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The French term pur laine (also rendered as pure laine), literally meaning pure wool (and often interpreted as true blue or dyed-in-the-wool), is a politically and culturally charged phrase referring to the nationalist myth of a "pure French race" being the original ancestors of the French-Canadians. Another similar term is de souche (roughly in English, old stock).

While many French-Canadians are able to trace their ancestry back to the original settlers of New France, many are also descended from marriages between the French and Irish settlers, whom shared the same Roman Catholic faith (and thus had their unions approved by the once powerful Church in Quebec). Many English people settled in the region and were ultimately assimilated into the francophone culture. Additionally, Quebec has enjoyed the benefits of a long standing policy of immigration from French speaking countries, which has added to, and changed, French-Canadian culture.

The use of this phrase is mostly deprecated . Regardless, English-language commentators Brigitte Pellerin of the Ottawa Citizen and Jan Wong of The Globe and Mail continue to use the term.

Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society President Jean Dorion has declared "There is no obsession for racial purity in Quebec, definitely not. The expression 'pure laine' is absolutely obsolete." .

While not inherently racist or offensive, it is sometimes interpreted as such.

These feelings are best illustrated by a recent Parti Québécois policy proposal debate.. In October of 2007, hardline separatists in the party suggested that any future citizenship in a separate Quebec be based on French language requirements, and that people would have to pass a French proficiency test to merit full citizenship.

This proposal was immediately dismissed, having been criticized by almost every significant politician and commentator in the province (including former PQ Prime Minister Bernard Landry.)

Nonetheless, it shows the importance that hardline separatists and ideologues put upon having qualities not unlike those of the mythical pur-laine

References

1. "Charest seeks Globe apology over notion culture a factor in school shootings" by the Canadian Press, The Gazette, September 19, 2006, retrieved September 20, 2006
2. "Les « pures laines » coupables ?" by Antoine Robitaille, La Presse, September 19, 2006.
3. Don't faint, I'm siding with a separatist
4. L'affaire Wong' becomes talk of Quebec
5. "Charest seeks Globe apology over notion culture a factor in school shootings" by the Canadian Press, The Gazette, September 19, 2006, retrieved September 20, 2006
6. "Citizenship proposal has a price" by Chantal Hébert, Toronto Star, October 26, 2007.

Further reading

• Taras Grescoe. Sacre Blues: An Unsentimental Journey Through Quebec. Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 2004. ISBN 1551990814

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