Richler's Version: The Mordecai Richler Affair and the Post-Meech Lake Tensions in Canada

The author contends that with Montreal novelist and political commentator Mordecai Richler's New Yorker magazine column in September 1991 and again with his book Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! A Requiem for a Divided Country in March 1992, Richler (1931-2001) explained to an audience of unaware American readers how the province of Quebec was in dire straits following the revitalization of the Quebec sovereignty movement in the wake of the Meech Lake Accord. The author notes that according to Richler, this sovereignty ideology, as championed by the Parti Québécois (PQ), was rife with the xenophobic and anti-Semetic intentions of its founders. Moreover, the author contends that Richler's views on the attempts by these nationalists to "protect" the French language through initiatives like Bill 178 (the "sign law") initiated the continuous exodus of educated Anglophones and large businesses from the province. The author posits that the ensuing controversy surrounding Richler's publications in the Canadian media (also known a "the Richler Affair") reflects the residual post-Meech Lake tensions. He argues that in its essence, the Richler Affair superseded Richler's singular importance and instead became a symbolic outlet for Anglo-Canadians, Anglo-Quebecers and Franco-Quebecers to publicly reaffirm their concerns vis-a- vis Canada's constitutional uncertainty.

Strata: revue d'histoire des étudiants diplômés de l'Université d'Ottawa / Strata: University of Ottawa Graduate Student History Review

Vol. 9

53-93

August 2019

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