Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘language wars’

Francophone kids in Quebec will still not be allowed to go to English schools, according to the Supreme Court decision that came down today:

The Quebec government is welcoming two Supreme Court decisions on the province’s language laws.

The court ruled against an attempt by francophone parents to win the right to free access to English public schools.This is an English-rights issue in a way… but in reverse. It’s not anglophones in Quebec who are the second-class citizens here, it’s francophones. The oppressive language policy allows us English kids to become fluently bilingual in grade school, but doesn’t allow French kids to learn English at an early age and become fluently bilingual. That’s why so many people feel stuck in Quebec – especially those who live outside Montreal, where English instruction in French schools is often of poor quality.

Quebec is my home but it’s also a very closed, defensive society. Paranoia about English means that restrictive legislation designed to “protect” French actually holds Quebec Francophones hostage here. It’s a policy of fear with no basis in reality, since all evidence indicates that learning a second or third language at a young age helps, rather than hurts, kids’ language skills in their mother tongue.

And of course all the politicians who merrily protect these laws don’t care; they send their kids to private schools, where many of them do learn to be fluently bilingual.

There was a bit of a silver lining, as a second ruling tried to make it easier for immigrants to have access to English schools. I predict that the legislation will be reframed to avoid that as well.

And so, Francophone parents will continue to be restricted by policies intended for the “common good”. Not much changes.

This new rule is designed to increase doctor-patient respect:

The hospital’s administration will ask staff to address patients using the formal French pronoun “vous’”instead of the informal “tu.”

[ . . . ]

He says staff who repeatedly ignore the new measure will face disciplinary action and could eventually be suspended without pay.

Hey, any hospital that addresses patients by a name instead of by the name of a disease is a positive development.

But as a person who frequently stumbles over her French, I’m a little sensitive to this rule in particular. I’m sure this isn’t much of an issue in Saguenay, where French is spoken by basically everyone, but I personally have a particularly hard time with the tu/vous distinction. Oh, I understand it well enough, but when I’m speaking quickly or I’m flustered, the wrong one often slips out. I blame it on my grade school French curriculum, which – ostensibly to avoid confusion – taught us to say “tu” when addressing any person in the singular second person, including our teachers. It’s hard to break the habit now and I have made some embarrassing gaffes when addressing professors or even clients too familiarly.

Maybe I’m being over-sensitive, but instituting a rule that could result in suspension seems a bit heavy-handed to me. If the lesson the hospital is trying to teach to staff is respect, maybe they could try having a little respect for their staffers. Most likely, a simple memo reminding people to use “vous” would be enough, rather than a rule. Besides, there’s a lot more to respect than pronouns, and any staff members with truly disrespectful attitudes should be disciplined regardless of what exact words they use.

There’s a lively debate going on at Paul’s site about the Quebec language laws. Even though everyone I know is so ridiculously sick of talking about language politics, it seems that the issue just won’t go away.

This time, it’s about the court case brought by angry Francophone parents demanding the right to send their kids to English schools:

In the most potentially explosive case, a group made up largely of francophone parents is seeking the right to attend English schools, arguing under the Quebec Charter of Human Rights it is illegal to discriminate against someone based on family relationships.

Should they win, the case could prove to be a political nightmare for Premier Jean Charest’s government, which could find itself caught between a) respecting the ruling and angering French nationalists who don’t want to see Bill 101 weakened or b) invoking the notwithstanding clause and risk angering the Liberal Party’s anglophone and federalist supporters.

This is of course an extremely ironic case, given that it’s discriminatory – for once – not against us hated Anglos but against Francophones who merely want to give their kids the opportunities that a working knowledge of English affords them. All the evidence indicates that learning a second language won’t jeopardize a child’s mother tongue, and that the younger it is learned, the better. The level of English being taught in French public schools is ridiculously ghastly.

And under the law, only parents who were educated in English in Canada have the right to choose to send their kids to French schools. That right is lost after a generation. So, for instance, if I should decide to send my kids to French school one day, because I want them to be bilingual, they will lose the right to send their kids to English school (assuming they stay in Quebec).

It should be about freedom of choice. But for too many Quebecois, it’s about the collectivity superceding individual rights. People who are living in the past enact defensive laws seeking to “preserve” the French “character” of Quebec by oppressing English in any way possible. English is illegal on signs unless it’s half the size of the French or less. Workplaces with at least 50 employees must conduct all internal communications in French. And parents can’t choose educate their kids in English… unless, like most politicians, they’re rich enough to send their kids to private schools, in which case they can do so in any language they please.

