How the feds poisoned the well of official bilingualism

Ottawa Citizen, August 29, 2014

By Kelly Egan

On Sept. 9, Canada’s Official Languages Act turns 45.

Expect no candles, no cake: 1969 is a foreign country, never to be visited again.

The idea of an officially bilingual city of Ottawa is an idea that was born in that era, only to slip into a coma from which it sometimes wakes.

A group is lately pushing the proposal as a 2017 project (Canada’s 150th), and there was Ottawa-Vanier MP Mauril Bélanger supporting the idea in a newspaper interview this week.

Many, including Mayor Jim Watson, have indicated this is a bird without wings, destined to stay flightless for the foreseeable future.

But no one has expounded on the real reason, which is this: In a government town like Ottawa, where thousands have been forced to drink the Kool-Aid, the feds have poisoned the well.

The workers in the public service know that official bilingualism, which is a fine idea in theory, has been implemented in a way that makes people cynical, if not crazy.

Designated jobs. Language training. Oversight bodies. Endless translation. Put it all together and, from the rank and file, you hear stories of colossal career frustration, wasted millions, immense personal stress — all of which produces a work environment where English still dominates and a person’s “weak” language is used for pleasantries at the start of meetings.

I’ve written close to 1,500 columns since 2003 and no topic generates as much feedback as codified bilingualism in the public service. The level of simmering resentment, in a workforce already demoralized, is scary.

Rightly or wrongly, people see careers topped out, advancement of the less qualified, language training that takes months, or years, to no great avail. The total cost is only to be gaped at.

Watson, of course, knows this and he’d be a fool to invite this multi-spoke language machinery into everyday municipal life.

We actually know, by using unofficial bilingualism, how to get along in this city.

Once you enshrine these things in law, you get the guy who takes Air Canada to court because he couldn’t order a 7Up or Sprite in French. Or somebody complaining about John Baird’s mostly English twitter account. Or inspectors checking out signs in airports.

Take a flip through the public materials offered by the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. Honestly, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

We live in a country where wounded military veterans are on the verge of suicide for lack of timely help and young native women, culturally adrift, are being dumped dead by the side of the road. And we have money to spend on an inspector who ensures signs at airports are fully in both languages?

“In 2012, the Office of the Commissioner conducted 1,792 observations in eight international airports in Canada to determine how well airport authorities and federal institutions were meeting their obligations under Part IV of the Act, which concerns communications with and services to the public,” reads the office’s last annual report, followed by charts galore.

To read this stuff is to be left speechless.

“Over the past five years, the $1.1 billion Roadmap for Canada’s Linguistic Duality 2008-2013: Acting for the Future has been the federal government’s primary tool in supporting official languages.”

$1.1 billion roadmap? How about $1.1 billion on an actual road?

It is not, of course, the fault of the commission. It is merely the cop/carrot or inspector/enforcer that needs to be set up when language is “officially” set up as a legal right in the workplace and service world.

Surprisingly, if such a thing is still possible in this language sphere, the most complained about federal institution under Part VII of act, from 2009 to 2013, was CBC/Radio-Canada. It had 896 complaints over the loss of French broadcasting in Windsor.

In Ottawa, as we daily inhale this stuff, we love to whine.

“Most complaints received by the Commissioner between 2009 and 2013 came from the National Capital Region and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and primarily concerned a lack of French on the part of federal institutions.”

In Ottawa, meanwhile, there was a brief flap when incoming fire chief John deHooge was hired in 2009 without the ability to fluently speak French. I know, yes, the horror. He pledged to take lessons and one can only hope Vanier or Orléans is not burning because he’s busy looking up the word feu.

Ottawa should not stay away from official bilingualism because it’s a terrible idea. We should stay away because we don’t have a sensible plan to make it work, only a bad one to run from.

From: http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/egan-how-the-feds-poisoned-the-well-of-official-bilingualism

Quebec: Les Enfants

By Kim McConnell, Canadians For Language Fairness

From: http://languagefairness.net/

Canadians who, initially, were deeply concerned about the Official Languages Act (OLA) and its disastrous consequences, are getting old.  When this battle for the English language was started (by APEC – Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada in 1977* - see below for short history), there were many public servants who were directly affected.  It wasn’t too difficult for APEC to get the attention and support of English-speaking public servants and get them to write letters and organize protests. 

Remember that, since the passage of the Official Languages Act (1969), Canada was under the control of the Liberal government (except for the short stint under Mulroney), and it wasn’t until 2006 that Stephen Harper’s government took over. 

During the years between 1969 and 2006, the Liberals - led mostly by Quebecers - made huge strides in increasing the power and influence of Francophones simply by entrenching Official Bilingualism, the Official Languages Act, and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in our Constitution. Francophones gained even more power when Quebec-friendly policies, such as Equalization Payments and Multiculturalism, transferred massive amounts of cash into Francophone hands, and allowed them to establish thousands of well-organized, and well-funded, Francophone groups right across Canada.  It is very easy to attract prominent leaders to your cause when generous funding is readily available.

Anglophone politicians are easily cowed into silence by the threat of legal challenges mounted by the well-funded French groups. Not a single Anglo politician has spoken against these measures because they know that the courts and judges are governed by a Constitution mandated to Protect, Preserve and Promote the French language. 

In 2012, Galganov and Brisson mounted a legal challenge to the Russell Township by-law which declares that all business signs must be in English and French, and that it is illegal to use any other language. Even as the judges admitted that the bylaw infringed Section 2b (Freedom of Expression) of the Charter, they applied their interpretation of the Notwithstanding clause (clause 1) to over-ride that infringement.

