Courtesy
By Guy Rex Rodgers
Local Journalism Initiative
No immigrant has been more warmly embraced by Quebec, and no immigrant has been a better ambassador abroad. Kim Thúy came here in 1978 along with a wave of boat people from Vietnam. For almost half a century, she has gratefully celebrated the kindness she experienced as a 10-year-old refugee in Granby.
Thúy’s debut novel Ru won the 2010 Governor General’s Award for French-language fiction and the 2015 edition of Canada Reads. The film adaptation premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Ru reads like an autobiography, of a girl born in 1968 during the Tet Offensive, and then immigrated a decade later to Quebec. Kim Thúy wrote the novel in honour of the people who welcomed her family with Township hospitality when they first arrived in Granby. Ru is a powerful take of humanity that transcends boundaries and cultures. It has been translated into more than 30 languages and acclaimed internationally.
On September 9, Kim Thúy made her debut as a playwright with Am, the opening production of Théâtre du Nouveau Monde’s 2025/26 season. Nothing in the promo text on TNM’s website suggested that Kim Thúy had written an incendiary cri de coeur. “With her smiling sincerity, Kim Thúy invites us to share her attentive look at everyday intimacy. A woman and a man meet, and the author allows us to discover this love as she would invite us to observe the blossoming of a flower. However, the relationship between Jacques and Ành is elusive, like water: everything becomes fluid between the Vietnamese woman and the Québécois businessman.”
Am is not a conventional love story about a woman and a man. It is the story of an immigrant and her adoptive homeland. At the end of the play, the immigrant affirms her love for Quebec and the French language. “I will defend this language until the end of my life because it is my language of love.” But something has changed and the woman is feeling “a profound heartache for Quebec.”
The media wanted to know if the play was as autobiographical as Thúy’s novel, and if she was feeling the same ‘profonde peine d’amour avec Québec’ as her character. Thúy confessed to being deeply disturbed by the surge of anti-immigrant rhetoric in Quebec. When pressed for an example, she could not cite a specific incident. The situation is elusive and fluid, like water. No single drop of rain causes a devastating flood. Kim Thúy confessed that she can no longer recognize the land that welcomed her as a child, and she has become so disturbed by the change that she is ‘thinking of leaving Quebec.’
Instantly, Kim Thúy was all over the media, and social media exploded. A predictable group of ethno-nationalists immediately interpreted Thúy’s cri de coeur as Quebec-bashing by an ungrateful immigrant repaying kindness with contempt. “Why don’t you go back where you came from! Bon débarras.” Then immigrants defended Kim Thúy and counter-attacked the ethno-nationalists.
Throughout all of this, Kim Thúy remained serene, not taking sides, but in fact defending both sides, and lamenting a double assault on reality. Thúy’s capacity to look at Quebec through a dual lens makes her cri de coeur especially insightful. She is not accusing friends and neighbours of anti-immigrant rhetoric. She points to ‘political discourse’ that has poisoned the water during the ‘past two or three years.’ This is not the Quebec she knew. Why has the ‘real Quebec’ allowed this to happen?
The other assault on reality is the demonization of immigrants. The current government has scapegoated immigrants for all the problems they are incapable of fixing. Can’t find a doctor? Too many immigrants. Not enough teachers? Too many immigrants. Rents unaffordable? Too many immigrants. The current government has also blamed a ‘language crisis’ on too many English-speaking students, temporary workers and immigrants.
For the past ‘two or three years’ I have been touring a documentary film around Quebec, listening to people’s stories, and more recently I have been interviewing ex-students about education in Quebec prior to Bill 101. The people I have been speaking to share three sentiments with Kim Thúy. First, they have chosen to live in Quebec because it felt like home. Second, they have been disturbed by the swelling tide of xenophobic rhetoric. Third, they have wondered why the majority of Québécois-de-souche — who are friends, neighbours, colleagues and in-laws — have silently allowed Quebec to be changed in so many negative and destructive ways.
Kim Thúy has courageously spoken out in defence of immigrants, who work hard and make valiant efforts to be good citizens in their host country. She is also speaking in defence of the Quebec that welcomed her as a child and made her proud to rebuild her life here. Until now. Two realities are under assault. Immigrants know their worth. They will stay and prove it, or relocate to a more hospitable society. Who is speaking for the Québécois who do not agree with the anti-immigrant rhetoric? Why have they allowed their beloved Quebec to be hijacked?
All the polls show that the CAQ has alienated large segments of the electorate, and every day they find new nails to hammer into their coffin. The CAQ will soon be gone, but who will replace them?
Which new leaders will have the courage and vision to restore the reality that made Kim Thúy – and the rest of us – proud to live in Quebec?