Let Me Count the Ways #3

Top Ten Reasons Why I Love My Life

(In no order)

1. I make an amazing birthday cake. Evidence to the left from my little brother's birthday, which was yesterday.

2. GP does nice things for me, like cleaning the entire kitchen after I made the aforementioned cake (and when the kitchen was a MESS), EVEN THOUGH he wasn't able to come to the birthday dinner because he was working and EVEN THOUGH I told him explicitly not to clean it up because I would when I got home. It was kind of like having a house-elf, but GP is a lot more handsome and independent.

3. I look fabulous in most hats.

4. I'm good at things I don't even like doing, namely yoga.

5. Friskies does NOT like whistling, which makes for endless entertainment. If GP or I whistle, she tries to bite us.

6. I don't have to go to school or work right now. Neat!

7. I have a knack for finding great places to live just at the right time.

8. I've been pretty good about working out. In the past 90 days I have only missed 5 workouts of the 6 per week that GP and I have been doing. All but one of those workouts were yoga. Also, I've been getting stronger and stronger. I can do seven chin-ups now! I must say I've been finding it hard to stay motivated lately. I need a little pick-me-up. Suggestions, anyone?

9. I haven't gotten a sunburn yet this summer. That is good because my skin is very fair and sunburns are painful and do not bode well for future health or skin appearance.

10. I can speak French. That's awesome because I live in a bilingual country and I think everyone living here should be taught more of both languages.

Am I Canadian?

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.