Second-class Canadian Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 (edited) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/afn-asks-ottawa-to-declare-all-aboriginal-languages-official/article25378218/?service=mobile It's an interesting article, and I understand its point. But could we not make these languages more equal in reverse, by abrogating English and French from the Constitution instead? Logically, there are two ways of making them equal, by lowering the high or raising the low. Edited July 10, 2015 by Second-class Canadian Quote
TimG Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 (edited) But could we not make these languages more equal in reverse, by abrogating English and French from the Constitution instead?We need a common language which is used for laws and political debate. Having 2 creates headaches but it is manageable. Translating every law into 60 or so dead and dying aboriginal dialects is an idea that is too stupid to even bother discussing. It just shows how aboriginal leadership in this country is completely disconnected from reality. Edited July 10, 2015 by TimG Quote
Second-class Canadian Posted July 10, 2015 Author Report Posted July 10, 2015 We need a common language which is used for laws and political debate. Having 2 creates headaches but it is manageable. Translating every law into 60 or so dead and dying aboriginal dialects is an idea that is too stupid to even bother discussing. It just shows how aboriginal leadership in this country is completely disconnected from reality. Perhaps. But even if we disagree with the details, certainly we can agree with the principle of equality whereby if they don't get an official status in the Constitution, neither should English or French. Quote
Bryan Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 We need a common language which is used for laws and political debate. Having 2 creates headaches but it is manageable. Translating every law into 60 or so dead and dying aboriginal dialects is an idea that is too stupid to even bother discussing. It just shows how aboriginal leadership in this country is completely disconnected from reality. Even two is needless duplication. Huge waste of money. Quote
cybercoma Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 Even two is needless duplication. Huge waste of money. You're right. They should just do everything in French. Quote
Bryan Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 You're right. They should just do everything in French. French only would be an even worse waste of money. English is the international language of commerce and trade. The one where there's an economic advantage to learn it if you don't know it already. Sticking with english-only would be an advantage for us. Sticking with french would be a disadvantage. Quote
cybercoma Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 French only would be an even worse waste of money. English is the international language of commerce and trade. The one where there's an economic advantage to learn it if you don't know it already. Sticking with english-only would be an advantage for us. Sticking with french would be a disadvantage. Who cares? French is our official language. We should stop doing things in English to save money. France is French and there's a whole French diaspora we that we could be a part of. Let's get rid of English. Quote
Bryan Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 Who cares? French is our official language. We should stop doing things in English to save money. France is French and there's a whole French diaspora we that we could be a part of. Let's get rid of English. People who have to pay for wasteful ideas like that care. We aren't France, but even they are beginning to require that people learn english. French is the odd man out and the extravagant expense. Quote
cybercoma Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 (edited) People who have to pay for wasteful ideas like that care. We aren't France, but even they are beginning to require that people learn english. French is the odd man out and the extravagant expense. France has an extravagant expense at making its laws and providing its services in French? That's odd. You wanted to save money by doing away with one of our official languages (Canada is NOT bilingual, btw). So we should get rid of English. It's unnecessary and it makes us too much like America. People keep talking about getting away from the British Monarchy too. So what better way than to reject the Queen's language? Down with English! It's wasteful to spend money on it. Edited July 10, 2015 by cybercoma Quote
Smallc Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 Most of the population is English speaking. I like having both languages but your sarcasm doesn't make sense on any level. Quote
Bryan Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 France has an extravagant expense at making its laws and providing its services in French? That's odd. You wanted to save money by doing away with one of our official languages (Canada is NOT bilingual, btw). So we should get rid of English. It's unnecessary and it makes us too much like America. People keep talking about getting away from the British Monarchy too. So what better way than to reject the Queen's language? Down with English! It's wasteful to spend money on it. French is the extravagant expense for us. If you are a French speaking nation, you need to learn english. If you do business (or politics) internationally, and you don't speak english, you are at a huge disadvantage. Since we already speak english, doing everything in french is an additional expense unnecessary. People who want to learn it still can, people who want to speak it still can. There's just no reason for the government to pay for it. Quote
Argus Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 Mulcair and Trudeau are basically promising the native chiefs anything they want in return for them whipping the native vote on their behalf so I suppose they thought they'd toss this out there, too. They've both agreed to meet with the 643 natives every year, and treat them all as Canada's equals, and they've both also vowed to repeal the native transparancy act which lets natives know what money their chiefs are making. They've also promised to give them billions more for education, only, unlike the Tories, they won't oversee how it's spent (nudge-nudge, wink-wink) because they have total faith and confidence that it will only be spent on education and so there's no need to report back on that... Quote "A liberal is someone who claims to be open to all points of view — and then is surprised and offended to find there are other points of view.” William F Buckley
Moonlight Graham Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 The OP article: Perry Bellegarde, who was elected National Chief of the AFN last fall, agrees it would not be easy to require translations of all indigenous languages to be printed on the sides of cereal boxes and milk cartons. “That would be the ultimate goal,” Mr. Bellegarde said in an interview on Wednesday at the three-day annual general meeting of the AFN, Canada’s largest indigenous organization. “But let’s do small steps to get there.” So about 60 languages required on all food packaging in Canada? Stupid idea. The whole idea of aboriginal official languages, while in a perfect world would be fair, is completely impractical and will never happen. Quote "All generalizations are false, including this one." - Mark Twain Partisanship is a disease of the intellect.
