TIL it is illegal for a wife to take her husband's name in Quebec, Canada.

Well...yes and no, I think.

It really depends on the person and where they're from, what generation they come from, etc.

I've been here for over twenty years now, and yes, of course racism and bigotry exist, just like everywhere else. Most instances of it that I've encountered generally came out of the mouths of people less intellectually-inclined, I guess. Sometimes from blue-collar or rural folk with zero awareness of the world outside of Quebec, sometimes from those aged 50+.

However these attitudes are much less prevalent in the younger population, social conscience and equality is a big thing here. One expression that you'll hear a a lot from a certain class of people is "J'ai travaillé comme un negre" (I worked like a nigger).

There are many people who would not bat an eye if you said that, but it would not be acceptable to anybody I personally know.

The only point I'm trying to make is that it's somewhat unfair to classify Quebec as more racist than anywhere else, but the context of why is kinda tricky to explain. A lot of it comes from an older and dying-off class whose heyday was during a time when Quebec was much more insular, and their cultural xenophobia born from a mistrust of outsiders after their grievances with English Canada. These fossils represent a large chunk of the voting population, which leads to silliness like the Charter of Values and whatnot getting thrown around while politicians continue fanning the flames of independence to keep their votes.

The tl;dr is that not everybody is like that, and it is changing. I've been witnessing the social changes over the past two decades myself, it's interesting. Hell, when I got here I used to get the stinkeye for speaking English in the streets (couldn't speak French back then), nearly got in fights on St-Jean Baptiste, stuff like that. It isn't like that anymore.

Right now, I think Islamaphobia is a bit of a problem though.

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