Tag: language issues

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Quebec’s struggle to embrace bilingualism

Graphic by Jennifer Kwan
Graphic by Jennifer Kwan

Quebec, for many years, has been a melting pot of various cultures, languages and customs. There was even a time when Francophones were justifiably worried they would lose their language and culture as time went on.

However, Quebec has instead grown to accept herself as a true bilingual state. Although still aware of her need to protect the French culture, she accepts her English side as well.

And yet, there are still political parties set on making language an issue once again.

Apart from tuition fees and ensuing riots, recent news in Quebec revolves around the notorious “pastagate” and the effects Bill 14 will have on our society if the PQ government successfully passes it through the National Assembly.

Colin Standish is a third-year law student at Université de Laval. He is president and Editor-in-chief of the Revue Juridique des étudiants et étudiantes de l’Université de Laval. Last week, Standish was also on the popular Quebec television show Tout le monde en parle to speak out against this bill.

‘‘Bill 14 is an amendment to the Charter of the French Language. But the government is not actually protecting French, it’s taking away the rights of other groups,’’ said Standish to The Concordian.

For example, one of the proposed laws is to strip the bilingual status of those Quebec municipalities and boroughs that are composed of 50 per cent or less Anglophones.

The mayors of these municipalities decided they would not go down without a fight. Last week, Pierrefonds-Roxboro got the majority of the Union of Quebec Municipalities to help defend its bid to remain bilingual. Even Francophone mayors supported the decision.

Longueuil is considered a PQ stronghold but it too is backing Pierrefonds-Roxboro. It is also actively supporting its own borough, Greenfield Park, in its quest to remain bilingual.

Ironically enough, the bill also has legislation that would hinder Francophones.

The bill proposes to base the CEGEP application process on the language spoken by the students’ parents. Anglophone CEGEPS will have to accept all Anglophones applying before considering Francophone applications.

‘‘The application process will not be on academic merit anymore and so this will reduce the quality of education in Quebec,’’ said Standish.

According to him, another highly contentious aspect of the bill is the right it will give to the Office Québécois de la langue française to search and seize ‘‘anything from your business without warning’’ if they find it objectionable.

After “pastagate” blew up in the OQLF’s face, other businesses came forward to recount their run-ins with them. The general idea was that even ‘‘on/off’’ labels for light switches needed to be changed to French. Does that mean the proposed seizures would include anything remotely English?

Twitter erupted with both English and French speaking Quebecers mocking the OQLF over the pasta debacle.

This unity of voices alone shows that there is solidarity between Francophones and Anglophones in Quebec, despite what seems to be an effort by the PQ government to create new divisions between them.

The PQ is wrong in thinking that French will die off in the future if we don’t take strong action today and expand Bill 101. According to Statistics Canada, new immigrants seem to be eagerly adopting French as their main language in 2011. It is actually their use of English that is waning.

The PQ government is trying to reinforce their base of Francophones for the coming elections, but Bill 14 is not achieving its intended objective. Rather, it will only appeal to those few xenophobic cells that still persist in a largely accepting Quebec.

Francophones in general will not rally behind them as they once would. Instead, they’re rallying behind the Anglophones and fighting back.

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Summing up the highlights 2012

Image via Flickr.

The year 2012 is coming to a close my dear friends, and what a year it’s been. From American politics to Montreal soccer, we’ve summed up some of the most interesting events of the past year here.

Image via Flickr.

Robin Della Corte
Assistant news editor

In a province that is so often identified by it’s language issues, having an English mayor elected in office is a very symbolic moment for many people around the Montreal area.

Michael Applebaum’s election not only shows diversity, but a change in the right direction. After Pauline’s Marois’ election, I was terrified to live in a province where language mattered more than economic and social issues and where putting money towards ‘language police’ was a priority. After Applebaum’s victory against a French-speaking candidate I felt as if, politically and socially, things had changed slightly. Applebaum, being both English and Jewish, was elected, and it seemed as though most of the people in power didn’t care so much as to what language he spoke, but actually what he was going to do to improve our city and have the job done right.

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Stephanie La Leggia
Life editor

Image via Flickr.

Even with all the warnings and evacuation calls, Hurricane Sandy came as kind of a shock to me. Many underestimated its power and potential level of deconstruction, destroying homes and diminishing people’s lives and belongings to a suitcase.

Although I may live in Montreal, I’m a New Yorker at heart, travelling down at least three times year. With family and friends to worry about, I constantly checked CNN for updates. Although the video footages and article were quite alarming, it wasn’t until I saw photos of the aftermath that the horror of it really hit me; photos of people line-up to get their fill of gas, giant trees in the middle of the street, the diminished Jersey shore boardwalk, and people’s belonging scattered about like they were insignificant pieces of junk.

