http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/06/02/new-quebec-language-law.html?ref=rss#socialcomments
I just read this article (and many of the comments) and feel like I should spew out what it made me think about. The word limit in the comment section was much too short!
I am of two minds: I believe, as Canada is an officially bilingual country, all citizens should have the choice as to which language they would like to learn in. It is not a matter of Quebec being separatist, but rather an acknowledgment of Canada's history and the rights of the Canadian people.
On the other hand, the lack of attention our "multicultural" policies give to the languages that were here before any Europeans is pretty appalling. What about the languages of the indigenous people of this land? What about Coast Salish or Algonquin languages? These languages have been in existence for far longer than French or English and are the real "first languages" of Canada, yet fewer than 1% of our population speaks them. So do Canadians all have the right to learn these languages too?
What about immigrant languages? As a white English speaking first generation Canadian, I may look and sound like someone whose family is "Canadian" and they are, according to papers. But my father was born in the US and my mother was born in Africa. What then, happens for people whose family background is Chinese, for example, but they are 5th or 6th generation Canadian? Does this mean that they have more of a right to attend a Chinese-speaking school than I do?
Another question: what about universities? As far as I know, Université Laval is the only French university in Canada. The University of Alberta has a French faculty, but its programs are quite limited. Do people want to speak English more than they want to speak French? Or do French people in Quebec not want to get post-secondary education?
What the issue boils down to is the fact that it is impossible to please everyone and be politically correct. It is impossible to provide schooling in every language spoken within Canada's borders for every citizen without relocating them to specific countries within this country. That would be an exercise of polarities and that is entirely not what Canada is supposed to be about. To be quite blunt, English is becoming, whether people like it or not, a global language. The richest country (GDP) in the world speaks English and, cliché as it is, money talks.
Here is some food for thought that I have taken to heart from a friend of mine in Poly Sci that lives in the International House here. She's exposed to, quite frankly, probably the majority of minorties that at least Edmonton sees, and she has a very interesting viewpoint (this is the french/english argument aside). She believes that Canadians are too nice to try and accomodate so many different types of Cultures and make changes to constituitions and such for each group. Canada is losing whatever it was before and bowing before all of these other cultures that demand we adapt to them . . .which we shouldn't have to do. Interesting anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, I don't really think Canada was anything "before". I don't see cultures "demanding" that we adapt to them. Our country's constitution demands we respect different cultures, but when the only culture I really think of Canadians as having is multiculturalism I don't think trying to be nice is a bad thing.
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