The debate over “reasonable accommodation” is currently making huge waves in Quebec political forums. At issue is how much native Quebeckers, who officially have a distinct culture in this country, should accommodate the cultural differences of immigrants. Among other complaints, politicians say that new immigrants to the province are not learning French, and that this is killing Quebec culture. They have proposed a number of measures to protect Francophone culture from this supposed looming immigrant menace. Among the measures is the requirement that you must learn to speak French within three years of immigrating to the province in order to get Quebec citizenship.
This demand blames immigrants for something they are not responsible for. When moving to a new city, most people usually learn the language they will need most to survive. If immigrants do not find it necessary to learn French, it must not be vital to their livelihood. Why learn a language you feel you can live without?
Francophones started this self-perpetuating spiral themselves, not the immigrant population. With birth rates falling in all developed nations, we cannot maintain our economy without the help of immigration. The French language is not being passed on to people’s children because fewer Quebecois children are being born. This is not the fault of the immigrant population. Rather, the blame lies in the hands—and beds—of Francophone society.
You cannot constitutionally force a language on a people. Immigrants— and any other group of people for that matter—should be able to decide whether or not they will learn English, French or any language they want. Quite a few people who immigrate never learn their new home’s native language. They should be in charge of their own lives in every aspect, including how they speak.
Frankly, there are some people born-and-raised in Quebec who speak very little French. Who among these are incapable of learning a second language? What about people with learning disabilities, developmental delays, and other special needs? Will Quebec refuse to accommodate someone for whom learning one language is hard enough? Quebec risks further marginalization of immigrant groups with its policies. Any marginalization goes against the spirit of the Canadian constitution, which applies to Quebec as it would to any other province, distinct society or not. Where everywhere else in the nation, Canadians are celebrating our multiculturalism, Quebecers are actually fighting it.
As soon as a language is forced upon someone, it becomes a chore, and people are less likely to learn it. Instead of implementing these policies, the Quebec government should make it easier to learn French through free French language classes, by reimbursing people for time lost at work to learn French, and through helping immigrants attend French festivals. After losing an estimated 12 per cent of their population last year through death and emigration, the Quebec government should be doing everything it can to encourage immigration, not wasting time debating whether or not to accommodate other people’s cultures
