I was very pleased when Governor General Mary Simon was appointed. As a member of the First Nations she became the first member of the First Nations to carry the title of Governor General. It was unfortunate that she was not fluent in French but she is a Quebecker and perhaps it made Quebec even more aware that they needed to do more to ensure that all of their citizens have the opportunity to learn French. Governor General Simon has served Canada so very well.
The new Governor General to be the Honourable Louise Arbour is fluently bilingual (I see that as a must and she is extremely fluent in law (worldwide law)) and I feel she is an excellent choice. She has served Canada in so many positions through the years and around the world including the United Nations. We are sort of at a crossroads in Canada with two provinces - desire and greed for money on the one hand and the fear of losing the French character/tradition/language on the other hand. The first I never understand I have to be honest about that greed, envy, hate, selfishness all of these things need to disappear from our world. The new Governor General to be has so much experience to bring to this task we have asked her to do in Canada. I am sure she will get along very well with King Charles III whom she will represent here in Canada.
I always hope that Quebec sees that French is all across this country in every province and the great opportunity for the children of Quebec in Canada. The desire to learn languages is increasing in our world and I think that Quebec will see that respect for their language and their way of life exists very strongly across Canada. When we went through New Brunswick on our way to Newfoundland on a tour the restaurant that we stopped at just across the border from Quebec was staffed by young people who lived in New Brunswick (they weren't students from Quebec) but they spoke mostly French and they were very happy when we were able to tell them what we wanted in French (their English like my French was just a bit weak). Except my french is now more than just a bit weak. I should improve it. Keeps the brain active and I was doing so and kept it up for several months but maybe in the fall I will get back to it.
If you want to see a culture that has virtually disappeared in Canada it is the English (I am 100% English although born in Canada with three Canadian ancestors my mother, her father, his mother). All the rest are English mostly born and died in England and I have met very few people who have retained their English heritage in my life except when I was in England so many times for our tours. Just because they speak English here does not mean they are English English. I think French is enduring much longer. Look at Montreal and Quebec City. Name a city in Canada that is very English (I haven't been to Vancouver though but I am told it is not English English but Victoria is apparently more English English). Newfoundland has more of a flair of my father's home country as he was born in England and came to Canada as a child of nine years with his parents and retained some of that English English. I have many cousins in Newfoundland by my matches and they mostly belong to the Knight/Arnold/etc families of South Dorset. Some of them when I visited there reminded me of my grandfather because his mother was a Knight from South Dorset. Having just three ancestors born in Canada though my great grandmother (my maternal grandfather's mother) was a cousin to Sir John Carling - amazing really. My grandfather learned a great deal about Canada from his mother's first cousin as a child and he shared all of that with my uncle (his son) who adored his father and was very proud to be related to Sir John Carling although he kept it to himself mostly but he shared so many stories with me about his father and what he had learned from Sir John.
It is nice though that we still have the King of England (Charles III) as our Head of State because he means a lot to the First Nations and he has visited them a number of times. His support for them (like for Canada itself) is always there and always obvious. The King always reminds us to honour the treaties which is right and proper as they have made us the strong nation that we are now. There have been glitches but repairing them is important. We must always walk together with the First Nations like Chief Tecumseh and Sir Isaac Brock as they defended Canada in those early days before we were a nation.
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