Je me souviens. Full stop.

We'd pass the odd Quebec license plate on family summer road trips through interior British Columbia. For most of my childhood, I thought the sentence along the bottom meant I am a souvenir. In a way, I wasn't far off. 

When I finally learned its real meaning, I just assumed it was in reference to the World Wars and a tribute to Canada's veterans. After all, isn't that what all Canadians do on November 11, remember? Fiona's mind: "Je me souviens" = "I remember" = Remembrance Day. C'est logique, n'est pas?

Naturally, I had it all wrong and, while there still exists doubt and controversy, it is generally accepted that Je me souviens is but the start of a more meaningful declaration:

Je me souviens/Que né sous le lys/Je croîs sous la rose. E.E. Taché

(I remember that born under the lily I grow under the rose)

Nothing at all to do with Remembrance Day! The lily of course representing France and the rose, England. I suspect that this interpretation/translation ("grow") is not what it seems, that there is a defiance smoldering between its lines. Je ne sais pas pourquoi...

Regardless, here we are, November 2012, and the ever-defiant Pauline Marois and her fleur-de-lis pin are not only the center of her Remembrance poppy but became the center of another political storm. 
The headline, FLEUR-DE-LYS IN POPPY ANGERS VETS, signals an anglo- AND francophone rebuke of Marois that our veterans "fought for Canada not just for Quebec".

I have a secret wish that all Canadians will remember and honour our veterans, military personnel, and their families as they wished to be honoured, with a simple poppy and two minutes of silence. Je me souviens. Full stop. The remembrance poppy does not need a bilingual label. 

*thank you Globe and Mail for "borrowed" image of Marois

BTW: I still prefer "I am a souvenir". Really, aren't we all?