You see, it’s not enough for the nationalists to take pride in their French culture and heritage. No, everyone else has to as well. That’s why preference is given in Quebec to immigrants from French-speaking countries. That’s why ridiculous requirements about working in French keep many talented and industrious people out who don’t speak French. The nationalists are worried about being assimilated by a “sea” of English, and fight to preserve the French majority in the province no matter what the cost to progress, openness, or individual rights.

You’d think this would piss me off, as an anglophone living in Quebec. And yeah, it does. But the other side of the coin is that, like the vast majority of people in this province, I just don’t care enough. Because I’m so sick of hearing about it. That’s why a guy like Howard Galganov didn’t get the support of the vast majority of Montreal anglos for more than about five minutes. He was militant in a situation that we have pretty much come to accept and deal with. Every so often there are flare-ups, but for the most part, people are content to leave the hardline bickering to the politicians. Just about all of us in Montreal speak two or more languages. We conduct conversations in “franglais” or a mix of whatever happens to make the most sense at the time. And we’re tired of the politicians trying to drive us apart.

So I think it’s wrong, but I’m not ready to be all up in arms either. I argued that we shouldn’t blow the whole thing out of proportion:

I’ve done my share of ranting and raving against the OLF, Bill 101, and pretty much anything to do with sovereignty or rights. But I do think it lacks perspective a little to call the nationalists “fascists” or “terrorists” (with the notable exception of the FLQ, of course, who are terrorists). Anglo power is all very well and good, but I’ve mellowed somewhat. Back in 1995, I thought all separatists were hiding devil’s horns in their hair. I now realize that they have some views that – while I disagree – aren’t coming from nowhere.

With the notable exception of a few individual FLQ terrorists firebombing coffee shops, the nationalist movement has been nonviolent and political since the mid-70s. And with the exception of a few hardliners on each side, most people would really rather that the issue just go away. We’re tired of it. We don’t like to be told that our language laws make us a fascist dictatorship. We know better; they’re inconvenient but they’re a compromise that usually works, and when it doesn’t, nobody’s getting murdered or tortured or starved. For the most part, we put up with the crap cause this is otherwise a great city to live in and most of us have friends on both sides of the political spectrum, and in absence of a referendum campaign to drive a wedge between us, we can put our differences aside and just talk about something else. Plus, today’s Montreal has so many ethnic groups that are neither anglophone nor francophone that it just seems absurd to talk about this as a two-sided issue, when there are many people in between who are comfortable in many languages and don’t identify with either side.

It’s ok to agree to disagree sometimes. I’m looking forward to the day when the politicians catch up with the population, and stop making every election about language or sovereignty.

Excuse me for a moment while I yield to the temptation to act like a bratty five-year-old:

HAHAHAHA! Serves you right!

Pettiness doesn’t pay. That was the message a Quebec Court judge sent to the Office de la langue française yesterday.

[ . . . ]

Central Microsystems 4000 had been working with the language police since 1999 on a French version of its online computer store, but a few English words continued to appear in some product descriptions.

The Office considered that a violation of the French Language Charter and sent the matter to the Quebec attorney-general, who in February 2002 fined the LaSalle company $604.

The company contested the fine. Judge Maximilien Polak yesterday upheld the defence’s argument although the company might have technically contravened the charter, the violation was so trivial it did not warrant the full force of the law.

The OLF’s decision to pursue the matter even after Central Microsystems repeatedly showed its willingness to make corrections went against the language police’s own stated objective, which was to correct charter violations, not to punish them, the judge found.

Ok, it’s out of my system now. But it’s about time that somebody called the ruler-wielding OLF on its anal-retentiveness…

Gazette columnist Henry Aubin adds his two cents into the volatile pool of Quebec language issues, proposing free French lessons for students who graduate from university in Montreal and then end up leaving the province to seek employment elsewhere. It’s Aubin’s idea of a way to solve the brain drain:

Students flock here from outside Quebec, then leave in droves, diplomas in hand.

[ . . . ]

But that ignores an important fact. As the city-hall study confirmed with numerous interviews, the majority of these people love Montreal and would be happy to make their lives here were it not for certain constraints.

