It has been quite a treat for me to go onto the France24 Network and hear the news in English, which is part of its international programme. I often write comments on their programmes and have not as yet been censored, as I would on a Quebecois Network, because Quebec does not approve of any form of criticism.

But there is another advantage on France24, its team of journalist and members of its staff are of the highest calibre, many of them have received their education in either Cambridge or Oxford and it shows. But their quality of French is also one that the Quebecois/Quebecoise could never hope to reach, because their society is NOT French but Metis/Metisse.

I have even had the opportunity to write my comments on the Joual-language (French patois) spoken in Canada by the Canadiens and the Quebecois, which was well-received and there was no censorship at all on the part of France24. But of course when writing on France 24, I always stress on the fact that I am also a Citizen of the European Union. Perhaps having had the opportunity of living in France makes me feel more at home there than I would in Quebec.

But as a connoisseur of French food, I must admit that I have a weakness for it. It is not just the aroma that gets one, but the atmosphere as well that draws one to it. Of course I would not dare compare French cuisine with Quebecois fare, because any comparison between them would be odious to the word cuisine itself.

The worst part of it is, that the Quebecois websites do not tolerate any English and immediately stop your message from getting through. While most of the French websites (FRANCE) will cater to you because they see English as a language of the European Union and do not fear it, the Quebecois revile English and will use any means to have it removed. Of course we must understand that the French are Europeans and very much individualists, while the Quebecois are a Metis people and react to English because they have a tribal attitude which shuns any other language as being a threat to Joual (French patois). Therein lies the difference between Joual which is a patois and French which is a classic language.

But most Quebecois/Quebecoise would try to accentuate similarities, because they feel that it makes them French. One such person is La Metisse Louise Baudouin who puts on French airs when she is in France. This is no doubt, a make-believe attempt to convince herself that she is not of Franco-Indian origins. I was made aware of this by a Frenchman in a place called La Pallice, Charente Maritime region of France, in the area of La Rochelle. Usually the Quebecois go to London, England, where they able to fool the locals into believing that they are French. What a crock!

But that is the way that these Quebecois spend their lives, always trying to be something that they are not, instead of facing the reality of who they really are and letting go of the innate inferiority complex.

Kenneth T. Tellis