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1995 How Our Simple Flyer and Logo Helped Keep Canada One Country
A while ago a new neighbour asked if Liz and I ever saw any real value resulting from the work we did before we retired. I gave this example. The story I told him brought tears to his eyes. He had been born in Quebec of English parents in a small French town so spoke perfect Quebec French. As an adult he had moved to Montreal. In October 1995 Quebec was about to have a referendum. It could have resulted in Quebec separating from Canada. A group of people in Calgary had held a rally to show Quebecers that Canadians cared about Quebec. Quebec media reported that only half a dozen people turned up at the Calgary rally. We heard from a PR colleague that her French and English speaking friends in Montreal were thinking of voting to separate because the rest of Canada did not care. Liz and I offered to help do the promotion for a rally in front of Toronto City Hall (with bilingual speakers including Margaret Atwood) to show Toronto cared. We produced a logo and a simple 2 sided flyer. The flyers were given out at Toronto subway stations. Media reported "*More than 8,000 people turned out to the Our Country rally at Nathan Phillips Square on Oct 24 to show Quebecers how they really cared." Quebec TV and print media were there and reported it well. It was a very close referendum. My neighbour remembered how the Quebec media had reported this Toronto event. Then he said, "I love Canada and I love that Quebec is part of Canada." He took my hand and shook it and thanked me. Other people from Quebec have also told us they believe this event (and our work here) helped tip the balance. |
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*Quoted from the Durham College Chronicle October 31, 1995 You may or may not agree having Quebec in Canada is good for Canada. But our point here is that the work we did sometimes had a huge affect. |