The End of the “Two Solitudes”? The Presence ~or Absence! of the Work of French-speaking Scholars in Canadian Politics

It is useful to discuss the origins of this text as they highlight the underlying problem it aims to discuss. When I was director of the School of Canadian Studies at Carleton University, I received a phone call from a colleague at the University of Ottawa. One of his students wanted to take a course, taught in English, dealing with the broad question of French and English relations Canada. The discipline ~sociology, political science, history, literature! did not matter, as long as the theme was discussed. After looking at the list of courses offered by my own university, I saw that none matched this student’s interests. There were a few courses regarding Quebec politics, history, and literature, but none that focused specifically on the relations between French and English societies in Canada. My first observation was that in Ottawa, the “national” capital of Canada, it was impossible for a student to learn about one of the main aspects of Canada’s social, cultural and political life. A few months later, I received a phone call from another colleague, at Laval University in Québec City. He wanted to know which French-