Beyond the insults that Frédéric Lacroix and I suffered during our appearance at the Standing Committee on Official Languages on May 6, 2024, I would like to return to the argument deployed to counter the facts and statistics that we provided to the deputies during this session.
Several French-speaking deputies, both conservative and liberal, expressed their great pride in having studied and worked in English without having lost their French. They actually set their personal example as a general rule: I am bilingual, so everything is fine!
In fact, MEPs responded to our arguments, supported by figures and studies, with simple anecdotes. According to them, we can study and work in English without French suffering any consequences. The figures, however, are stubborn. Frédéric Lacroix and I demonstrated to MPs, using a Statistics Canada study in particular, that attending an English-speaking post-secondary institution dramatically increases the chances of subsequently leading one’s life in English. In Canada outside Quebec, where very little people study and work in French, the assimilation of French speakers reaches a dramatic rate of 42% per generation.
The general rule of the assimilatory process is very simple: if a language is confined to the private sphere, it withers and eventually dies. Unfortunately, French-speaking federal deputies too often brandish their personal bilingualism not to face this reality. It is of no use to MP Drouin to treat our arguments as “simplistic” and to take out his cell phone from his pocket to emphasize that the major problem with the assimilation of French speakers lies in the cultural consumption of young people. Instead, let him act on the levers he controls!
Contrary to what Justin Trudeau said to justify the filthy remarks of his MP, Mr. Drouin let himself be carried away not because of his “excess of passion” for the defense of French, but rather to stand up for the defense of English-speaking educational institutions in Quebec. These institutions, already well-off, receive colossal sums from Ottawa. It would be much more beneficial for French if the federal government rebalanced the amounts it pays to the provinces by clearly favoring French-speaking institutions in Quebec and outside Quebec.
Instead of showing us their personal bilingualism like a smokescreen, French-speaking federal MPs should campaign for this solution.