While some simply lost power in their skyscraper apartment building, others were not so lucky. When people think of New York, they narrow their focus to Manhattan, forgetting about the other burrows that were so badly hit, like Staten Island. Not to mention the damages the hurricane caused in Haiti. The photos of the aftermath and the personal stories of those without a home and insurance really put things in perspective for me. While my biggest concern may have been an assignment due by the end of the week, these survivors had to worry about basic needs like heating and food, needs that we take for granted on a daily basis.

You ask me what affected me most this year as 2012 comes to an end, it’s Hurricane Sandy, a hurricane so powerful it stood up against the Big Apple.

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Image via Flickr.

Kevin Duarte
Sports editor

The event that affected me the most in 2012 was the Montreal Impact’s inaugural season in Major League Soccer. To start, I am a diehard football fan… the real one, played with a round ball on the floor. Football, or to make it less confusing, soccer, is an integral part of my life. Right up there with breathing and eating, I’d say. The Impact expansion into the MLS finally gave me a chance to watch some decent soccer in my hometown. Prior to this year, Montreal was playing in the second tier of North American Soccer, a league that never really meant much at all. This past year, they just finished their first season in North America’s top flight. Fans got a chance to see some world-class players visit Saputo Stadium. More importantly for me, someone who studies the game as a coach, it was the higher quality of the sport that I enjoyed the most.

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Image via Flickr.

Casandra De Masi
Staff writer

Thousands watched, as did I, as Pauline Marois gave her acceptance speech in September. She had just become the first female premier of Quebec, and in the same night lived through an alleged assassination attempt. It all happened so quickly and it almost overshadowed the election itself. Throughout the election campaign, the wedge between the Francophone and the Anglophone community became larger and sharper. There were arguments and all-around ignorant behavior from both sides. This was the icing on the spoiled cake. As someone who lives and works in a French community, but was raised in a primarily English household, it just puzzled me as to why so much emphasis was being put on language, with so many other issues plaguing our province.

As horrible as the shooter’s actions were, especially because he killed an innocent man, he led people to a realization. People realized that, ‘Hey, maybe we should band together and focus on things that affect all of us, no matter what language we speak.’

That week, people came together, condemning this man’s actions. Just to see people agreeing that we should learn to coexist, that this silly war needs to end, was refreshing. It was hopeful. It didn’t last long, but knowing it is possible is what counts.

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Image via Flickr.

Paula Rivas
Managing editor

An event that kept me on the edge of my seat, as odd as it may sound to many people my age, was Obama’s victory in the American elections. The buildup from the presidential debates left my head spinning and I was looking forward to the elections like a child waiting for Christmas Eve.

The day of this historic event, I turned off my phone, avoided plans with any of my friends, and watched the CNN coverage like a hawk while Wolf Blitzer and other A-team reporters announced the advancement of the polls. My heart jumped with excitement as the state I spent 10 years of my life in, Maryland, turned blue in support for Obama. The blue wave that followed as the hours passed made me swell with pride to again see a glimpse of the United States that I love — not the ugly, homophobic and closed-minded side, but the side that many Canadians unfortunately don’t get to see. I’m talking about a United States that stands up to defend women’s rights when archaic restrictions were being suggested to govern women’s bodies and also to defend Hispanics when immigration laws were threatening to throw out hard-working citizens.

My own family was once living illegally as Hispanics in the States and we felt the harsh reality of being treated like second-class citizens. But most of all, to defend an America devoted to the idea that coming together as one is stronger than the idea that every man is out there for themselves. Thanks Obama, you made my year.

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A new take on an old law

Graphic by Phil Waheed
Graphic by Phil Waheed

Quebec’s ‘language police’ have found a new target: Walmart, along with Guess, Costco, Old Navy and many other corporations who sport English names on their storefront.

As stated in Section 63 of Quebec’s French Language Charter, the name of a business must be in French. However, this is not applied to trademarked names. The Office québécois de la langue française is now threatening to fine the companies who don’t comply with their new demands. The fines range from $3,000 to $20,000, and will increase with repeat offenders.

According to the Montreal Gazette, “the Office quebecois de la langue francaise wants the retailers to change their signs to either give themselves a generic French name or add a slogan or explanation that reflects what it is they’re selling.” For example, by changing “Walmart” to “Le Magasin Walmart.” Because that clears up the mystery of what it is they sell.

Thing is, the law hasn’t changed. What has changed is the way that the Office interprets its meaning, and they expect the companies to calmly submit to their demands. I mean, it’s not as if changing your name is a big deal or anything, right?

