Adapting to life in Quebec
In this second episode, we follow the journey of Haitian immigrants following their arrival in Quebec. How did they integrate? How did they find work and housing? Was it easy before?
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Translated transcript
Suitcases are packed in a new country. Yet what was supposed to be a happy event leaves us with a heavy heart. We call it nostalgia.
A look back at the experiences of some of those who immigrated in the 70s.
André, who arrived in Quebec in 1974. "What touched me most was the culture of the country [...] At the time, [the group] Skah-Shah had a song about Haiti that went like this: Moun lakay mwen panse m ere, le m pa ekri yo kritike. I used to listen to that song 10-15 times on a loop, lying on my sofa. I didn't know that side of myself. I didn't go to dances every week, but I missed it and wondered how I could escape all those friends, all that world, to come and take refuge here."
Marie-Ange, arrived in Montreal in 1974. "For 6 months, my mother sent me money from Haiti to support me and to keep me from coming back [...] I wanted to go back, I cried all the time because I missed the people back home, I was in pain and my feet were swollen every day after work."
For others, there's no time to think about what they've left behind. This is the case for Achou, who arrived in 1976. He didn't miss his homeland at all. "No, no! Tout sa ki dominew se si ou pa gen yon bagay wap fe. [RS1] I came back here on a Saturday and the following Monday I was working. My brother Boss Da told me, "What are you going to do back in Haiti? I slept on it and on Sunday I called a friend I already had in Montreal who referred me to a job."
French in all its forms
Before arriving in Canada, many French-speaking immigrants think they won't need to learn a new language. But once they arrive in Quebec, they soon realize that they do have some learning to do: learning the Quebec language!
"At first, I had trouble adapting to people's language," recounts Marie-Ange, in a Creole that's now mixed with Québécois turns of phrase. "Sometimes, people would talk to me at work and I'd ask my cousin what language they were speaking. She'd tell me it was French, but I wasn't used to the language: toé-là and all that, I couldn't understand a word. But in the end, I got used to it.
In fact, learning Quebecois French takes no time at all. That's because immigrants are determined. For example, Edith, who arrived in 1980, wasn't shy about asking her CEGEP teachers to repeat themselves when she didn't understand them. "What's the matter? Don't you understand? But I speak French," was the reply. "But so do I," she would retort. "Sometimes I don't understand you when you speak. I don't want to insult you, I just want to understand, that's all."
For Édith, adaptation was quick. Among other things, thanks to a Haitian teacher who taught her the particularities of phonetics in Quebec: how, for example, the /a/ sound is pronounced [ɑ] ~ [ɔ]. "A few months later, I'd figured it out. Ah, so that's how they talk? Well OK, no problem!
The same goes for Achou. After his initial shock, he quickly learned to understand the Quebecois way of speaking. But he never tried to imitate it. "Back then, when they spoke, I'd say: 'That's not the language of Molière! I know it very well and it doesn't sound like it! Then, over time, I adapted. But I didn't play and I didn't swear.
Ignorance
While some new arrivals feel welcomed by their adopted country, others encounter fear and ignorance on the part of members of the host society.
Marie-Ange remembers the reactions people would get just by seeing her. "One day, I went to Avenue du Parc for a job. When I arrived, everyone in the office ran out," she recalls.
"Someone once asked me if it was the color of my skin or dirt," adds Marie-Ange. I told him to run a piece of paper over my skin to find out. And the fool did!"
Édith remembers an employer's reaction when she told him she hadn't been in Quebec long. "That's when I realized that this gentleman didn't want me. I was the only black person. He told me there was no work. But there were other white students in my class who were working.
Raphaël. "When my wife arrived from Haiti in 1975, I had to find a bigger apartment. I found a 3 ½ on Amherst, near Parc Lafontaine. I called and was told to come. On the phone I didn't have an accent, but when they saw me they told me right away that the apartment was rented. As I was leaving, I ripped off the rental sign and threw it away."
Xenophobia could also infiltrate the world of work.
Raphael testifies: "I was a supervisor in a factory job and one of my employees made a mistake, so I had to fire him. His mother called to complain: "They came here to steal our jobs." She let off steam by spitting out everything bad about foreigners. I let her talk and said, "Lady, do you know who you're talking to? It's the damned foreigner. Surely your son hasn't told you what really happened. Yet you call me to bombard me, to insult me."
Marie Ange, who lived in a rooming house, remembers the day someone sabotaged what she was cooking. and after leaving her meal on the stove, she found foam in the pan. It was dish soap.
She reported the situation to the landlord. The landlord went to confront the other Quebec tenant who had done this.
All these examples show that adapting to Quebec wasn't all plain sailing for the Boomers, but that it was rich in anecdotes of all kinds. Despite the pitfalls, they never gave up and built a life for themselves in this new land.
Legal deposit, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, 2024
