Bi-lingualism a constant irritant

January 20, 2010

by Kim McConnell,
Canadians for Language Fairness

There are so many things happening that upset Canadians and it is almost as if we haven’t got enough time in the day to tackle them all. 

We, as a language organization, have taken on the task of informing Canadians about the plight of English-speakers in Canada to the injustice and discrimination perpetrated on us by the Official Languages Act and so we hope that we can provide the leadership to concerned Canadians to right this wrong. 

In the process of fighting for fairness to the English-speaking majority, we will be accused of all sorts of things – we’ve been called all sorts of names but we know that deep-down most Canadians (even many French-speaking ones) know that this policy has gone too far. 

While it started out as a fight for the rights of French-speakers to have government services in their language where numbers warrant, it has been escalated by French-speaking zealots like Lucienne Robillard and Language Commissioners such as Graham Fraser, into a policy that clearly discriminates against the English-speaking majority. The result is a Federal Public Service that is now composed of more than their share of French-speakers in the senior ranks. 

Over 64% of our public service jobs in the National Capital Region have been declared bilingual imperative and most of them are occupied by French-speakers. 

Despite the billions of dollars spent on forcing English-speakers to learn French and to send their children to French-immersion, the rate of self-assessed bilingual citizens declines.  According to Jack Jedwab of the Association of Canadian Studies, the percentage of truly bilingual Canadians stands at around 12%.  This is down from the 17.7% who claimed to be bi-lingual in the 2001 census.

In the meantime, provinces that are mainly English-speaking, refuse to declare themselves as such even while they watch while Quebec pass more anti-English laws like Bills 22, 101, 178 and declare openly that they are unilingual French and English-speakers can assimilate or leave!!!  More than half a million have.

What is it about English-speaking Canadians that make us so reluctant to speak up or to make this a political issue?  I’m sure many of you will have your own explanations but I forward the following:

1. Canadians are basically a very kind people who are willing to give the shirts off their own backs to keep someone else warm.  This is proven by the generosity with which we approach every human disaster that happens anywhere in the world.  We welcome refugees from all over the world, give them food and shelter and take them into our homes. 
   
   We responded so generously when Pearson and Trudeau said that the French-speakers should be given equal rights to English-speakers and we watched quietly while Canada started the process of making a minority equal to the majority. 
   
   Even after Trudeau warned us that "There is no way two ethnic groups in one country can be made equal before the law....and to say it is possible is to sow the seeds of destruction". (Pierre Trudeau, 1966)
   
2. We, like most people in the developed Western world, are very naïve. We don’t understand that many parts of the world contain people who are hostile to our way of life and would not fit in without drastic changes made to the way we live. 
   
   Many of us don’t understand that countries where the standard of life is low creates a different kind of people and inviting them to our shores just creates more problems for us (as if we don’t have enough already). 
   
   We have been brain-washed by the Socialists into adopting a guilt complex about the 3^rd world, as if we are responsible for all the things that are happening all over the world where people have to live in poverty and misery and we are duty-bound to rescue them. 
   
   Canadians have never gone out to “conquer” the world but we must suffer the consequences because most of our citizens are from past-colonial countries like the U.K, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal.
   
3. A big problem is the media and whoever owns it. They simply refuse to publish or speak the truth on the language issue and the related problems. If they were honest they would publish forums like ours, and welcome honest debate. Instead they paint anyone who does not follow the accepted politically correct line as cranks and bigots.  It is a very effective way to silence any opposition. Why they would want the French and Quebec running Canada is beyond me.
   
4. Many Canadians who are not affected by the language debacle are only vaguely aware of how importing large numbers of French-speakers into Canada will affect them.  As a language group, we are more aware than most that if we increase our French-speaking immigrants into the country and distribute them all across Canada, the chances of them forming lobby groups for more French-language services will be escalated.  Will this be exploited by the French-speaking lobby groups to demand more services and jobs to be made bilingual – you bet!!!
   
5. We know that the government services (Federal, provincial & municipal) in Ontario and New Brunswick are already over-populated by French-speakers;  B.C. has been the target of more French-language services for years and the Franco-Columbians have used the 2010 Winter Olympics to bring in more French-speakers from Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick to man the many positions that have been made bilingual to serve the French-speakers from Quebec. 
   
   Of course, the private sector is being coerced into hiring bilingual staff as well. Provincial governments in English-speaking Canada look forward eagerly to the money sent by the Federal government in support of all these French-language services so why would they say NO?

So, for those readers who would like to help us with our letter-writing campaign, read on.  We believe that writing to ALL politicians is a waste of time so let’s be smart and target our letters. 

Stockwell Day is the newly appointed Minister for the Treasury Board that is responsible for handing out money to the various government bodies to promote bilingualism.  Target him to make him aware of your discontent with the amount of money being spent promoting bilingualism in the Federal government. 

Target Jason Kenney to discourage him from bringing in huge numbers of Haitians into Canada; send copies of all letters to the PM’s office.  Provincial Premiers and your own MPs should be targeted as they are your direct contact & your vote is needed to return them to power.  Make this an election issue because unless English-speakers wake up soon, the vociferous and well-funded French-language lobby groups will win the day!!!

To locate your own MP:  http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC

Points to be used for letters to Stockwell Day:

1. Forced bilingualism throughout Canada while Quebec remains a French-only province. Quebec's language laws, Bill 22, 101, 178 restrict the use of English everywhere in the province of Quebec.
   
2. The exorbitant cost of bilingualism to taxpayers outside of Quebec---up to 16 trillion dollars since 1969.
   
3. Bilingualism discriminates against all English-speaking Canadians. 
   
4. The Official Languages Act has created a privileged class of Francophones who share the exclusive benefits through employment opportunities that favour French-speakers.
   
5. Bilingualism permits the creation of French-only government funded health/social and community services. Francophones can demand French/bilingual services even where numbers do not warrant, for example, The lady in Cornwall who was refused service at a French health clinic because she did not speak French. 
   
6. Stop this policy of social engineering---the re-distribution of small numbers of Francophones to communities throughout Canada in order to claim a French presence thus furthering the demand for bilingual services. We can no longer afford this type of governance in Canada.

Contact Stockwell DAY

In Ottawa:
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Phone: 613.995.1702
Fax: 613.995.1154
Email: DayS@parl.gc.ca

In the Riding:
Suite 202, 301 Main Street
Penticton, BC V2A 5B7
Phone: 250.770.4480
Toll-Free:1-800-665-8711
Fax: 250.770.4484
Email: days1@parl.gc.ca

Hard copies of your letter are needed to have maximum effect. If you wish us to hand-deliver your letter to Stockwell Day, send your letter to our P.O. box and we will do so.  If our representatives can hand-deliver thousands of such letters to him, we might get some attention.  In politics, number counts and if you want to help make this an issue that our government cannot ignore, please make an effort.

Remember we need to publicly hold those responsible for language policies accountable. We need to embarrass them publicly and the only way to do this is to make it a political issue.     --Kim