The asymmetrical frontier : Franco-Ontarians and Anglo-Quebeckers in the Nation’s Capital Region

The francophone and anglophone minorities of Gatineau-Ottawa appear to benefit from a privileged location. Living very close to their respective majorities, they simply have to cross the border in order to access resources to live in their own language and share their culture. However, a qualitative analysis of the discourse by Anglo-Quebeckers and Franco-Ontarians about their everyday life in the Nation’s Capital Region shows that the border has more complex and often contradictory effects. In this article, we focus our attention on four particular manifestations of the border: (1) the border is transparent so that one can cross the Ottawa River without hindrance in certain contexts yet rather opaque in others; (2) one may transcend minority status through the strategic use of the border; (3) it creates a multi-topic imaginary geography in which the border itself often becomes mobile; and (4) finally, the border can act as a mirror when the cross-cultural intermixing it allows causes the Anglo-Quebeckers and Franco-Ontarians to question their identities, a questioning which would not be as intense in the absence of the border. The comparison of these two minorities makes it possible to highlight the asymmetrical nature of the effects of the border on their everyday life, identities, and sense of belonging