More on bilingualism

Recently, the Telegraph-Journal of New Brunswick published an editorial from the Bangor Daily News concerning official bilingualism in New Brunswick.

In theory, official bilingualism may sound like a good idea. In actual fact, it is divisive, destructive, and discriminatory. It has succeeded in setting the English and French in Canada against one another as never before. Pierre Elliott Trudeau, a former prime minister of Canada, had this to say when speaking to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington in 1966:

“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.”

Nevertheless, Trudeau was responsible for the Official Languages Act which was passed in 1969 and which has been a costly power grab for his home province of Quebec.

You refer to the Confederation of Regions party. You are correct in saying they wish to eliminate official bilingualism. They have repeated over and over, however, that they would not suppress the French language in any way, and would provide services in French where necessary. You can appreciate, I am sure, that there is a vast difference between giving people freedom to use any language of their choice in their daily lives and legislating that specific languages must be used by government employees….

Certainly, learning a second, third or fourth language is commendable and advantageous to anyone who does so. However, for Canada to single out one of the more than 50 ethnic languages used in Canada and elevate it to the state of “official” does not make for a richer culture — it makes for a separate French culture funded by all the people through their taxes. Pauline D. Leitch Thornhill, Ontario