The minister responsible for the French language, Jean-François Roberge, recently announced the launch of a major project to curb the decline of the French language. It follows on from the measures adopted in recent years by the provincial government, starting with Bill 96, which tightened certain provisions of Bill 101.
It is also a reaction to statistics on the use of the French language at home, at work and in commerce, which seems to be in sharp decline. Although some of these statistics are quite encouraging when you take a closer look, the question of the preservation of French remains. In a North American and even global context where English is increasingly attractive, it seems necessary to put measures in place to ensure the sustainability of French.
This announcement by the Minister is of great concern to me. Firstly because I am a translator by training and profession. My job allows me to contribute to the vitality of French since I transpose from English communications intended for the Quebec public. I have always taken great pride in the thought that my day-to-day work – and that of the teams I have led over the years – enabled the staff or customers to whom these communications were addressed to understand a message , to perform tasks correctly or to make an informed consumer choice. Second, because as part of my master’s degree, I drew many parallels between language and social responsibility.
Having worked over the past 15 years as responsible for the francization policies of large companies with a storefront in Quebec, my experience in the field shows me unequivocally that French as the language of work needs a good shot. tomorrow.
I have also noticed that the francization approach varies greatly from one company or sector to another. The increased requirements enshrined in Bill 96 are forcing companies to reflect on the measures they have taken so far or will have to take from now on to comply with the law.
Some organizations have become aware of the importance of including French in their policies. They have understood that doing business in French and offering work tools to their staff, in particular, is the right thing to do.
Other companies comply reluctantly. Rather than seeing the French language as an investment to stand out in the Quebec market and to promote the mobilization of their workforce, they see these measures as a necessary evil. I believe that this approach is much more the symptom of a misunderstanding of the objectives targeted by the linguistic obligations than of contempt for the French language and its speakers.
These companies must understand that our French language is part of Quebec culture and identity, and I am not talking about identity in the political sense of the term.
UNESCO has chosen to make the years 2022-2032 the decade of indigenous languages. The international community agrees that endangered languages must be protected, since it is only natural to want to preserve what is intrinsically part of one’s identity. The project announced is therefore an excellent opportunity to unite our efforts around this common objective of protection.
We can assume that large organizations such as the Conseil du patronat du Québec or the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec will be part of the work. It would also be beneficial to include people in the field, such as managers of francization in companies or members of francization committees, whose practical experience is invaluable in the context of such a project. To be successful, this project must take into account the daily reality of the stakeholders and respond to their concerns.
So, to Minister Roberge’s call to act for the future of the French language, I am responding. I hope that all the organizations working in Quebec will do the same.