Victor Afriat

Quebec Dept: "The sixth largest city in Quebec," Victor Afriat points out, as he sets a cup of coffee in front of me at 9 a.m. That is, if C te des Neiges and Notre Dame de Gr ce pop. 179,000 , where he has operated his business for the past 25 years, were actually a city, according to Montreal Gazette. "I live and work in French, and always have," he says. "But the reality is that there is no future in being only French. The Web is mainly in English, and after that, it's multilingual. My opinion is not scientific, but from what I can see around me, the French language is not menaced." His perspective is that of a small businessman who wants to prosper, although elements of his story suggest a personality given more to peace than controversy and spring at last, snow banks definitively melted, an intrepid reporter dares leave Mile End to venture into the far west. A squat office building across from the C te des Neiges Plaza, an orange corridor leading to office number 407, headquarters of Les Actualit s, a highly successful bilingual community newspaper in the heart of Montreal's largest borough. Born in Morocco, educated in Paris, Afriat's perspective on Quebec is both parochial and far-seeing. On a visit to his parents when he was 22, he stayed, and a passionate defender of language rights. But the firestorm unleashed last week around two seemingly contradictory public opinion polls on language left him mystified. He'd thought Montreal had moved beyond the discourse over whether the coexistence of English and French in one city must be bad news for one or the other. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.