Canada's Bilingualism Racket

[Rue]

13 hours ago, Moonlight Graham said:

Francophones in Toronto are a small group.  In terms of mother tongue or even 2nd language spoken, it ranks quite low.  The census would have the numbers.

The University of Ottawa is a french-first school.  Wynne wanted to built a french university in Toronto, not sure the demand for it.

That I did not agree with and I will tell you why. Laurentian U in Sudbury, U of T, Ottawa U, are in fact bilingual universities teaching courses exclusively in French already. We also have College Boreal which is a community college. That one to me was a stupid idea.

More to the point there are numerous universities in Quebec that are French only.

 

[Rue]

To start with I disclose my biases. 1-I sent both my daughters to French immersion. One is the head of public relations of a very large international company making much more money than me and living in New York. She went to graduate school in France and undergrad in that horrid nation called the US. The second is has a graduate degree and also went to the horrible US for university. I could not stop them. Both were French immersion. I come from Montreal so I was bilingual although its true what some say, if you do not use French all the time you can lose it. It comes back when I have a Labatt Blue but I concede that. I also concede growing up in Quebec I felt speaking French was a necessity not because I was forced to but it was the respectful thing to do in a province where the majority were French. To me it was not a political issue but a common courtesy one. Most French Quebecers insisted  on speaking English to me out of courtesy. I was only late in life on a vacation at Iles Aux Coudres, the hotel owner refused to speak English to his American customers that I went ballistic calling him an inbred ass and I translated and left the hotel. Idiot.

That said I support French immersion as I support any parent who teachs their child to speak more than one language. Why?

There are no shortage of sights that explain the benefits of learning more than one language such as:

https://www.unb.ca/fredericton/second-language/_resources/pdf/FrenchImmersionresearchmythorrealityJan2015EECD.pdf

I am not arguing it does not have issues but as the above article and many others that have researched education have shown:

• an ability to speak a second language enhances cognitive functioning, especially “executive control” – the decision-making centre of the brain 1

• more students are schooled in their second language in the world than in their first language

• allophones (students who speak a language other than English or French) can be and are successful second language learners in various types of programs including French immersion, and often surpass native English-speaking students in Canada

• the vast majority of students in French immersion are from unilingual English families

• the program was designed for these parents.

• many anglophone parents have had success advocating for and supporting their students in French immersion. Promoting literacy in the first language (e.g., reading to your child) is an important way of supporting French language learning

I would argue bilingualism is not a racket but a recognition of the two legal languages of Canada. Our laws were and are based on British and French legal and cultural systems as well as those of the nations of the aboriginals. We recognize all native languages as languages of Canada as they were the first languages of Canada and they are protected in the Charter. No one asks you speak those languages but legally they are nations of Canada. No one forces you to speak French or English either. You can choose to remain unilingual, illiterate, whatever. Its your choice.

The law forces nothing on you but it has to remain neutral to the two legal languages of English and French and accommodate the aboriginal languages in court and government services as the government of Canada serves all three.

I find Quebec's decision to not service English speakers in English outside the federal court system unfortunate but the reality is Canada allows this discrimination so the English provinces argue quid pro quo except Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick who are provincially bilingual.

It was a well  known Tory provincial Premier of Ontario who ushered in bilingualism for the province in 1967 during confederation and that Premier spoke little English and learned it in later life.

Many Anglophone politicians have learned French in later life  based on courtesy not because they had to.

I don't find being courteous a racket myself. Merci. Les Glorieux sont la. Drouin, Price et Gallagher, Franco-Quebecois + aboriginal + Newfoundlander = Les Habs.

 

 

 

[cannuck]

1 hour ago, Rue said:

To start with I disclose my biases. 1-I sent both my daughters to French immersion.

I don't find being courteous a racket myself. Merci. Les Glorieux sont la. Drouin, Price et Gallagher, Franco-Quebecois + aboriginal + Newfoundlander = Les Habs.

Being courteous is VERY different from diverting the wealth of multiple potential export clients and countries to a privileged few in Quebec - and using the resources of the state to do so (and thereby delivering often far substandard goods and services to the detriment of our national reputation).  Also, denying employment to possibly more capable people because they haven't subscribed to the same "courtesy" is a racket.  Truthfully: the best thing that could happen to ANYONE (and everyone) is to not work for government, but that's another issue.

Edited December 5, 2018 by cannuck

[turningrite]

23 hours ago, Argus said:

The vitriol and angst I see is about unnecessary french language laws which promote Francophones over Anglophones (or incompetents over competence) for jobs, especially top jobs in politics, government and the judiciary.

This may be a concern in the Ottawa region, but I suspect it has little practical application elsewhere. I know of people who live in Toronto who speak French who say it provides them little or no economic advantage, particularly in employment. Yet we see some who are clearly not impacted by government imposed bilingualism reflexively trumpeting moves like that that made by Ford. Why? The official obsession where I live is "diversity" rather than bilingualism and it raises concerns about even more insidiously discriminatory policies and practices. One can acquire skills in another language, for instance, particularly if one is taught another useful language at an early age. One cannot for the most part become or choose to become "diverse" by any practically available means.

Edited December 5, 2018 by turningrite

[Argus]

53 minutes ago, turningrite said:

This may be a concern in the Ottawa region, but I suspect it has little practical application elsewhere. I know of people who live in Toronto who speak French who say it provides them little or no economic advantage, particularly in employment. Yet we see some who are clearly not impacted by government imposed bilingualism reflexively trumpeting moves like that that made by Ford. Why? The official obsession where I live is "diversity" rather than bilingualism and it raises concerns about even more insidiously discriminatory policies and practices. One can acquire skills in another language, for instance, particularly if one is taught another useful language at an early age. One cannot for the most part become or choose to become "diverse" by any practically available means.

I am, of course, a product of my background, and have lived much of my life in Ottawa. So yes, it definitely matters around here. I also suspect that if the fed or provincial government wants to hire someone in Toronto anyone there has a huge step up on the competition for any number of positions.

And of course, the problem of requiring the PM to be bilngual deeply restricts the talent pool. I mean, is Andrew Scheer really the best choice to lead the Conservatives, or just one of the few bilingual MPs?