year to harness a bitter public debate about immigrant integration and assimilation.

The hearings will wrap up in Montreal later this month.