Ottawa's Montfort Hospital

[Leafless]

Bakunin

You wrote- " It means split up between English and French".

Then this as nothing to do with bilingualism but in fact teaches to separate languages in the same school.

You wrote- " but i did have English immersion in my small regional French only school".

French Quebecers I thought are by law to remain in French only schools until I believe grade 12. If in fact Quebec schools do provide French immersion can you supply a link to prove this?

You wrote- " The only true bilingual place in Canada are Ottawa, Montreal and a few places in New Brunswick."

The city of Ottawa has bilingualism policies for schools and hospitals and services and it's Ontario provincial government provides French services.

New Brunswick is the ONLY officially bilingual province in Canada.

Montreal is NOT officially bilingual as No Where in Quebec is there any bilingual policy unless you can provide proof.

It seems unless you can supply proof we must understand that the offical language of Quebec which is French offers no Provincial or municiple English policies anywhere.

[August1991]

French Quebecers I thought are by law to remain in French only schools until I believe grade 12. If in fact Quebec schools do provide French immersion can you supply a link to prove this?

English as a second language starts in Grade 4. It is common to have English immersion in Grade 5 or 6 and then pupils study intensive English for half the year.

The city of Ottawa has bilingualism policies for schools and hospitals and services and it's Ontario provincial government provides French services.

New Brunswick is the ONLY officially bilingual province in Canada.

Montreal is NOT officially bilingual as No Where in Quebec is there any bilingual policy unless you can provide proof.

It seems unless you can supply proof we must understand that the offical language of Quebec which is French offers no Provincial or municiple English policies anywhere.

Leafless, you are confusing official government policy, government policy in practice and what occurs in daily life between private individuals.

The world over, governments pass all kinds of legislations, regulations and diktats that have little practical meaning once they leave the bureaucrat's desk. Canada is no different.

It is possible to live in English almost anywhere in Quebec. English language newspapers, magazines, cinemas, TV, radio, books, libraries are readily available. It is possible to get one's hair done, do the groceries, go to the bank all in English. That is simply not possible in French in most places in Canada outide of Quebec.

IMV, there is absolutely no comparison between the English minority in Quebec and the French minority in the rest of Canada. If Canada is to remain whole, and Quebec remain part of the Canadian federation, this patently obvious linguistic fact of North America must be understood.

----

Reading through this thread, it seems to me two separate issues are being confused. The first concerns our health system. The second concerns language policies.

Our health system has so many problems that perhaps I should not be surprised that language has gotten mixed into the debate.

If someone can't find a family doctor, or must wait six hours in an hospital waiting room, the person is bound to look for someone to blame. People speaking a different language are an obvious target.

[Bakunin]

Bakunin

You wrote- " It means split up between English and French".

Then this as nothing to do with bilingualism but in fact teaches to separate languages in the same school.

You wrote- " but i did have English immersion in my small regional French only school".

French Quebecers I thought are by law to remain in French only schools until I believe grade 12. If in fact Quebec schools do provide French immersion can you supply a link to prove this?

You wrote- " The only true bilingual place in Canada are Ottawa, Montreal and a few places in New Brunswick."

The city of Ottawa has bilingualism policies for schools and hospitals and services and it's Ontario provincial government provides French services.

New Brunswick is the ONLY officially bilingual province in Canada.

Montreal is NOT officially bilingual as No Where in Quebec is there any bilingual policy unless you can provide proof.

It seems unless you can supply proof we must understand that the offical language of Quebec which is French offers no Provincial or municiple English policies anywhere.

OK its the last time i reply, i think i made my points and its summer, i don't want to lose my time in front of the PC

For the school, on the document, i wrote billingual but on the document it was written "french and english".

For the immersion program i did it in 6th grade, ( 6ieme année primaire).

i went on the "CSDM" wich is one "commission scolaire", i found at least 3 schools that where part of the immersion program in that commission (1-6-7).

http://search.freefind.com/find.html?id=48...query=immersion

http://www.csdm.qc.ca/Csdm/etablissements/...r=0&OrdreEns=MA

I think i found what you wanted though, here is a link from canadian heritage website that explains the services:

...