Like what? Political instability and a rotten job market have faded. The new disincentives, the study suggests, include high taxes, the city’s secondary status in the global knowledge economy and, finally, “language policy.” The first two problems are complex and can’t be solved quickly, but one facet of the language issue is – believe it or not – easy to improve.

Aubin’s idealistic proposal has a few problems attached to it, though.

First, a few French classes are unlikely to improve someone’s fluency level to that needed to work in most positions. I’ve been learning French for almost my entire life, and while I’m functional, I’m certainly not perfect. If I – a fourth-generation Montrealer with a bilingual education – had trouble finding a job because of the language issue, then what’s to say that a free French class will help grads from outside Quebec get employed?

Second, there are a number of programs and language courses already offered either for free or extremely cheap, similar to what Aubin proposes. YES Montreal, for example, offers a basic French course. Most of the universities, have continuing education classes held in the evenings that are cheap. And the best deal of all: students from outside Quebec who decide to come here and major in French language or literature can attend university paying Quebec resident tuition. That’s a discount of thousands of dollars to encourage people to flock to Montreal to study French! A few do it… most don’t.

Perhaps most important of all, most people in Quebec don’t see the departure of visiting university students post-graduation as a problem in the first place. After all, students come from outside Quebec, pay higher tuition, get educated, live here a few years, and then go back home so they don’t take up jobs. And by leaving, they don’t threaten Quebec’s “French character”. After all, most of the English-speaking ones aren’t desirable immigrants to Quebec precisely because they’re not francophone… so people are not looking for a solution because to them, there’s no problem. It’s no use telling them that a better-educated workforce will lead to job creation and an expansion of the proverbial pie, with more prosperity all around. No, to them, the English interlopers are stealing their French jobs, and good riddance to them anyway.

In a week where Quebec is still reeling from perceived attacks by Don Cherry, Conan O’Brien, and the Liberal corruption scandal, it may not be politically savvy to say this. But I’ve never really cared much about being politically-correct in the past, so why start now? Quebec needs to grow up, toughen up, and open up. It’s that simple.

Our society is threatened by openness and change, and reacts defensively to any attempt to educate and re-create the definition of the future. The politicians keep the French Quebecois here by not enabling them to learn English from a young age, cutting off most of their opportunities elsewhere. They keep the English out by not making job opportunities available to them. In these ways, Quebec’s character stays French, that’s true. But the economy also stagnates behind the rest of Canada, as one opportunity after another is squandered.

I suspect that when Ontarians who graduate from McGill cite the “language policy” as a reason not to stay in Montreal, they mean much more than being able to function in French. They mean the dirty little secret that nobody likes to talk about but everyone knows: the English are not really “part” of Quebec society. They’re not wanted. And even if they stick around and get a job and learn French, they’re still the Big Bad Anglos who want to oppress the Quebecois and threaten its precious French majority.

That is the real “language policy” and it’ll take a helluvalot more than some free French classes to solve.

With all the priorities out there for our tax dollars – health, education, infrastructure – it looks like the new big priority is investigating Don Cherry:

Don Cherry’s recent remarks about Francophones have launched a government investigation.

An aide to Dyane Adam revealed Wednesday that the official languages commissioner is investigating Cherry’s comments about francophones aired during the Jan. 24 instalment of Coach’s Corner on Hockey Night In Canada.

Cherry, who turned 70 on Thursday, was discussing the merits of protective visors as mandatory equipment in the NHL when he said: “Most of the guys that wear them are Europeans and French guys.”

I don’t watch Don Cherry. I find him obnoxious. But millions of Canadians disagree with me, and he’s somewhat of a national icon of political incorrectness… not to mention bad wardrobes. So what was it about those remarks that were so offensive as to necessitate an Official Languages Commissioner investigation?

Mind you, the Official Languages office is pretty much the champion of squandering tax dollars on pettiness. That is, next to the OLF. (Anyone remember the dreaded unilingual matza ball?)

As to Don Cherry, I think a caller on the radio this morning put it best when he said that “using tax dollars to investigate Don Cherry is like commissioning the Canadian Space Agency to investigate the House of Commons for signs of intelligent life”.

‘Nuff said.

The irony seemed to escape Mayor Gérald Tremblay, when he campaigned against Anne Myles in the Beaconsfield/Baie d’Urfé borough by-election on the grounds that she can’t speak French.

