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The French term 'pur laine' (also rendered as 'pure laine'), literally meaning ''pure wool'' (and often interpreted as ''true blue'' or ''dyed-in-the-wool''), is a politically and culturally charged phrase referring to the nationalist myth of a "pure French race" being the original ancestors of the French-Canadians. Another similar term is 'de souche' (roughly in English, ''old stock'').
While many French-Canadians are able to trace their ancestry back to the original settlers of New France, most are descended from intermarriages between the French and Irish settlers, as well as with the Scots and to a lesser extent with the aboriginal peoples. (It has been estimated that some 50% of francophone Quebeckers have some aboriginal ancestry). Many English people settled in the region as well and were ultimately assimilated into the francophone civilization, often through intermarriage with the French-Canadians. Such intermarriages continued well into the 19th and early 20th centuries.
For such reasons, the use of this phrase is largely deprecated ^[1][2] today. However, some commentators in the English-language media such as Brigitte Pellerin of the ''Ottawa Citizen'' ^[3] and Jan Wong of ''The Globe and Mail'' ^[4] continue to use the term despite this fact.
Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society President Jean Dorion has declared ''"There is no obsession for racial purity in Quebec, definitely not. [...] The expression 'pure laine' is absolutely obsolete."'' ^[1]
While not inherently racist or offensive, it is sometimes interpreted as such, as it implies that one is superior to the other, similar to those in the United States who are descended from or who claim descent from the original English settlers of the Mayflower.

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Further reading

References

1. "Charest seeks Globe apology over notion culture a factor in school shootings" by the Canadian Press, ''The Gazette'', September 19, 2006, retrieved September 20, 2006
2. "Les « pures laines » coupables ?" by Antoine Robitaille, ''La Presse'', September 19, 2006.
3. ''Don't faint, I'm siding with a separatist''
4. ''L'affaire Wong' becomes talk of Quebec''
5. "Charest seeks Globe apology over notion culture a factor in school shootings" by the Canadian Press, ''The Gazette'', September 19, 2006, retrieved September 20, 2006

Further reading

★ Taras Grescoe. ''Sacre Blues: An Unsentimental Journey Through Quebec''. Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 2004. ISBN 1551990814