From: steven@spxtech.qc.ca (Steve Potter)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Access to English school: quotes
Date: 11 Sep 92 14:16:28 GMT
Distribution: can
Organization: Securiplex Technologies Inc., Montreal, Canada
X-Bytes: 4217

From article <12827@audetf>, by audetf@Software.Mitel.COM (Francois Audet):
> In article (Steve Potter) writes:

>>Quebec has a French community and an English community, both of which
>>use an official language of Canada. Both of which have the same 
>>political rights - don't they?
> 
> Yes. It doesn't mean it applies to british immigrants.
> 
>>England doesn't have two official languages!
> 
> Quebec doesn't either.  And don't tell me Quebec is part of Canada
> because it is totally irrelevant.

"If I choose not to look at it it isn't there." ?

> Obviously you do not understand the
> concept of a Confederation (even if it is debatable that Canada is
> really a Confederation). England is part of the European Union, and it
> doesn't mean that it is bilingual (or X-lingual).

When did England sign the "European Union"'s Constitution? :-)

> 
>>You must have studied geography in a French school in Quebec! :-)
> 
> Obviously you learned yours in England: that's why you have such a
> great knowledge about Quebec's political powers.
> 

Agreed.

>>English and French are both official languages in Canada. The constitution
>>says as much.
> 
> On s'en balance! It's a provincial matter, not a federal matter.

Both levels of government have responsibilities for official language
matters, don't they?

> 
>>There is nothing wrong with English children learning French in an
>>immersion program in an English school is there?
> 
> No. Today's anglo-quebecois are a lot more open to french than they
> were in 1977. Back then, they would probably had an heart attack if
> they were called "anglo-quebecois".  :-)  I think that Bill 101 did a
> lot to improve their integration in Quebec. Bill 101 was necessary at
> the time. Perhaps, some parts of it are now outdated and excessive
> (not "extreme" :-) and modifications are needed.

It is probably debatable whether Bill 101 was necessary at the time, at
least in its extent. (Ref. Jacques Henripin etc.).

The rest of what you say here seems to me to be quite reasonable.

As more people accept that - it becomes more likely that the "extreme"
provisions of Bill 101 may be abolished or "softened".

I am working on that happening in summer/fall of '93.

> 
>>I don't recall mentioning 1867 provisions of any legislation from Ottawa,
>>did I?
> No, but this is when the trouble started (Constitution). Ottawa forced
> institutionalised bilinguism on Quebec, but not on the other
> provinces. It was (and still is) a very had to swallow injustice.
> 

Yes, I have seen examples of that, unfortunately.

If the federal government had provided financial incentives to the
provinces in the 60's [?], when the B&B Commission was set up, to
provide official language minority immersion programs etc I think a
lot of the trouble Canada has today could have been avoided.

Hey, now how about working on the Feds. to do just that? 

What an investment that would be for future harmony and stability.

>>I'm sorry if the Canadian Constitution is offensive to francophone
>>quebecois. The section I'm particularly interested in doesn't apply
>>in Quebec anyway.
> 
> What section is it?

Section 23(1)(a) the "mother tongue" criteria for minority language
schooling (usually badly referred to as the "universal" clause, which
is NOT "universal" because it is restrictive in at least two respects).

> 
>>Can you receommend an alternative stratagy?
> 
> Never use the Constitution in a argument with quebecois when it
> relates to culture, language or education. You won't have any success
> by trying to get Ottawa to push for what you want inside Quebec. Go
> from the inside. The only valid points I saw in your argumentation was
> when you mentioned a study (done by a quebecois) that said that the
> "loosing" of french to english by immigration was an exageration, and
> the numbers you gave.
> 

That sounds like good and reasonable advice. Thank you.


-- 
  ///==================================================================\\\
  ||| Steve Potter:         steven%spxtech@CAM.ORG                     |||
  ||| Expertise/Experience: Computer Systems Engineering / Real Ale /  |||
  |||                       Politics in Education in Quebec            |||
Newsgroups: can.politics