I very often agree with my colleague Sophie Durocher, but not whenshe wonders if Céline Dion is still Quebecois.
Our Céline surely has her green card since a long time. This famous all-purpose card that allows you to do everything in the United States, except vote! Would she have asked for her American citizenship? Maybe, but I doubt it, because it would be known. Even if she had an American passport, could we question her Quebec identity? No more than we can doubt the Quebec identity of my friend the actor Jean LeClerc, who has dual nationality. He applied for his American citizenship during his long stay in the United States where he played Jeremy in the daily All my Children for years and Dracula on Broadway and on tour.
ANY COMPARISON IS WRONG, BUT…
I know that any comparison is flawed, but wondering if Céline Dion is still Quebecois is like wondering if Kim Thúy is still Vietnamese or if Pablo Rodriguez is still Argentinian. Both have their Canadian passports and both speak exemplary French. They even speak English! Rodriguez fluently. Butme Thúy is still of Vietnamese origin, speaks and eats Vietnamese. As Pablo Rodriguez is still of Argentinian origin. He speaks Spanish, he devours his red meat, he loves football and he would tour the globe to see Lionel Messi play.
It’s true that Céline is simplifying when she says she has French blood, Quebec blood and American blood. In that regard, I’m surprised she didn’t add that she also has “Indian” blood! So many Quebecers claim to have them. “It’s not because she [Céline] lives in the USA that she has American blood,” rightly writes my colleague Sophie Durocher, who adds “that she has a little pang in her heart” upon learning that Céline speaks to her children as much in English as in French. They are therefore bilingual. Like their mother and thousands of Quebecers.
UNTEST LOYALTY
It would be a shame if, based on this interview given to the magazine French Vogue, interview in which Céline was frank and direct, we question her loyalty to Quebec. Unlike many Quebec artists and athletes who have had an international career, Céline Dion has always flaunted her Quebec identity like a flag. Whether at Oprah Winfrey, at Michel Drucker, at David Letterman or at Jean-Pierre Coallier or Michel Jasmin. In the famous karaoke number she did in Las Vegas with James Corden for the Late Late Show from CBS, Céline told the host: “I live where my heart is!» (I live where my heart is!)
So I don’t wonder about Céline’s identity. I have no doubt that his heart is in Charlemagne, Quebec, and that he will be there until his last breath.
