Rebelling Against Quebec’s Language Police: A Discussion

Discuss about the Rebelling Against Quebecs Language Police.

BBC news article, Rebelling Against Quebec’s language police, reflects the resurgence, which has been produced in response to rebellion produced by the Francophone nationalists. This is in terms of the restoration of the nationalists to authority. The English speakers are now revolting against language police. One of the striking facts in this is banning English in schools, hospitals and shops. The mastermind behind this decision is revisions in the political laws of Parti Quebecois (Bbc.com, 2018). As a result of this, majority of the Anglophones has been marginalized. For the locals, these kind of divisions is a common issue. The inspectors are of the opinion that the French signs and symbols are three times bigger than the other languages. The locals are determined in their statements regarding the preserving of their rights. Their statements reflects the feeling of serving the motherland.

American Historical Association produced an article, Is there a deep split between French and English Canada? This article warns the readers about the strive for unity, which the citizens need to possess for studying the relationship between French Canada and English Canada. In this, “English” is the connotation for the English speaking population. The article proves fruitful in enhancing the knowledge of the readers regarding the ethnography of Quebec. Nearly 20% of the 3.3 million population of the Canadians speak English (Historians.org, 2018). Except the province of British Canadians, French Canadians form the minority. For three, out of the 10 Canadians, French is the native language. The article upholds the concern of the Americans regarding the assimilation of French in Canada. According to the critics, the question was out of assimilation, as the French did not wish to be “anglicised”.

Mention can be made of the other article, Bilingualism growing, but not in French and English. This article informs the readers about the emergence of bilingualism in Canada, except the case of the country’s two official languages. According to the statistics, 200 languages form the linguistic portrait of the country. This data indicates the insignificance of multiculturalism in terms of enhancing the linguistic diversity. Instead, it maintains a continuity with the confinement in their native grounds. The census depicts 17.5% of the population, who are bilingual. This is an increase of 14.2% from the data of 2006 (Cbc.ca, 2018). From this, 5.8 million of people speak English and one immigrant language. One of the striking facts of the article is that 1,387, 190 speak both French and English. The article also sheds light on the decline of the aboriginal languages, which contradicts the aspect of revival for the culture, customs and traditions of the natives. The article upholds the views of the lead analyst of census regarding the clear picturization of diversity. Diversity encountered an increase from the data used by the Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Officially, bilingualism is not growing. This is because 17.5% of the people claim that they can speak both in French and English. This is a slight improvement from the data of the 2006 census (Cbc.ca, 2018).

Articles on the Issue

Deep split between English and Canada contradicts the aspect of multiculturalism. This contradiction answers the question that bilingualism is not growing, specially for the countries where the population speaks at least two languages. The contradiction broadens the gap between the neighboring countries, nullifying the aspect of linguistic diversity. Rebellion is the immediate outcome of these fissures in terms of preserving the rights of the fellow neighbors. The locals are the representatives of the whole population. Their opinions hold significance in terms of preserving their individual rights (Bbc.com, 2018).

Language can be accounted as one of the rights, as the people possess the right to speech. All the individuals possess the right to speak out for the issues, which they face. Snatching away his right is like snatching their daily bread. Aligning the case of the police language in the Quebec rebellion, the arrest of the locals seems inappropriate. However, the determination of the locals regarding serving the customers reflects their Samaritan attitude towards the linguistic diversity. On the contrary, selfish approach would have reflected their treachery towards the culture. The decline of the Aboriginal language, in terms of the increase in the other languages creates discrepancies in the linguistic demography of the world (Cbc.ca, 2018). Moreover, it generates a feeling of marginalization for the Aboriginals, one of the tribes, occupying important position in the world.

Bilingualism reflects the growth in the linguistic diversity. However, as it is not growing in the two most official languages, it cannot be said to be enhancing the linguistics of the whole world. French and English are the two official languages in the world. Assimilation of these languages would have enhanced the relations between the nations. However, disinterest towards being anglicised brings fissures in the relation between the countries. Rebellions destroy the order and harmony of the state, aggravating the complexities of the government in terms of introducing measures for preserving linguistic diversity (Bbc.com, 2018). Countering this, rebellions assist the citizens to assert their authority towards their rights.

