1916 section 23 Video

I recorded Gisele`s choir (Les bles au vent) concert on May23.This song is called 1916 (Mil neuf cent seize) written by Gerard Jean. It is about the injustice to the Francophone community of Manitoba in 1916 when the government of the day struck down section 23 of the Manitoba Act (1870) and outlawed the use of French instruction in schools and the legislature. This wasnt corrected until 1970 with the election of a NDP government which overturned the law of 1916 and again made French schools legal in Manitoba. In between 1916 and 1970 French teachers had to hide French text books and materials when the inspectors came to see if the law was being respected. Many Manitobans still have memories of this. The men of the choir represent the government inspectors who enforced the law to prevent the instruction of French. They sing in English.The women represent the teachers who resisted this law. They sing in French. At the end the men sing that french is dead in Manitoba and the women sing "on verra" (we will see...