1968 Fredericton Encaenia
Alumni Oration
Delivered by: Mallory, James Russell
Content
"Canada’s Real Trouble: 'Communication Failure'" Telegraph Journal (21 May 1968): Extract. (UA Case 67a, Box 2)
Dr. James Russell Mallory, chairman of the department of political science, and economics at McGill University told the Associated Alumni and Alumnae of the University of New Brunswick over the weekend that "the real trouble in Canada is a failure in communication."
Dr. Mallory, a graduate of UNB who was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree by the university last week, was speaking at the annual dinner of the graduate associations here Saturday.
He said there was a failure of communication between the French and English elements in Canada, and that this stemmed from divorced educational heritages.
"The real problem is not that we don’t have a common language, but that we don’t have a common language of discourse," Dr. Mallory said.
He said the French element in Quebec, in the past, was taught by the will of the church while the English faction was [more] of the theme "a British subject I was born, a British subject I will die."
"In the last decade all this has changed."
Dr. Mallory said the English were now looking away from the British Empire ideal, while the French were thinking in terms of the state-which is Quebec.
Private industry in Quebec is "unredeemablely Anglophone," the speaker said, therefore, "for the French-Canadian elite, the prime object is the enlargement of the role of the state."
Dr. Mallory said the English in Canada will have to forget the old Canadian dream that we could create more stable, a monarchial, and a more European society here on the North American continent.
He said the French and English groups will have to find a base from which to build a stronger, united country. Nationalistic pride in the history of a country often produces such a base, Dr. Mallory said, but this would not work in Canada because of the segregated histories of the two groups. "In fact we have the most unusable past of any country I can think of," he said.
But, the speaker said, a Canadian nationalism, shared by both the English and French could be achieved by work in the right direction, "and we wake up and discover there is some purpose in Canada," he said.
Dr. James Russell Mallory, chairman of the department of political science, and economics at McGill University told the Associated Alumni and Alumnae of the University of New Brunswick over the weekend that "the real trouble in Canada is a failure in communication."
Dr. Mallory, a graduate of UNB who was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree by the university last week, was speaking at the annual dinner of the graduate associations here Saturday.
He said there was a failure of communication between the French and English elements in Canada, and that this stemmed from divorced educational heritages.
"The real problem is not that we don’t have a common language, but that we don’t have a common language of discourse," Dr. Mallory said.
He said the French element in Quebec, in the past, was taught by the will of the church while the English faction was [more] of the theme "a British subject I was born, a British subject I will die."
"In the last decade all this has changed."
Dr. Mallory said the English were now looking away from the British Empire ideal, while the French were thinking in terms of the state-which is Quebec.
Private industry in Quebec is "unredeemablely Anglophone," the speaker said, therefore, "for the French-Canadian elite, the prime object is the enlargement of the role of the state."
Dr. Mallory said the English in Canada will have to forget the old Canadian dream that we could create more stable, a monarchial, and a more European society here on the North American continent.
He said the French and English groups will have to find a base from which to build a stronger, united country. Nationalistic pride in the history of a country often produces such a base, Dr. Mallory said, but this would not work in Canada because of the segregated histories of the two groups. "In fact we have the most unusable past of any country I can think of," he said.
But, the speaker said, a Canadian nationalism, shared by both the English and French could be achieved by work in the right direction, "and we wake up and discover there is some purpose in Canada," he said.
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