Community Morphology
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Rural/Urban Divide
The rural/urban divide is a contributing factor in differentiating the communities. Minority rural Anglophone or Francophone communities have traditionally been culturally homogeneous and have enjoyed a relatively stable linguistic continuity. However, the rural exodus to urban areas that these communities have seen in recent years is profoundly affecting their lifestyles and, in some cases, it has created fears about their vitality (Joy, 2nd ed., 1972; De Vries and Vallee, 1980; Lachapelle and Henripin 1980; Caldwell and Waddell, 1982; Louder and Waddell, 1983; Bernard, 1988; Lachapelle, 1989; Dallaire and Lachapelle, 1990; Beaudin, Boudreau and DeBenedetti, 1997; Lapointe and Thériault, 1999; Gilbert, 1999b, 2005; Jedwab, 2002b; Magord, Landry and Allard, 2002; Castonguay, 2003a). True, there is also some movement from city to countryside, but this is most often to rural areas situated close to metropolitan areas (Polèse et al., 2002).
Monica Heller observes that "the discursive construction of French Canada has long been based on a town/country dichotomy, which contrasts French Canada, rural, authentic but marginalized, to the rich, capitalist Anglophone city" (Heller, 2005a: 338). She shows that, on the contrary, the city plays an important role in social structuring processes, including in the new globalized economy where communication is central both as a production process and as a product. However, community and government strategies focus primarily on strengthening the development capacity of the old rural and small-town regions (Beaudin, 1998). However, urban areas in Quebec–Montréal in particular–have always been as much a part of the traditional English-speaking community as rural areas (Rudin, 1984; Scowen, 1991; Stevenson, 1999). Still, a significant exodus from the countryside to Montréal is currently under way (Jedwab, 2004).
Some recent studies examine the strategies of the urban communities in New Brunswick (Alain, 2003 and 2004a). They see a space in which various visions can co-exist and engage in debate, a space that offers a pluralist variety of strategies for navigating under the new conditions faced by Francophones in Canada, such as the hybridization of the French population as a result of the urbanization of the countryside and English-French bilingualism (Heller, 2005a).