Myles ran on Tremblay’s ticket in the original election, and then later quit his party to run as an independent. Tremblay’s stung, and is trying to save his megacity against the demerger movement, which Myles staunchly supports, by pushing forth a decentralization vision.

I guess he doesn’t realize that the only reason Myles’ French ability is at issue in the first place is that predominantly anglophone Beaconsfield and Baie d’Urfé were forced to become part of this megacity.

Just demerge already and get it over with!

Happy separatist day – er – St. Jean Baptiste Day – to all out there.

Whether you spent La Fete Nationale draped in blue and white, or just enjoying the day off from work, I hope it was a good one.

I’m getting really sick of hearing these “root-cause” arguments for hatred. Between Osama’s apologists, Arafat’s cheerleaders, and the Jaggi Singhs who insisted on blaming everyone for the rioting at Concordia but the rioters, it seems that nobody takes personal responsibility seriously anymore.

In a letter in today’s Gazette, Dorval resident Juerg Bangerter blames Anglophones for being resented by Francophones:

If some 25 years ago or even 50 years ago, the French-Canadian population would have been treated equally and with respect in Canada, the Parti Québécois would never have risen to power. If English Quebecers would have treated the francophone Québécois majority as equals, there would never been any of the language extremism we all hate today.

If there were as many bilingual anglophones as there are bilingual francophones in Canada, there wouldn’t be any controversy about the Quebec flag, and we would behave as citizens of a real confederation in which all minorities are equally respected.

If Bangereter wants to criticize the members of the Anglo society fifty years ago who didn’t treat Francophones as equals, then that’s certainly legitimate. But his suggestion that “they hate us cause we don’t all speak their language” is ridiculous. Firstly, many of us do speak their language. Secondly, since when is it grounds to hate someone simply because they don’t speak a certain language? Silly me, I was under the impression that this constitutes discrimination.

Statistics Canada released new census figures this week, and now the PQ nitwits are falling all over themselves to decry a “lack of bilingualism” in Canada.

“It’s a dream, this vast bilingual country and this dream is not a reality,” Diane Lemieux said at a news conference after the 2001 census figures were unveiled. “This image of Canada being a bilingual country is an image disproven by reality. “It’s not true that French and English coexist as equals throughout Canada.” Lemieux said French would be better protected if Quebec were sovereign.

“The real solution is for Quebec to be a country,” she said.

The census showed Canadian bilingualism is divided along geographic lines, Lemieux suggested.

Of course, to the PQ, everything would be better if Quebec were sovereign.

But that’s not the point here. The point is that while the number of francophones in Canada (excluding Quebec) dropped a tiny bit – 4.4% down from 4.5% in 1996 – the truth is, both French and English-speaking populations dropped as the number of allophones (people with a mother tongue other than French or English) increased sharply. This is a result of increased immigration and multiculturalism, and only the PQ would see it as a BAD thing.

Wasn’t it Louise Beaudoin who was rallying about “rampant” bilingualism just a few short years ago? Of course, in that case she meant Quebec – where 83.1% of people speak French at home, compared to only 8.3% who speak English (down from 8.8% in 1996). Of course, to the PQ, bilingualism is only bad if it’s in Quebec. Their “raison d’être” is to preserve French, and of course there’s nothing wrong with that except when it’s done by criticizing other languages and groups.

Language has always been divided along geographic lines. That’s human nature. People tend to gravitate towards areas and communities where there are others who share their language and culture. In fact, the entire PQ argument for sovereignty is based on the division of language along geographic lines.

The problem is that the PQ has always seen the population of Canada as pieces on a chessboard, which they are free to position and manipulate at will. This was the reasoning behind immigration policies that would see immigrants forced to live in designated (outlying) areas instead of big cities. This was the reasoning behind efforts to shut down English schools and force all immigrants to send their children to French schools, even if they already speak English fluently. This was the same reasoning behind the law forcing all companies with 50 or more employees to conduct their internal business in French – even if all the people working at the company are non-francophone – and to advertise in French even if they’re targeting a mainly non-francophone market.

The PQ wants to hammer out a francophone society – whether the people like it or not. And now the same government that has been so restrictive of its anglophone minority is criticizing the rest of Canada for not being French enough! The difference, of course, is that in the rest of Canada, people are free to speak whatever language they choose. And this is apparently what the PQ finds so offensive. Maybe they ought to start targeting communities out in Alberta for “forced bilingualism” laws. Something tells me they wouldn’t get welcomed with a red carpet.