Fissures destroy the diversity. In this sense, language is just a mere symbol of the customs and traditions, which strengthens the relationship between the countries. Protest over languages divides the nations into separate groups, fighting for restoration of their official language.

Census data are records for the ethnographic description of the nations. The data revealed in the data informs about the languages spoken in the parts of the world. Consideration of this data helps in taking initiatives towards protecting the official languages. For most of the population, French is the official language. Anglicizing it act as an intervention into the personal culture of French speaking people. This would enhance the diversity, however, in terms of the French culture, this would be something illegal (Bbc.com, 2018).

Comparison between the Articles

Figure: Canada’s immigration policy

The above picture depicts the immigration policy developed by the Canadian government. According to this policy, the government announced rewards for the people, who would emerge as good citizens. The picture shows the queue of unemployed people being lured through the promise of better placement opportunities. The policy was invented in the 1967 with the aim to remove discrimination. In the process of accepting the application, the race, religion, color, creed was ignored. This approach adds to the preservation of the official language. The aspect of “fissure” is a breach of the promise in terms of rejecting the application of the old men, who intend to enhance their professional skills (Historians.org, 2018). Gender biasness is also reflected from the picture, as a young nurse is offered the job and rest of the old men and women look upon dejectedly. This biasness indicates rejection of the old people even if they are fluent in English. However, the policies are changing, which reflects positive outcomes for the natives as well as the foreigners.

For the population of 67,186,638, French is the official language. The government Management does not regulate the choice of language for the people. However, the use of language comes under the legal obligations of the commercial and workplace communications management. La Francophone is one of the means adopted by the government for promoting linguistic diversity. In this sense, protests and rebellions contradict the legal obligations (Bbc.com, 2018). As a matter of specification, it is the inability of the administration in terms of protecting the rights of the citizens. Linguistic rebellions adversely affects the existence of the people, especially the immigrants. This affectation raises doubts over the policy and the amendments.  

The slogans of “One country one language” aggravates the complexities of the linguistics issues in France. This slogan exempts the entry of the foreign languages into France, which stalls the promotion of linguistic diversity. Rebellions in this direction has raised double standards, accusing the government in terms of their negligence towards the ethnography. Bilingualism is a common issue in the French culture, however, absence of anglicization stalls the growth of linguistic diversity (Historians.org, 2018). Herein lays the valuation for the opinions of the natives in terms of preserving their rights. Under such scenario, inclusion of better job placement in the policy results in compromise with the individual rights of the people. This expresses the hypocrisy of the government in terms of ensuring the wellbeing of the citizens. This hypocrisy is against the usual corporate nature of the policymakers, which is harmful for the democracy.

One country one language contradicts the aspect of multiculturalism. This contradiction deprives the foreigners from better education offers and job opportunities. Typical example of this can be the old French speaking people in Canada, who are not given the prospective job offers. This reflects the division in the population of French and Canada (Historians.org, 2018). This division, in turn, is problematic in terms of creating the census data and reports, raising doubts over the already established census data. Hypothetical statistics raises issues and concerns over the citizenship, which is inappropriate in terms of preserving the nationality.

References

Bbc.com (2018), Rebellion against Quebec’s language police, Retrieved 31^st July 2018 from https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22408248

Cbc.ca (2018), Bilingualism growing, but not in French and English Retrieved 31^st July 2018 from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/bilingualism-growing-but-not-in-french-and-english-1.1176469

Historians.org (2018), Is there a deep split between French and English Canada?, retrieved 31^st July 2018 from https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/gi-roundtable-series/pamphlets/em-47-canada-our-oldest-good-neighbor-(1946)/is-there-a-deep-split-between-french-and-english-canada