In a text that first appeared in the Toronto Star1and more recently translated into The duty2former political leader Jean-François Lisée takes malicious pleasure in quoting out of context the concerns of the Anglophone community on the new Charter of the French language (the famous Bill 96).
Under cover of irony, the author portrays Anglophones as spoiled children who are victims of an anti-Anglo conspiracy. They are offended that their services and institutions are being touched and seem to disregard the difficulties of maintaining a Francophone society in a North American context.
It is all the more abominable, according to Mr. Lisée, because the English-speaking community is pampered, well protected in its rights, therefore certainly not a victim.
Well, on this last point, Mr. Lisée is right.
PHOTO IVANOH DEMERS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Former political leader Jean-François Lisée
He is right to say that the anglophone community has services and institutions that would be the envy of many other linguistic minorities. And he is also right to denounce the incendiary remarks of certain Anglophone leaders who cast a shadow over the majority of the Anglophone community.
What I criticized during the study of Bill 96 – along with others – was the astonishing improvisation with which this reform of the Charter was carried out. The test of facts unfortunately confirms this improvisation. Several months after the adoption of the new Charter, civil servants working in higher education are struggling to apply it, as the new legislative provisions are so disconnected from the reality on the ground or simply in contradiction with the structure of college programs. .
As a Francophone leader of an Anglophone college, it leaves me with a bitter feeling of a missed opportunity, having to pick up the shards of a major reform that responds first and foremost to political imperatives.
A reform above all that will have no structuring impact on the French language in Quebec. All that energy should be put elsewhere.
Functional illiteracy, poor French proficiency among students leaving high school, and lack of interest in Quebec culture are far more important problems than the number of French courses in English-language colleges.
The question of French in Quebec should eventually be reframed in order to go to the essentials because it is a collective responsibility.
Can we hope that we will one day be able to break this old linguistic duality of “them” versus “us” in order to work together instead?
It is not by blaming francophones who choose to study at the post-secondary level in English, through convoluted quotas imposed on anglophone colleges, that we will ensure the sustainability of French in our province. The individual right to pursue higher education in the language of one’s choice should not be put in opposition to the collective right to live in French in Quebec.
It is not only up to the Anglos to save French in Quebec. It is also up to Francophones to take more interest in the quality of their language, their culture, their education system, which struggles to ensure that students who have mastered their mother tongue correctly obtain a diploma.
Anglophones will and must follow suit if we invite them to the table, to be part of the solution, because, for the most part, they recognize the need to better protect French in Quebec.
While it is vital to establish real bridges of communication with the English-speaking community, it is also up to the latter to provide leaders who are more open to the challenges of the French fact in our beautiful province.
In order to ensure the survival of French in Quebec, it is perhaps time to take an interest in “real business”.
Together, for French.