Montreal: Quebec’s changing ethnic makeup is the crux of Pure Laine, a new series set to debut on Télé-Québec on Jan. 25. The 16 x 30 comedy takes its name (‘pure wool’) from the term for born-and-bred francophone Quebecois, and wrapped on Dec. 16 after four weeks in Montreal.

The brainchild of writer Martin Forget (The Candidate), Pure Laine concerns a Haitian immigrant, Dominic, who has married Chantal, a Quebecer. In turn, the two have adopted a Chinese girl, now eight years old.

‘We really wanted to create a reflection of how Quebec society is changing,’ says producer André Dubois (KM/H) of Vendome Productions. ‘The show is going to be full of paradoxes. In the first episode, the eight-year-old daughter has had some experiences at school, so she asks her father if she is indeed a ‘pure laine’ Quebecois. He tells her stories about how he first came to Montreal and how difficult it was for him to fit in at first. The show asks the question: What does it really mean to be Quebecois?’

The first season cost approximately $4 million, with funding from Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Television Fund. Dubois reports that Télé-Québec has already ordered an additional 10 episodes.

‘This is a first for a Quebec TV show,’ he says. ‘It will mark the first time that the heroes of the show are from an ethnic background. Some of the ideas in the show could be seen as touchy, but Forget is a marvelous writer and he handles them extremely well – with humor and sensitivity.’

Dubois says he’d like to see the myth of Quebec as an intolerant culture shattered.

‘I think there are degrees of non-comprehension in Quebec, when people of different races and ethnicities first show up,’ he says. ‘But I don’t think there’s a lot of intolerance in Quebec. I think it’s a very open place.’

Jean Bourbonnais directs, with Marc Gadoury serving as cinematographer. Didier Lucien, Macha Limonchik and Mélodie Lapierre star.