Most Canadians know Quebec has declared French to be the official language of the province. Perhaps you did not know, however, that:

English and French have had, and continue to have, equal status in the courts and legislature of Quebec since Confederation. All acts of the provincial legislature are enacted in both languages;

The Government of Quebec provides a wide range of government services in English and has passed a law guaranteeing the right to English-language health and social services;

Quebec's minority-language education system remains one of the best in the country, providing schooling from kindergarten to university;

and Quebec is Canada's most bilingual province. This means that in the private sector English- language services are far more available than they are in French elsewhere in Canada...

http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/lo...h/question.html

Here is another document saying there are 18 english hospital in quebec vs 1 in ontario.

http://www.mef.qc.ca/docs/scandale.htm

[Leafless]

August1991

You wrote- " Leafless you are confusing official government policy, government policy in practice and what occurs in daily life between private individuals".

I could not care less what occurs between private individuals and in fact that is the way I would prefer bilingualism in general to occur is naturally with no government intervention.

This thread is devoted to provincial services (hospital) in a majority English province that reeks of discrimination.

This is why we veered into federal and provincial jurisdiction and language and hospital care as it involves all four items.

What makes bilingualism so discriminatory in Ontario a majority English province is that the province has dictated that Ontario is not an officially bilingual province but provides bilingual policies and has not made English and official language like Quebec. But the 'French Services Act forces the English tax payer in Ontario to provide many French services including schools and hospitals. This in effect makes Ontario ALMOST an officially bilingual province, one Ontario resident tax payers never had a politcal say on.

[seabee]

To go back to the original subject for a while, here is a letter in today's Ottawa Citizen:

Respect at Montfort

The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Re: Montfort isn't bilingual, April 7.

I cannot leave Sharon Jeffrey's letter unchallenged. I have just recently (March 15) had a total knee replacement at the Montfort, where I stayed for five days. And I am a unilingual English-speaker.

From the first contact I had with the hospital to do my pre-operation tests and checks, I found the people there extremely courteous, friendly, efficient, patient -- and bilingual. It began with a greeting from a volunteer at the hospital registration, continued through the day-patient's clinic where they took my medical history (in English), the physiotherapist briefing, the X-ray department and the specimen-collection centre.

On the day of my operation, I was prepped and coached through the process by a perfectly bilingual nurse and anesthetist, and nursed through recovery and into the ward by other friendly, fluent English-speaking nurses, nurses' aides, and student nurses. Of course, when someone new came to me the first contact was in French, which is to be expected given the history of the hospital. But there was never disdain or scowling when they had to switch to English to continue a conversation with me.

I have the greatest regard for the medical staff at the Montfort. I have to get my other knee replaced within the year, and I will have no hesitation about returning to the Montfort for the procedure.

Michael Piersdorff,

Ottawa

source: Ottawa Citizen

[Leafless]

Bakunin

The big thing with bilingual policies is that it guarantees you the RIGHT to be served in the language of your choice.

In Quebec there is no guarantee and this is where one can be easily discrimnated upon and in fact guarantees any Quebecer to use only the official language of Quebec French and there is little any one can do anything about that fact.

In other words the potential (to discriminate) officially on a linguistic basis is readily available to any French Quebec resident in a provincial positon or to any one in Quebec as French is the offical language and also dampens or eliminates any type of bilingusalism policy.

The only reason Ontario has bilingual policies and allowed the 'French Services Act' is because primarily of federal intervention concerning the premier of Ontario and even the mayor of Ottawa, something the federal government DOES NOT pressure Quebec to do.

I have read your links but know there are many restrictions who can go to what shools in Quebec and am not clear on the 'English immersion process' and how many schools offer this along with the many language restrictions relating to who goes to what schools depending on the language of your mother tounge.

I know many English schools and hospital were paid for by English tax payers but am not up othe the funding process whether all public or by English tax payers. Everything I seem to search on is not available or in French.

I read the questions and answers and truly find this to be federal propaganda in favour of Quebec.

For instance the purpose of 'official bilingualism' is to provide service in the language of your choice is NOT the main objective of official federal bilingualism.

The main objective for federal offical bilingualism is to provide employment in the federal public service for french Canadians and advance it's culture so as you can work in the language of your choice. This is outright discrimination.

Section 16-(3) in the Charter of rights and Freedoms states- "Nothing in this Charter limits the authority of Parliament or a legislature to advance the equality of status or use of English and French". This could constitute a Charter in itself concerning legislated rights and privledges.

And we know their not talking about English.