In response to this new action, Walmart, Costco, The Gap, Guess and Old Navy have teamed up and are bringing the matter to the Quebec Superior Court to resolve the issue.

Guess has over 1000 stores in 87 different countries. They are known worldwide as “Guess”, even in countries that don’t speak either English or French. In France, they are not called Devine.

Walmart also has stores around the world and doesn’t need to hold a seminar to explain to the locals what it is they sell. Quebec is pushing the envelope on this subject and seriously needs to give it a rest.

Nathalie St-Pierre, vice-president for the Retail Council of Canada’s Quebec branch, is against this new interpretation of the law, and says that the effort is misdirected. In her opinion, consumers don’t really care about what the name of the brand is, as long as they can get service in French.

Yes, French is in decline and I agree that something needs to be done to protect it. But changing the names of major corporations, really? It borders on ridiculous. Quebec has enough problems as it is without adding this to the list of things to deal with.

All these corporations respect every minute detail of Bill 101 and yet the ‘language police’ are still unsatisfied, because they refuse to change their logo and name to add something in French. These companies have worked hard to build up their image, logo and reputation. They have achieved worldwide recognition for their emblem, and hardly need an explanation as to what they are selling. This whole thing is a small issue that has been totally blown out of proportion and should be dropped before it gets even more ridiculous.

If the OLF doesn’t want to lose their credibility, then they should stop trying to solve problems that don’t exist.

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If you take public transport, you better speak French

Graphic by Jennifer Kwan.
Graphic by Jennifer Kwan.

Living in Quebec, for better or worse we have become used to seeing ridiculous posters on walls that say “In Quebec, we speak only French,” hearing people say, “go back to your country” or even seeing services being refused to English-speaking civilians.

However, when all of these things were done jointly by employees of one specific public company, it raises concern about our society; especially when that company is the the Société de transport de Montréal.

The STM has been under some intense public scrutiny in the past few months. Not because of their slow service or growing prices, but for abusing a certain nonexistent power they think they have as a French public company.

Now, it is true that under Quebec’s controversial Bill 101, companies aren’t required to insist their employees know any language other than French. But as a public company in a bilingual country, it is absolutely preposterous that we have heard of so many cases in which people in Montreal can’t be served in English.

As a trilingual Montrealer of Greek origin reading about such incidents at the STM, I can’t help but shudder at what our society has come to. In a free and democratic society like Canada’s, people still frown on each other over the language they speak. An STM worker allegedly went as far as allegedly flipping off 23-year-old commuter Mina Barak when she spoke to the employee in English.

These incidents, especially in the STM, have the older generations buzzing, saying how it reminds them of when the Parti Québécois first emerged into Quebec politics.

“I feel like it’s the René Lévesque era all over again,” said Jacqueline Corbie, a 69-year-old retiree. “It’s saddening to hear about these incidents weekly.”

“The STM is a joke,” said Helen Merkouris, a 45-year-old also born in Quebec. “It’s so frustrating to see this happening and not be able to do anything about it.”

Quebec has come a long way since then. These incidents, however, have been frequent in the STM for quite some time now.

Marvin Rotrand, vice-president of the STM, has been speaking to many news agencies about these incidents. He said that the STM would look at these incidents and investigate further and told Global news that the incident involving violence “will be discussed at the board meeting next month.” Similarly, when an unofficial sign was put up in Villa-Maria metro last month by a teller that roughly translates to “In Quebec, we do things in French,” STM spokesperson Marianne Rouette told The Gazette that the employee “will be met [with] and if necessary, appropriate measures will be taken.” Needless to say, no measures have been taken, despite the STM saying that “by posting the sign, the [employee] expresses his personal political opinion, which is not acceptable to the STM.”

What does this all mean? It means that the STM is a public embarrassment. It means that these employees will continue working at the STM as if nothing happened. It’s sad to say that in a company like the STM, ignorant acts, acts of violence, and even potential racism, go unpunished. There’s only one word to describe what’s happening: disappointing.

It personally makes me sick to my stomach to think about it and until they start taking legitimate punitive actions against ignorant, politically-ignorant employees, incidents like these will keep surfacing, and the STM will keep making idiotic excuses for itself.

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Sports

Is it time to ice the language issue?

Keep language out of the rink

Myles Dolphin

Like a debilitated canine on its last breath, it is time to take the Montreal Canadiens language controversy and put it to sleep.

I love the Habs. As a French-Canadian I feel close to my team and I truly believe they’re an institution in this province. I watch their games in French on RDS because it’s how I was raised; the commentators are Quebecers and I can relate to them more easily than I can to Bob Cole on CBC.

