Join Guy Rex Rodgers, as he discusses his book, What We Choose To Forget, at the Atwater
A fascinating Quebec story of unshared memories
In May 2022, Guy Rex Rodgers released the documentary film, What We Choose To Remember, about waves of immigration in Quebec, from the British Conquest to the arrival of university students in the 21st century. A month later, the CAQ government passed Bill 96 to protect Quebec from too many English speakers, immigrants and foreign students. For the next three years, Rodgers toured his film around Quebec, and after each screening invited audience members to share their stories. His new book, What We Choose To Forget, illuminates that tour and those revealing, personal accounts, including English Catholic arrivals expecting to attend French Catholic schools but being turned away.
Following his sold-out event at the recent Blue Metropolis Literary Festival (in conversation with Journalist Francine Pelletier), Rodgers will be at the Atwater Library Lunchtime Series on May 14, 2026.
“The book is a must-read for anyone seeking an informed and nuanced understanding of the Québec nation: where it came from, where it is going, and the ultimate question – who is a Québécois?” – Ralph Mastromonaco, lawyer, and education and community rights advocate
The book opens a window onto Quebec’s linguistic landscape. “This is not a tale of unspeakable violence. There are no horrifying villains and, sadly, few inspiring heroes,” says Rodgers. “This is a simple human story about fear, vulnerability and tribal defences. This is a story of loveable underdogs, all struggling to preserve their histories, languages and cultures. Their tragedy is what they have chosen to forget — about themselves and about each other.
The heartland of Nouvelle France was the Saint-Lawrence Valley, but it was never pure Catholic or francophone. Scottish and Irish soldiers fought on both sides of the Plains of Abraham. The first English school established after the Conquest was not in Quebec City or Montreal, but in the Gaspésie. Most of the first settlers in the Eastern Townships and the Ottawa Valley were English speakers. Then the 20th century saw an explosion of immigration that did not fit the French/English, Catholic/Protestant binary. The reality is far more interesting than Two Solitudes.
“These ‘immigrants’ — who come from many countries and speak a variety of languages — are proud to be Quebecers,” says Rodgers. “What We Choose To Forget gives them a voice, and they have a lot to say about Quebec and their place in it!”
What We Choose to Forget is the story of Guy Rex Rodgers’ tour through Quebec: 55 communities, 30 months, 10 seasons, 4 flights, 2 train trips, thousands of road kilometres, and hundreds of conversations about the past, present and future of the crazy place he and all Quebecers call home.
“Rodgers’ work updates the historical conversation first established by Ronald Rudin’s The Forgotten Quebecers and Clift and McLeod’s The English Fact in Quebec. The inclusion of allophone voices is especially pertinent given the changing demographics of the province. For future historians, What We Choose To Forget will doubtless become indispensable to a historical understanding of Anglo-Quebec in the first half of the 21st century.” – Raymond Jess PhD, School of Irish Studies Concordia University
“Guy Rex Rodgers is telling English Quebecers our history in a novel way. If you are part of it, the stories will make you proud and remind you that this is your home. If you are not part of it, they will show you that Quebec’s English-speaking communities are a valuable part of the province’s social, cultural, economic and political fabric.” – Christopher Neal, Accenti Magazine
The book is available for purchase at Paragraphe Bookstore and as a free digital download as an eBook or PDF at www.whatwechoose.ca/get-the-book.
Atwater Library Lunchtime Series, in person and by Zoom
Thursday, May 14, 2026 from 12:30 to 1:30pm
1200 Atwater Ave., Westmount, H3Z 1X4
For more information, visit: https://atwaterlibrary.ca/events/lunchtime-series/