By dispatching six ministers to unveil an entire transversal action plan deployed on multiple fronts, François Legault’s government has come to confirm loud and clear the actions it intends to take to reverse, it promises and hopefully, the decline French. This impulse, put forward for six years, deserves to be welcomed. The real statistical test, however, remains unresolved. That the CAQ ministers avoided quantifying the targeted success will not exempt them from being judged by the results.
“It is now clear that the status quo and half measures will not be enough; an offensive and resolute approach is an absolute priority,” stipulates the government’s French Language Plan, at the conclusion of its 21 proposed measures, but with few details and timetables. However, the document lists, in black and white, the decline of French as a mother tongue, of work and of discussion at home. The ambition is both promising and flawed.
Several initiatives have been announced in recent months, which does not make them any less relevant today. Promote the reception of economic immigration and more French-speaking temporary workers, encourage the choice of university studies in French for foreign students, expand and simplify Frenchization for new arrivals, particularly temporary ones; These actions also responded to the recommendations of the French language commissioner.
Taking note of the challenges that overwhelm Francisation Québec, the CAQ plan of 603 million dollars devotes more than half of the funds to it (320 million over five years), which are added to the substantial increase in its budget, which has more than doubled since the Coalition Avenir Québec came to power. The number of French students has increased accordingly, from 28,000 students in 2017 to 70,000 last year.
Their number, like that of teachers, remains insufficient, however, recognizes the government, aware that its offer of francization always finds takers only among a minority which struggles to reconcile its thirst to learn the host language with the already busy schedule of building a new life. Added to these obstacles are too long registration deadlines or poorly adapted training requirements leading even a French immigrant to fail.
Additional funds are therefore welcome. At 40 million, for a total envelope of 291 million this year, they remain well below the needs that the report of the Commissioner for the French language put at 10.6 to 12.9 billion dollars to Frenchify the whole temporary immigrants whose numbers continue to increase. Even if we subtract the 79% of these amounts that it attributes to loss of employment income, this desired investment would reach $2.2 to $2.7 billion.
By also recognizing that “the best defense against the decline of French” comes through culture, the minister responsible for the file, Mathieu Lacombe, is right. But in the same breath he is content to simply reiterate his intention to legislate on a right to discoverability of Quebec content within a year.
The obstacle course experienced by everyone when opening a foreign digital platform to unearth a Quebec offer nevertheless confirms the need to act. The obligation to showcase Canadian and French-speaking content, which will soon be regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), will not fail, with the consent of the federal government, to also favor Quebec specificity.
The legislative solution, recommended and validated by a committee of experts on cultural sovereignty, is complex. But after more than a year of reflection on the part of the minister, it would be time to present it, knowing that it will not pass like a letter in the mail in Ottawa (where the Minister of Heritage, Pascale St-Onge , has so far refused to comment) as well as in the United States (whose authorities were concerned that the Federal Online Streaming Act discriminated against companies).
The creation of a dashboard displaying the annual assessment of the state of health of French by the Institute of Statistics of Quebec allows us to hope that these data will encourage a common reading of the evolution of the situation, replacing the all too frequent contrary interpretations of the same conclusions. To do this, the experience of other CAQ dashboards will not be repeated, the fragility of the validity of their counts having been demonstrated.
The Legault government sees in this new tool a happy obligation of results, which will be quantified each year. His own ministers will, however, be the first to have to respond. It will not be enough to list once again the decline of French or its stagnation. Only a real change in trajectory will represent a victory.