Guy Rex RodgersWhat We Choose to Remember

In 1961, Stanley Milgram conducted a social psychology experimented at Yale University that could only have been justified as an attempt to understand the horrors of the Second World War. Milgram wanted to measure the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who gave instructions to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience. The experiment was simple. And horrifying. Each participant believed they were an assistant in the experiment, rather than the subject. The project leader directed the ‘assistant’ to administer electric shocks to a ‘learner’ as punishment for wrong answers. The ‘assistant’ was directed to increase the voltage at each ‘punishment’ until reaching levels that would have been fatal had they been real.

The Milgram experiment found that most ‘assistants’ would obediently administer painful 300 volt shocks, and 65% would follow instructions to inflict the full ‘potentially lethal’ 450 volts.

Why were participants in a study willing to inflict severe pain on a total stranger? Social scientists have sought answers to this question for decades. Did participants simply allow an authority figure to silence their conscience?  Or did participants need to fabricate a justification for their compliance?

In November, the Gaspé municipal council wrote to its English-speaking citizens via facebook informing them that it can no longer communicate in English because of Bill 96.  The council explained that they had protested the new policy and pleaded for exemptions. “Although we support the preservation of the French language in Quebec, we believe the historical, social, cultural, and economic significance of Gaspé’s English-speaking and Mi’gmaq communities warrants acknowledgment. While French may be in decline across Quebec, it is English that faces decline here in Gaspé, our town built on a linguistic and cultural diversity we strive to preserve. However, this recommendation was rejected by the National Assembly, meaning Gaspé must comply with the Act as all other municipalities.”

Imposing the language policy was clearly painful for the mayor and the municipal council but the consequences of disobedience are severe. “It is important to note that if Gaspé were to disregard the Act (Bill 96), the main penalty could be the loss of access to all government grants or financial assistance. This could amount to millions of dollars annually, significantly impacting property taxes for residents.”

When the Coalition Avenir Québec government sought support for Bill 96 they ran ads declaring, ‘We have to protect French in Québec.’ (Simon Jolin-Barrette) and ‘It is reasonable and necessary.’ (François Legault). The Gaspé municipal council does not think these new measures are reasonable or necessary or that they protect French. But they felt compelled to comply with the law.

I am not accusing Gaspé municipal council members of cowardice for allowing ‘authority figures’ to override their ‘personal conscience’. The Gaspé council members had the courage to publically declare their discomfort with enforcing aspects of Bill 96 that harm vulnerable minorities without helping Quebec’s French language and culture. But they decided to comply with the law.

Where does this ‘punishment’ to Gaspé’s English-speaking and Mi’gmaq communities rate on the Milgram scale? Is this a minor tingle at 25 volts? A perfectly bearable 100-volt blast?  Would it be harder to comply at 300 volts? Milgram’s ‘assistants’ inflicted pain on strangers. Is it harder to inflict pain friends and neighbours?

Authority figures know that the first battle with conscience is difficult, but once the conscience has been silenced, everything that follows is easy.

Are we reaching dangerous voltage levels with Bill 96? How many of our friends and neighbours have been harmed by restrictions or cuts? How many of us have heard and seen things that felt wrong?

Doctors and nurses have muttered that new language laws complicate and confuse their work. Who is better able to evaluate what is better for patients and healthcare workers, the people on the ground or authority figures in Quebec City? And what if complicated, confusing directives are not only harming Quebec’s citizens, but are also harming Quebec’s French language, culture and reputation?

If the authorities will not revise flawed laws, or repeal them, then the human conscience must find the courage to resist cold-blooded social engineering.

Guy Rex Rodgers was founding Executive Director of the English Language Arts Network (ELAN) and recently returned to filmmaking. You can reach Guy at: [email protected]