cybercoma Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 Most of the population is English speaking. I like having both languages but your sarcasm doesn't make sense on any level. So what? We need to scrap one. It might as well be English. It's too wasteful having both and the French were here before the English. Quote
cybercoma Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 French is the extravagant expense for us. If you are a French speaking nation, you need to learn english. If you do business (or politics) internationally, and you don't speak english, you are at a huge disadvantage. Since we already speak english, doing everything in french is an additional expense unnecessary. People who want to learn it still can, people who want to speak it still can. There's just no reason for the government to pay for it. Politicians can worry about learning other languages and private businesses can worry about learning other languages. Here at home English is unnecessary and wasteful. The French were here first, so we should just do everything in French. The English can figure it out and adapt or they can piss off. Quote
Moonlight Graham Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 French as an official language is terribly impractical and expensive. How many french-speaking citizens in this country don't know english? I can't find the stats but it must be a very low %. Bilingualism is a matter of principle not practicality. Quote "All generalizations are false, including this one." - Mark Twain Partisanship is a disease of the intellect.
Moonlight Graham Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 The French were here first, so we should just do everything in French. The English can figure it out and adapt or they can piss off. No, the aboriginals were here first (microaggression) so we should all learn it or piss off. Quote "All generalizations are false, including this one." - Mark Twain Partisanship is a disease of the intellect.
cybercoma Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 French as an official language is terribly impractical and expensive. How many french-speaking citizens in this country don't know english? I can't find the stats but it must be a very low %. Bilingualism is a matter of principle not practicality. I think English is terrible impractical and too expensive. How many english-speaking citizens in this country haven't had french classes in school? I can't find the stats but it must be a very low %. Let's get rid of bilingualism, since we already teach French to English-speaking students. Quote
cybercoma Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 No, the aboriginals were here first (microaggression) so we should all learn it or piss off. You're right. Maybe we should do away with English and French. Good point! Quote
Keepitsimple Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 We need a common language which is used for laws and political debate. Having 2 creates headaches but it is manageable. Translating every law into 60 or so dead and dying aboriginal dialects is an idea that is too stupid to even bother discussing. It just shows how aboriginal leadership in this country is completely disconnected from reality. Ditto. Quote Back to Basics
Big Guy Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 Ten times more people speak Mandarin than French. Liaojie? Quote Note - For those expecting a response from Big Guy: I generally do not read or respond to posts longer then 300 words nor to parsed comments.
Second-class Canadian Posted July 10, 2015 Author Report Posted July 10, 2015 Canada could grant Quebec's wish that Federal institutions in Quebec that serve only Quebec residents operate monolingually. Quote
Evening Star Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 Ten times more people speak Mandarin than French. Liaojie? In the world? Sure. In Canada? I doubt this. Quote
Evening Star Posted July 10, 2015 Report Posted July 10, 2015 (edited) Canada could grant Quebec's wish that Federal institutions in Quebec that serve only Quebec residents operate monolingually. Is this really Quebec's wish? Has Couillard asked for this? Have the NDP, who represent the most Quebec seats federally, asked for this? Edit: And even if they did ask for this, what would make this a good idea? Edited July 10, 2015 by Evening Star Quote
Second-class Canadian Posted July 10, 2015 Author Report Posted July 10, 2015 Is this really Quebec's wish? Has Couillard asked for this? Have the NDP, who represent the most Quebec seats federally, asked for this? Edit: And even if they did ask for this, what would make this a good idea? Is this really Quebec's wish? Has Couillard asked for this? Have the NDP, who represent the most Quebec seats federally, asked for this? Edit: And even if they did ask for this, what would make this a good idea? Consecutive Québec governments have requested this. Why a good idea? Official monolingualism saves money among other things, plus it would set a precedent for other province. Quote
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