Some people just don't understand. Catherine St. is a French market,' to mask the fact that they don't have the stomach to confront rabble-rouser language activists led by a convicted terrorist, who threaten to retaliate with graffiti and broken windows. Worrying you'll never be able to find anything in Eaton's if they don't put up English signs immediately - despite the fact that the downtown store hasn't had bilingual signs for nearly 20 years and you've always managed to find the shoes, toys and toasters before. Curran trivialized what Alliance Quebec is trying to do. For those, like her, who haven't yet understood, let me explain.
Signs are symbols.
They convey meanings. Mind you, Eaton's is not entirely to blame. When Camille Laurin framed Bill 101, the Charter of the French Language, he made his intention plain. It was to disestablish English, to abolish it as an official language of the government and the courts, to uproot it from the workplace, to drive it out of sight, to marginalize it progressively and confine it to a ghetto. That is why Bill 101 forbade the appearance of English on commercial signs, except in stores with four or fewer employees, and stores or restaurants specializing in ethnic or cultural products.