This past week highlighted the sort of emotional ambivalence around language issues that has become all too familiar to many English-speaking Quebecers.

The moment I saw Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau delivering a unilingual condolence video message, after the LaGuardia tragedy that killed two pilots, I groaned — because I (so obviously) knew what was about to unfold.

The cognitive dissonance of understanding the outrage that was to come, while also dreading the crisis — and pre-resenting how anglo Quebecers would be deemed guilty by association — is a recurring, familiar state for many of us.

Rousseau has been in Quebecers’ bad books since delivering an English-only address five years ago to the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal. Despite a promise to learn French, he clearly didn’t. Francophones resent him for that failure. Anglophones resent him for giving the rest of us (who’ve worked hard to learn French) a bad rep.

At times like these, I’m often asked by out-of-province family and friends to explain Quebec’s unique cultural nuances. I’ve become a sort of reluctant Quebec whisperer, if you will. Sure enough, I heard from a few who wanted to better understand why Rousseau’s unilingualism had overshadowed a major tragedy.

Like so many times before, I felt a rush of contrasting emotions and thoughts.

Yes, it may seem like an outsized reaction to some, but the CEO of Air Canada — our national carrier subject to the Official Languages Act — has an obligation to speak both official languages.

No, Rousseau’s stiff and rather cold message wasn’t even adequate in English, let alone English-only. I’m frankly shocked no one in his entourage displayed the emotional intelligence to ensure someone else addressed the public.

No, I don’t consider Rousseau’s inability to speak French more tragic than the deaths of two young men.

Yes, it was going to cause an uproar. Multiple things can be important at the same time.

No, Rousseau wasn’t unfairly removed. He had ample time to learn enough French to read a couple of pre-recorded lines from a TelePrompTer.

Yes, most francophones would have been happy with that simple show of respect. They weren’t asking for the moon.

Yes, it’s exasperating when the conduct of a privileged, tone-deaf multimillionaire is paraded as proof of “anglo arrogance” or a “rejection of French,” when most of us happily speak it daily.

No, most of us aren’t part of an “anglo elite.” Research shows English-speaking Quebecers experience higher rates of economic vulnerability than French-speaking Quebecers, though we’re routinely told that’s untrue.

Yes, it’s frustrating to defend francophone rights only to sometimes read the unkind, mocking reactions to news stories of anglophones struggling to access health care.

Yes, it’s equally frustrating to see OQLF inspectors harass a mom-and-pop bakery for its English TikTok videos, and constantly hear French-language hawks trying to convince us that one of the world’s most-spoken languages has the fragility of a hothouse flower.

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Yes, most of us dislike seeing Quebec attacked by those who don’t understand it — and make no effort to.

Yes, I can support Bill 101 and still think language protection often goes too far. I can appreciate the vigilance required for French to assert its place in anglocentric North America, while also laugh at comparisons to Louisiana (when, in Quebec, the law funnels immigrant kids straight into French schools.)

Yes, I can support official bilingualism as an integral part of Canadian identity while bristling at how more than 70 vulnerable Indigenous languages are routinely ignored or undermined.

Yes, I believe the blowback is justified while I also find the selective outrage and political theatre off-putting. Where was even a fraction of this public and political shock when three homeless people died in Montreal over the span of two days last week?

The messy middle is where so many of us live. Grab a seat and get comfortable.

Toula Drimonis is a Montreal journalist and the author of We, the Others: Allophones, Immigrants, and Belonging in Canada.

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