4 years ago
10/10/2009
More and More Franco Enrolments in Quebec's English-Language Schools
In spite of strict language laws, English retains its attraction in Quebec and many a Francophone wishes his children to become Anglos. Those who can afford the costs of private education even send them in ever greater numbers to English-language schools:
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Quebec's francophones' future is more and more English. Proficiency in English. Working in English. Schooling in English.
Paradoxically, it will be an embracing of the English language that will, ultimately, protect and preserve the French language and culture in Quebec. Only by knowing and using the international language of business (and even more so that of North America) will Quebec become and remain strong economically...and economic strength is the main element for preserving and protecting a culture. Weakness economically is death for a language.
But this cannot be achieved within the Canadian context. Quebec must first separate and become an independent nation where ALL Quebecers will have the free choice to send their children to English language schools. Only by achieving independence will the security of the mother language and culture be obtained. Then Quebecers will be free to do what they need to do vis a vis English.
And there cannot be a Bill 101 in an independent Quebec. No room for race laws/hate laws in a free Quebec.
See: http://www.WhyCanadaMustEnd.com
What would prevent an independant Quebec from having language laws identical to what they have now? And with a disproportionate fraction of the socialist impulse of Canada coming from Quebec politicians, why would it likely follow economic policies that would keep its economy strong? As an eastern Canadian (real east not Ontario/Quebec east) I used to be strongly opposed to Quebec independance but now I don't really mind and even think it might help Atlantic Canada become more self-reliant. But I would be surprised to see an independant Quebec do anything other than embrace European-style statist policy where everything from the size of the fonts on your signs to the colour of your margarine is micromanaged.
Quebec's independence would be a boon for the rest of Canada and would force Quebecers to live with the consequences of their failing policies. This, in turn, will help them discard those policies sooner.
There is also the fact that small political units tend to function better and be more successful in this fast paced era. Most would gain from Quebec's independence.
I don't know where I saw it on the internet, but I've read that Francophone parents who do not qualify to send their kids to English-language schools will hire English-speakers as babysitters, tennis coaches, or any odd jobs in the hopes that if their kids simply hear English spoken by a native every day,they will pick up something that they aren't getting from school.
Don't know if this is worthy enough for a post, but you probably want to see it anyway:
http://plover.net/~bonds/english.html
"Now this is very ignorant I know, and makes me feel like the more annoying variety of tourist, but the trouble is that Brussels gives me very little reason to learn French. In work, where I spend most of the day, we're meant to speak English. And outside work, once people hear your accent (i.e. not French), they tend to address you in English anyway, no matter how many ouis and bonjours and mercis you try.
I even have anecdotal evidence that French speakers feel a little bit embarrassed in Brussels. While waiting at a tram stop once, a guy came up to ask me directions. But rather than speaking straight away in his native tongue, he felt he had to check if I spoke French first. So he said 'Parlez-vous Francais?' and I said 'no', and he went to someone else at the stop, and they said 'no' as well, as did all the other people he asked. Bizarrely, not a single person at the tram stop could speak French. "
That's an interesting text. Belgium is one failed attempt at Frenchifying what was in 1830 the southern half of the Netherlands. A lot of coercion and corruption was used ever since the country's creation to attain that aim, but with little success. Even the shift from Dutch to French in Brussels has been greatly exaggerated, the capital of Europe being a patchwork of patois and ethnicities with few monolingual French speakers.
The great weakness of the culture that was borne out of the french Revolution is its sterility. This sterility is what makes its victories short-lived and tenuous, be they in Canada, Africa or Belgium.
I am an English-speaking Canadian. I am all for Quebec independence. I think Canada would be better off without Quebec. If anyone is interested in the Canadian situation I strongly recommend reading THE PATRIOT GAME by Peter Brimelow.
The great weakness of the culture that was borne out of the french Revolution is its sterility. This sterility is what makes its victories short-lived and tenuous, be they in Canada, Africa or Belgium.
Most of the European powers have found that their victories in Africa were short lived at best, so France is not alone in that regard.
Belgium should never have been created, a peaceful partition is the best solution for all parties. In fact, the same is true for Canada. Peter Brimelow has stated that all modern political diseases were invented in Canada, I think in reaction to the unnatural situation of having two nations (English and French) in the same state.
I think the best course of action the French government could take to preserve the small colonies of Francophones in the northern hemisphere would be to come out for the independence of Quebec and the French speaking part of Belgium.
I think Africa is a lost cause. The Africans will revert back to their native languages for day to day use and will use English for international matters and some schooling.
As for the French revolution, the culture that came out of the French Revolution didn't just appear from nothing, clearly what emerged had been brewing for many decades among certain segments of society and would have emerged anyway.
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