I'm a proud Québécois. Moving to Alberta helped me feel even more Canadian

Thomas Aguinaga · for CBC First Person

· Posted: Jun 24, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 hours ago

This First Person file is written by Thomas Aguinaga, a musician, writer and planetary speech co-ordinator astatine the University of Ottawa. He was proudly calved and raised successful Aylmer, Que. This file is part of a Canada Day bid exploring what Canada means to radical crossed this country. For much accusation astir CBC's First Person stories, delight see the FAQ.

In 1983 my dad, Brian Aguinaga, acceptable ft successful St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., ("St- Jean," to the locals) for the archetypal time.

Like galore caller subject recruits, helium was completing his French connection grooming astatine the town's base. He was an astir 19-year-old "Anglo" from Nova Scotia, by mode of Ontario, with small clip spent successful "La Belle Province."

The program was to rapidly decorativeness his grooming and debar being cornered into immoderate linguistically awkward situations with locals. 

But 1 nighttime helium was tempted to spell out, and helium was cornered into a linguistically awkward situation with my mom.

Josée Lachance, a past 18-year-old francophone from St-Jean- was smitten. So was dad. Their friends became their unwitting translators for the night. 

On aboriginal dates, present without friends' help, they'd locomotion the streets of St-Jean playing a crippled they called "dictionary." The rules were simple: See an object, telephone it out and the different repeats it successful their language. "Leaf," dad said. "Feuille," mom answered. "Car," he proclaimed. "Auto," she responded. 

On they went, learning each other's connection — and falling successful emotion — one connection astatine a time.

They got married, and dad's subject vocation took them each astir Canada: Victoria, Halifax and Kingston, Ont.

Eventually, they had kids (my sister, past me), and settled down successful Aylmer — a diverse, bilingual suburb connected the Quebec broadside of the Ottawa stream and 15 minutes from Ottawa. My parents, present fluently bilingual, made definite we besides learned both official languages.

We spoke English with dad and French with mom. We watched CBC and Radio-Canada, celebrated Canada Day and St-Jean-Baptiste and rooted for each Canadian NHL teams. We were ne'er half-Canadian oregon half-Québécois. We were completely and unashamedly both. 

My upbringing was open-minded, bilingual and bicultural, but I lone discovered what that meant to maine erstwhile I moved to Alberta.

Going west

My determination to task westbound successful 2017 was twofold: At that clip Alberta had an NDP authorities amended suited to my progressive sensibilities and this contrasted with the separatism and nationalism I saw increasing successful Quebec.

For me, this culminated successful the passing of Bill 21 a fewer years later — authorities which prevents definite nationalist assemblage employees like teachers from wearing spiritual symbols astatine enactment — and which fundamentally contradicts my values some arsenic a French Canadian and arsenic idiosyncratic who studied education.

• What's successful Quebec's secularism bill: Religious symbols, uncovered faces and a charter workaround

So, astatine 21, I moved to Edmonton and studied astatine the University of Alberta.

For me, Edmonton wasn't conscionable a place, it brought perspective. On my ain for the archetypal clip — juggling school, work, rent and groceries and with household excessively acold distant to trust on, I grew up. I started to spot and judge much nuance and complexity successful the world, some successful Alberta and astatine home.

Perspective from a distance

I started to see the anticipation that Quebec wasn't federalist oregon sovereignist, bilingual oregon unilingual, near oregon right. It was — completely and unashamedly — all those things. I had lone to take which of those values defined maine arsenic a Québécois: I was a federalist, bilingual, left-wing progressive French Canadian, surviving successful Alberta, and arrogant of it.

So, over time, my descriptions of my location state to friends and classmates retired westbound became much affectionate: coating a representation of a forested suburb connected the Ottawa river, and a mates who lived determination — one idiosyncratic speaking French, the different English — but nevertheless laughing and loving, and supra each understanding.

I've finished assemblage now, and this past year, I moved back to Ottawa.  

When my parents had to choose wherever to live, they settled connected the Quebec broadside of the superior portion — seeking to equilibrium French and English for their kids. When met with the aforesaid decision, I chose Ontario.

I wasn't acceptable to determination backmost location and perhaps I ne'er volition be. What I bash cognize is Ottawa gives maine precisely what I request close now: I unrecorded lone a abbreviated thrust from family, and an adjacent shorter commute to a occupation I emotion — and I tin much easy debar the frustrations of Quebec's politics, from this broadside of the river. All successful all, I similar being an expat Québécois.

As for my career, I enactment with students at an planetary speech program at the afloat bilingual University of Ottawa. It's a occupation wherever I assistance guarantee students are prepared to unrecorded elsewhere, perhaps like it was for me to amended recognize wherever they're from.

My Canada

It took immoderate moving around, but I cognize what being Canadian means to maine now.

Like the British Protestants and French Catholics of Confederation, and connected a overmuch smaller scale, my parents person shown maine that compromise whitethorn not beryllium easy, but it tin work. Language and civilization request not divide. If anything, erstwhile combined, they're assets that admit implicit time, successful our children, and theirs, until thing caller emerges from the mediate ground.

Quebec gave maine a dependable uniquely my own, Alberta taught maine however to sing the words, and present successful my career, Ontario handed maine a microphone.

My parents talented maine 2 languages to explicit my gratitude. Thank you. Merci.

Do you person a compelling idiosyncratic communicative that tin bring knowing oregon assistance others? We privation to perceive from you. Write to america at [email protected].