Un Franco-Ontarien parmi tant d’autres [A Franco-Ontarian Among Many Others], Elmer Smith, Les Éditions L'Interligne 2014
Witness to the Quiet Revolution and judge, Elmer Smith deals with, in his essay Un Franco-Ontarien parmi tant d’autres, the malaise that is felt by the Franco-Ontarian who is looking to fully live his difference. If he takes full conscience of his sentiments, he never always feels sure which way to turn. The Quebecer who wants his own country knows it. The Anglophone Quebecer like the Anglophone from outside of Quebec knows it as well. The immigrant who will adapt to one or the other culture also knows it. The Franco-Ontarian, on the other hand, largely due to history, is a hybrid who is pulled and pushed from one side to the other in an uncertain setting resting on a shifting base.
The work weighs on the path of a minority with an identity crisis across generations. Fundamentally socio-political, the essay treats the evolution of the Franco-Ontarian from the 1940s to today. Notable consideration is given to the question of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and its effects on society.