Le Mouton de Troie: Changes in Quebec Cultural Symbolism

Abstract

Tuons saint Jean-Baptiste! Brulons le carton-pate des traditions avec lequel on voulu mythifier notre esclavage. Apprenons l'orgueil d'etre hommes. Affirmons fortement notre independance. Et ecrasons de notre liberte robuste le paternalisme compatissant ou meprisant des politiciens, des papas-patrons et des predicateurs de defaites et de soumissions.... --Pierre Vallieres, Negres blancs de l'Amerique (58) In late June of 1990, the Meech Lake Accord, the most controversial clause of which would have confirmed Quebec's status distinct society under the umbrella of the Canadian constitution, failed. Two days after the failure, estimated two hundred thousand Montrealers took to the streets to watch the traditional Saint-Jean-Baptiste parade. Among the eleven elaborate floats depicting aspects of 30 ans de puissance tranquille (Nicalse 1992), the first in particular drew great deal of attention because of its attempted complex commentary on changes in Quebec's self-definition: holding blue-and-white streamers, twenty-four young Saint John the Baptists pulled along three-story high (a sheep its black head pointedly indicated) while, behind, young people from multiethnic backgrounds emerged from inside the gaping ribs of the animal to pass large cardboard fleurs-de-lys along into the audience. Le Devoir conceded that the lamb lent itself to multiples interpretations, but among these the newspaper stressed aura of self-confidence: this lamb n'en fait qu'a sa tete! (Cauchon 1990). The proverbial meaning of the Trojan horse (the model on which the Trojan lamb is based) refers to someone or something intended to or from within (Webster's). By analogy, the self-assured Quebecois lamb seeks to undermine or subvert the fortress of federalism, all with the cheerful cooperation of Quebecois from all ethnic backgrounds. To Le Devoir, the Trojan lamb amounted to une vision novatrice du defile (Cauchon 1990), combining it did amusing parody of traditional Saint-Jean-Baptiste imagery with conciliatory perspective on changing provincial demographics. By contrast, the Anglophone press, responding with the mixture of contempt and fear that it often reserves for ardent displays of Quebec nationalism, read the allegory conveying message that was ludicrous and threatening at once, namely a child's nightmare, with the head of black snake and the skeletal ribs of lost ram that perished in high-country blizzard three winters back (Todd 1990). These divergent responses may be nothing new, but the history of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste parade reveals that the represents one facet of semiotic system rather more complex than can be captured in this simple bifurcation. Over time, the parade has served to highlight conservative and progressive goals well exclusive and inclusive visions of Quebec society. To Canadian federalists and separatists alike, la Saint-Jean has become increasingly important barometer of separatist sentiment; depending on their respective affiliations, the media will report with alarm or satisfaction on any flagging participation, diminishing fervor, and decreasing financial support for the event. The attention focused on Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day is such that, in recent effort to promote federalist symbolism across the country, Heritage Minister Sheila Copps suggested that the day be made an integral part, not separate part, of celebrating Canada, plan ill-received by Bloc Quebecois MPs who read it as attempt to steal the sovereignists' fete nationale (Winsor 1996). (1) Such responses and the cultural symbolism that provoked them are predicated on the notion of two founding races, that is two societies, each essentially homogeneous, pitted against each other. The failure of Meech Lake and, more recently, the role of the ethnic and Native votes in the 1995 Referendum have proven this notion to be no longer true, if indeed it ever was. …