Quote:
Originally Posted by MXD
Humm...
You're probably not gonna learn anything of what I'd say, but...
Quebec (the city) is roughly 350 km away from Kanhesatake. Not only that, but the "high profile violence" (and, to be honest, it was WAY OVERBLOWN... actually, the "violence" thing was overblown) had nothing to do with French, or language for that matter. It was, like, White vs. Non-Whites.
Besides, it was probably more of a reluctance vs. small-market team. And Lindros daddy wanting more sponsor money.
|
It was definitely lots of that. Just saying, on top of that, the centre of French-speaking Quebec wasn't the most inviting place for an Anglophone to start a new (and very important) chapter of their life. Not saying it necessarily was a factor, not saying they were justified in considering it as a factor if they did, but the Anglophone population of Quebec City steadily declined in share by half between 1950 and 2000 (~14%->~8%), so it's not like the Lindros family was unique in their concern about starting out life there as an English-only speaker. And the Association for Canadian Studies attributed that mostly to emigration to other provinces; not increase in French speaking family size, or the like. I think 2006 census (from Wikipedia, mind you) had only 1.5% of Quebec City reporting their mother tongue as English (vs 12-17% in Montreal, for example, depending on metro or the island).
Language, possible exposure in a smaller, "remote", relatively unsuccessful market, and recent civil unrest in the province (didn't even mention the protests/implications etc. associated with Meech Lake as well) could all have affected their decision-making. That, and how hard was Lindros really going to go against the wishes of his father at 18.