Harper appoints Bernard Lord

[jdobbin]

Lord said today that Canada will probably not meet the level of bilingualism that Dion set in 2003 as Intergovernmental Affairs minister.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics...e72&k=51751

Half of all Canadian high school students will "probably not" be bilingual by the year 2013 - but that's no reason to stop striving toward the goal, says the man charged with advising the federal government on bilingualism policy.

"I think it's a long shot at this moment," said former New Brunswick premier Bernard Lord. "But I think pursuing the goal of having more children graduate bilingual is a noble goal."

Lord spoke to CanWest News Service after a whirlwind tour of the country this month. He is to report his findings and make recommendations to Josee Verner, the minister of official languages, in January.

Current Liberal leader Stephane Dion set the bilingualism goal in 2003 when he was intergovernmental affairs minister under former prime minister Jean Chretien.

But despite hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by provincial and federal governments on bilingual education since then, bilingualism among high school students is going down, not up, according to recently released data from Statistics Canada.

Asked why the drive toward bilingualism appears to be faltering, Lord said while he is still gathering information, he believes parents bear a front-line responsibility.

"I've always felt that the parents are responsible for the education of children, and parents decide if their children will learn one language, or two, or three," Lord said. "The government has a role to play in education, but at the same time parents have the first responsibility."

Lord said he will make recommendations about education in his report next month. He also said he will recommend how much money the government should spend on bilingualism policy. The action plan developed by Dion in 2003 allocated $750 million over five years to foster bilingualism, of which $381 million was earmarked for education.

I'm not sure what this update heralds. Does it mean cutbacks? Does it mean an increase in funding? If bilingualism is going to be a federal policy, it will need some form of support or many places will just teach the dominant language.

[Keepitsimple]

I'd actually like "Bilingualism" to adapt a more worldly approach outside Quebec, if not in it. I've recently thought that it would be a good idea to have a "Languages" course taught in Grade seven, just before entering high school. As a teenager, even though living in Quebec, I did not understand that French was one of the Romantic languages stemming from Latin - and closely linked with Italian, Spanish and other languages. Once you learn French, the other languages come relatively easy. English really is just a hodge-podge of archaeic languages and does not really serve as a stepping-stone to other languages. Through this proposed Languages course, kids could see the very real similarities between the various Romantic languages. They would be able to see that they could use a language like French to help them learn others. It would help them develop a vision (or a dream) of how they could travel to other countries one day and be comfortable. It would inspire some of them to be conciliators with new Canadians. Sure - it's not for everyone and maybe in the end only 20% of students would have an increased interest in learning French in High School but the point is to get beyond the basic "who needs to learn French?" and tweak our kids' imagination. Perhaps if such a program were successful, it would encourage even more participation.

Any thoughts?

[Leafless]

I'd actually like "Bilingualism" to adapt a more worldly approach outside Quebec, if not in it. I've recently thought that it would be a good idea to have a "Languages" course taught in Grade seven, just before entering high school. As a teenager, even though living in Quebec, I did not understand that French was one of the Romantic languages stemming from Latin - and closely linked with Italian, Spanish and other languages. Once you learn French, the other languages come relatively easy. English really is just a hodge-podge of archaeic languages and does not really serve as a stepping-stone to other languages. Through this proposed Languages course, kids could see the very real similarities between the various Romantic languages. They would be able to see that they could use a language like French to help them learn others. It would help them develop a vision (or a dream) of how they could travel to other countries one day and be comfortable. It would inspire some of them to be conciliators with new Canadians. Sure - it's not for everyone and maybe in the end only 20% of students would have an increased interest in learning French in High School but the point is to get beyond the basic "who needs to learn French?" and tweak our kids' imagination. Perhaps if such a program were successful, it would encourage even more participation.

Any thoughts?

Sure.

Funding your personal interest yourself would be a thought.

[nbguyca]

New Brunswick is a province where its majority residents speak English.

New Brunswick has the largest concentration of French speaking only citizens outside the province of Quebec (9.2%) with Ontario following next at .37%.

Few can really understand why anyone initially would want 'official bilingualism' with the English language of New Brunswick at 57% and French only at 9% with other languages spoken.

http://www.roadsidethoughts.com/prov_nb.htm

http://www.languagefairness.org/Bilinguali...ril_1__2003.php

You should really read your own links. It states that 9% speak French only. There is a much more equitable split in NB.