I didn’t shed a single tear when Randy ‘unilingual’ Cunneyworth was chosen to coach the Habs until the end of the season. He’s respected by the players and they couldn’t care less about his language abilities (or disabilities rather). It’s embarrassing to make such a big deal about this “issue,” mostly because it’s yet another deterrent for big name players to come to Montreal.

When they acquired Rene Bourque last week, he tweeted about not being able to speak French and the fear that put into him. Reporters greeted him at the airport and asked if he planned on learning French. Do you think he cares? Is that the kind of reception he wants?

The province needs to rally behind the only NHL team it has, but instead, a few hundred separatists with too much time on their hands gather and protest in front of the Bell Centre, in the hopes of raising awareness to their so-called plight. Aren’t there enough distractions already?

The Habs are losing badly; the media circles every practice and game like vultures, star players are injured and under-performing, and some of them even fight during practice. On top of all that, they have to cater to the province’s archaic notion that a coach has to speak French? If the Habs had been winning left and right, there would be no issue—Celine Dion could be coaching and they wouldn’t care. By emphasizing that the coach has to speak French, the Canadiens organization is limiting itself to a very small pool of coaches it can choose from, and ignoring others who are equally or more qualified for the position.

Some say if Cunneyworth had said a few words in French during his initial press conference, the media would have been satisfied. So what’s the difference between speaking no French, and saying ‘bonjour’ and ‘merci’? The Habs lost yet another game last week against Ottawa in which they had the lead. The players are the ones performing on the ice and they alone can affect the outcome of a game. Habs legend Guy Lafleur said it best: “It doesn’t matter if you speak German, Russian, or whatever. The bottom line is: win the games and then make the playoffs and try to win the Stanley Cup.”

The Habs actually had a string of French-speaking coaches in the past decade: Alain Vigneault, Michel Therrien, Claude Julien and Guy Carbonneau. Guess what? None of them lasted more than three years. We fire them and complain about not having the right coaches. How does that make sense? I see very little difference between Cunneyworth giving his post-game comments in English, or adding, “Now I’ll say the exact same thing in extremely broken French.”

The media needs to grow up and realize it’s always been about winning. The Habs have enough problems of their own. Laissez-les jouer.

Canadiens need to respect the culture

Julian Mei

I didn’t grow up in Montreal. I’m not a die-hard Canadiens fan. I don’t speak French, nor do identify with the culture. Still, though, I feel that the Francophones, especially those in the media, have the right to be upset with the hiring of a monolingual coach.

The Canadiens are not just a hockey team. They are an institution. A way of life. They define the city more than corruption, crumbling infrastructure and strip clubs do combined.

It is reasonable for some Francophones to view the interim hiring of Randy Cunneyworth as the further “anglo-izing” of their beloved Habitants. Very few players on the team can speak French and if even the coach doesn’t speak the language it sends the message that the Canadiens are just another NHL team, who just happen to play in a French speaking city. Sure, fans may warm up to Anglo players or coaches, but there is a reason names like Richard, Beliveau and Roy resonate in ways that Shutt, Gainey and Dryden just don’t.

Of course, Montreal is a bilingual city, in a primarily French speaking province. If you want to work in any important position in this province you need to be able to get by in French. And here’s a news flash: head coach of the Montreal Canadiens is a pretty damn important position. The coach is the captain of the ship and if the majority of the team’s fans can’t identify, or even understand what he is saying, it creates strain between the team and the community that cherishes it so much.

Having an English speaking coach also makes it difficult for the members of the french media. Even though some can get by in English, if you are trying to operate in a language you aren’t fully comfortable with, it becomes difficult to build a relationship and communicate with your source so you can properly understand the stories and issues surrounding the team. At the very least, the Canadiens should use some of their riches to pay a translator to sit with Cunneyworth during interviews. However, as someone who has had to operate in such a way at times, working with a translator can also become difficult and frustrating to carry on a conversation.

An argument that is often made is that the team handcuffs itself by excluding English coaches as potential candidates. This is partially true, but it’s not as though there are no capable bilingual coaches. I believe of the remaining four teams in last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, three had French speaking coaches. It’s not as though the team has a policy where they only hire people from Uzbekistan. There are plenty of brilliant hockey minds in this country who can function in the two official languages.

This being said, the Montreal Canadiens’ head coach’s office has had a revolving door installed on it the past few seasons. The fans and media never seem to be happy. It is time for both sides to meet in the middle.

Fans and media need to realize the Habs’ roster this season is not very good and, regardless of who is behind the bench, if you don’t have the talent on the ice, it just doesn’t matter.

The team, though, needs to put this issue to rest at the end of the season and hire a coach who can speak French.

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