So, having no recourse to our justice system, Canadians can either meekly accept the tragedy of Official Bilingualism – or we can fight back.  We expect that, as more Canadians understand why we are fighting so hard against the Frenchification of Canada, they will pressure the Conservative government to curtail the immense, unearned, power and influence given to the French.  The CPC is already doing it in small steps (such as ending the $800 annual bilingual bonus to people who got their jobs because they were bilingual).  This was initiated in the CRA, but I’m not sure if it has been extended to other departments. 

The unions (controlled mainly by the French-speaking public servants) are a powerful group (weren’t they largely responsible for the recent Wynne government’s majority victory in Ontario?), so the Conservative government has to tread carefully. They are hoping that tax cuts resulting from cut-backs in the public service might persuade Canadians that money in their pockets is better than money sent to the government in the form of taxes.  We have about 30 – 40% of Canadians who perpetually live off the government so it is up to the rest of us to make sure that the socialist parties like the Liberals and the NDP don’t assume power next year!

Kilroy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWcMg6pKxHg) has done excellent work in reaching more people with his very effective videos, and I have attached some to this message.  We need more young people to help us fight because it is really their future at stake.  If anyone has ideas that we haven’t tried, please feel free to forward them.  In the meantime, do what Sharon has suggested – keep a short message that you can send to any company that gives prominence to the French language as opposed to the English language, and ask them why.  A threat to boycott their product will also help – several people have sent me examples of their own efforts to do this and these efforts have brought results.

As I say, this is not just a battle for Canadians for Language Fairness – it is a battle that all Canadians must take on as their own.

Here are two links to some very effective video messages that Kilroy has created:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abOWJkf-Vh8&feature=player_detailpage#t=579

Complete video on Quebec and how the French are using the OLA to retake Canada from the English victory on the Plains of Abraham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW33xkVB-oI&hd=1

The boiling frog syndrome

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_for_the_Preservation_of_English_in_Canada

Quebec in Canada, Still

Some years ago, Quebec declared itself officially unilingual, and promptly began a campaign to rid itself of the English language, and as much evidence of Anglophone culture within its borders as possible. Having contemptuously spat upon Canada and Canadians, Francophones then demanded that the rest of Canada arrange its affairs to accommodate Quebecers, in French, across the nation.

And what did Canada do? Canada meekly complied. Canadians did not, does not, have the courage to simply say "No. We don't do business that way." We said "Yes Sir. By all means, Sir."

While millions upon millions of people around the world teach themselves and their children to speak and write the English language, Canadians feverishly teach their children French. While Asians and Australians also teach their children Mandarin, Canadians force their children to learn French.

Canada gives Quebec about $1.3B each month, money that it uses to heavily subsidize electricity, day care, and tuition. While we pay top dollar to educate our children, we also pay Quebec top dollar to teach their children to live and work in a language that is spoken in France, Haiti, and in a cluster of failed states in Africa.

Quebecers migrate down the 417 and the 401 into Ontario where the promptly demand that we provide them full services in French. Ontario kneels and provides the required funding - no questions asked.

The Charbonneau Commission is investigating crime and corruption in Quebec's provincial and municipal governments, unions, and construction industries. La belle Province is under investigation, no one else.

Canada distributes money - Equalization Payments - to the provinces to ensure that each can provide services approximately equal to the national average. Since the program's inception, the federal government has distributed just some $300B. Quebec's haul? $150B - precisely half. Alberta, a major contributor, receives nothing - precisely zero.

Quebec insists that it needs this funding and legislation to avoid being assimilated by the Anglo majority. Hmmm.  If that were the case, one would guess that other cultures, such as the Chinese, who have immigrated to virtually every place on Earth, would similarly lose their language and their culture.  Has that happened? Not at all. The Chinese are resourceful, diligent, intelligent, and, they work hard - at whatever they do.  The Chinese do not need coercive, cumbersome, and incredibly expensive legislation to protect their language and culture.

But Quebecers do. What is wrong with Quebecers? Are they unable to fend for themselves? Apparently not.

If Quebecers were imbued with even a small measure of those traits that characterize the Chinese, they would be partners with Canadians, working with us to build a nation for everyone. But Quebecers don't function that way. Quebecers declare their province to be French only, and then demand that the Rest of Canada arrange its affairs to accommodate them.

* * * *

Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair are both avid supporters of Quebec's aspirations. Listen closely to their remarks during this current federal election campaign. –JGP

Supreme Court of Canada dismisses Quebecer’s Seven/Sprite suit against Air Canada

Response from a Quebecer: Cue the monolingual anglo whining section, proud Canadians all, as long as they don't have to speak, read, or hear the "other" Canadian language.  It tires them so.

My response: We do not have a problem with the language spoken in Quebec. We do, however, have problems with the puerile people who speak it.

If Quebecers were resourceful, diligent, and honest folks who worked hard and earned their way, you would not need the incredibly cumbersome, coercive, expensive, and divisive language legislation that has been enacted on your behalf.

If you were a proud people with an exemplary history, you would be too ashamed to accept the $1.3 billion in welfare that we ship to you every month.

So, a proud people with an exemplary history you are not.

And suing an airline for not serving you in your own language? That really is quite childish. That act alone tells us that you have some years to go before you are old enough to vote.

Grow up and we will welcome you in Canada. Continue as you are, and you will continue to earn our contempt.

Gerry Porter
Ottawa