allison hanes: plans to strengthen french have been feel-good at best, punitive at worst
by failing to meet the demand for language courses from new immigrants, quebec is denying them a chance to be part of this francophone society.
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unscientific pop quiz: what is the most important thing we can do in quebec to protect and promote french, our shared language, which should unite us all in north america’s last francophone bastion?
- a) raise tuition for out-of-province post-secondary students, making them feel unwelcome and undermining the enrolment, finances and excellence at english universities.
- b) set up a new bureau for the french language at montreal city hall.
- c) greet visitors to, say, an argentine festival in both spanish and french.
- d) invest in ads reminding people to say “bonjour” but not “hi” when out in public.
- e) teach french to new immigrants.
by the way, we’re either doing or considering all of the above — some of it dubious and some of it symbolic. but the obvious answer — and the most constructive measure to secure the vitality of french — is to ensure all newcomers to quebec have timely access to courses so they can learn the common language, integrate into the culture and contribute to society.
instead, quebec is slipping in this essential duty even as it has set up a new agency, francisation québec, that is supposed to make it easier for immigrants to access language training programs.
every week, there is a new example of how we’re falling short. the wait for courses has nearly doubled in the last year, according to le devoir, from an average of 45 days to 81. meanwhile, classes offered by school service centres are being cancelled or cut due to budgetary pressures, even as demand soars. this includes classes in the laurentians, granby, sherbrooke and montreal. most students have lost financial incentives to attend french programs, which amounted to $28 a class, or about $9 an hour, to defray the cost of transportation or taking time off work to devote to this critical effort.
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it’s not that the provincial government doesn’t realize how important this task is to the future of quebec’s francophone identity. on the contrary, it has made it a priority.
we hear it constantly in the political rhetoric surrounding the language debate, with premier françois legault once calling it “suicidal” to open the doors to too many immigrants, blaming the influx of asylum seekers for overwhelming social services, and fretting about newcomers not conversing en français around the dinner table (even if they have the ability to speak the language at school or in the workplace).
we perceive it in the constant tinkering with immigration programs to try to attract more french speakers or make prior knowledge of the language a prerequisite for entry.
we see it in the allocation of funding. when six cabinet ministers showed up last spring to put money behind their language strategy, more than half the $603 million over five years they announced was intended for french training for newcomers.
steeping newcomers in quebec’s official language should be a projet de société, as we like to call it. it should be an all-hands-on-deck moment for all government departments and agencies, given the measurable difference it could make to the status of french.
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instead, so much time, effort, attention and energy is being poured into initiatives that are at best feel-good gestures, and at worst needlessly punitive.
a recent plan for the city of montreal falls more into the former category. when mayor valérie plante unveiled the new french action plan this month, she at least promised it would be inclusive and wouldn’t affect services in english in boroughs that are designated bilingual. she suggested measures like a new bureau to promote french and using the language in an exemplary way at cultural events, with an argentine festival given as an example.
although it’s difficult to judge whether any of these moves will pay off, they’re at least positive and certainly can’t hurt. some of the moves undertaken by the provincial government, in contrast, seem deliberately and pointlessly harmful.
just over a year ago, french language minister jean-françois roberge and higher education minister pascale déry unveiled a shocking and damaging strategy to protect french: hiking tuition for out-of-province university students. without providing a shred of evidence, or even a logical explanation, they blamed students from the rest of canada for anglicizing montreal and said nearly doubling their tuition would lead to more funding for french universities.
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over a period of months, a battle played out in the justice system, as well as the court of public opinion, as voices of reason — both french and english — argued against the increase. the government eventually exempted bishop’s university, reduced the tuition increase to 33 per cent and demanded new french proficiency requirements for graduates of english institutions. but the move left mcgill and concordia deeply wounded and scared away many students from elsewhere in canada.
and for what? in the spring, the office québécois de la langue française released a survey showing that the use of french has remained stable since 2007.
federal official languages commissioner raymond théberge has lamented that the quebec government views the english-speaking community as a scapegoat, rather than enlisting anglos as allies in the battle to preserve french.
perhaps all this blaming and shaming of anglophones is a distraction from the hard work that needs to be done to strengthen french — work that is easier said than done, and work that the government is clearly struggling to manage.
by failing to meet the demand for language courses from all these hopeful new quebecers, we are denying them a chance to be part of this francophone society. we are setting immigrants up to fail, especially given that they must communicate in french when receiving public services after a six-month grace period.
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above all, quebec risks making the decline of french a self-fulfilling prophesy.
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