Posts with the Quebec tag

Barris Beat

Sovereignty of conviction or convenience

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René Lévesque – sovereignty of conviction.

He stood at the lectern in front of hundreds of us. A lit cigarette dangled from his left hand (they were allowed indoors back then). He spoke almost entirely without notes, as if his words were a credo he’d crafted over years until the message came out as his own. I’m paraphrasing now, but here’s what this man from Quebec said on stage at the University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall that day:

“We are heirs to a fantastic adventure – an early America that was almost entirely French,” he said. “We are heirs to an obstinate group which has kept alive that portion of French America we call Quebec…”

The year was 1969. I’d sat mesmerized for the better part of 90 minutes inside Convocation Hall, listening to the man who wanted to lead Quebec out of Canada. (more…)

Barris Beat

When unity’s needed most

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Dennis Fisher with a sense of mission.

I’m going to tell you about a person who helped save Canada. And I was fortunate to witness his work.

His mission began long before this moment, but in November 1976, when the Parti Québécois won the provincial election and René Lévesque became premier of Quebec, a lot of Canadians were suddenly afraid. Lévesque’s platform called for the separation of Quebec from Canada. At that time, I worked as producer/host at CFQC AM Radio in Saskatoon. Dennis Fisher was the station’s general manager. Right after the Parti Québécois victory, he called us together.

“The nation has never been so threatened,” he said. “It’s up to us to do something.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Way of the dodo bird

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I stopped at one of my favourite art-supply shops in the city, the other day. Out of habit, I passed the cashier, said hello and walked directly to the aisle with the portfolios. They’re those bound folders that contain those see-through plastic sheaths for photos, clippings or other important papers you want to display. Anyway, like old Mother Hubbard, when I got there the shelf was bare. I asked what had happened.

“Oh, they’ve been discontinued,” the sales clerk said.

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Barris Beat

Walking back to history

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Veteran Barclay Craig celebrates a birthday and a victory
Barclay Craig (waving from truck) celebrates a victory and a birthday during VE Day parade in Apeldoorn, May 9, 2010.

Canadians were featured prominently that day. Grateful Netherlanders lined the streets, at first, in an orderly fashion. They waved, cheered and tossed tulips – the first blossoms of that bittersweet springtime when six long years of war came to an end. They celebrated the end of Nazi occupation in their country and embraced their liberators. It was May 8, 1945, Victory in Europe (VE) Day. Among those liberators marching in the Apeldoorn parade on the receiving end of all that adoration was a young lieutenant from Arnprior, Ontario. Barclay Craig remembered being told it would be a half-hour parade.

“It was actually the eve of my 25th birthday,” he told me this week. “The Dutch were so excited to be free again, they crushed in around us in the parade. I never shook so many hands in my life.”

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