Whatever he may have said, the Minister for the French Language, also responsible for the Canadian Francophonie, Jean-François Roberge, must not have been surprised to find that the Trudeau government’s new action plan for official languages plans to devote $137.5 million to the Anglo-Quebec community, but practically nothing to the protection of French in Quebec.
Since its adoption in 1969, the Official Languages Act has been based on the erroneous principle of symmetry between the situation of Francophones outside Quebec and that of Anglophones in Quebec. After defending this hypocritical view for more than half a century, Ottawa has finally admitted that it is not, but that does not change much in practice.
Even though they are a minority in Quebec, we persist in treating Anglophones as an endangered species, whereas they are an overwhelming majority in Canada and North America.
The English-speaking Liberal members from Quebec who were indignant to see that the new version (C-13) of the act refers to the Charter of the French language, always presented as a monument of iniquity, wanted to ensure that remain so.
Jean-François Roberge, who is not lacking in humour, explained that his government was not counting on Ottawa to save French in Quebec. “On the other hand, it is expected that it will not harm,” he added.
It is true that by agreeing to harmonize the provisions of the Official Languages Act governing businesses under federal authority with those of Bill 101, the Trudeau government has shown goodwill.
Unfortunately, the best intentions in the world could not reverse a demographic dynamic that is leading inexorably to an accelerated decline in the proportion of Francophones across the country in Canada, including in Quebec.
Whether we like it or not, any federal contribution to the promotion of English in Quebec can only strengthen the attraction it exerts among immigrants, whom it is already difficult to convince to integrate into the French-speaking majority.
Mr. Roberge, who is working on his own action plan, which must be presented in the fall, suggests that the money intended for groups that promote English be devoted to francization. This proposal risks being received rather coldly by those who find that Bill 96 is already too demanding, particularly with regard to the francization of businesses.
Unsurprisingly, the Liberal Party of Quebec seems ready to come to the aid of the English-speaking community. Thursday, in the National Assembly, he prevented the vote on a motion presented by the Parti Québécois, which denounced the importance of the sums intended for it, in relation to what is planned for the protection of French, while it benefits from a network of institutions which amply guarantee its vitality.
If Quebec remained unsatisfied, Francophone communities outside Quebec generally welcomed the federal action plan, in particular the $221 million that will be used to stimulate Francophone immigration.
We can only hope to see reinforcements arrive who will support them in their fight to preserve their identity, but a certain perplexity is in order. For 20 years, we have only once achieved the objective of Francophone immigration representing 4.4% of all newcomers outside Quebec.
The Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities (FCFA) estimates that the figure should be reached by 12% next year and 20% by 2036 simply to return to the level of 2001. However, the action plan does not propose specific objective or timetable.
Simply preventing the proportion of Francophones from continuing to fall will be even more difficult if the Trudeau government opens the immigration floodgates to ensure that Canada has 100 million inhabitants by 2100, as the influential group “L ‘initiative of the century’.
The Legault government will probably announce at the end of the summer its intention to raise the immigration thresholds for the next few years, but these will have to include a greater proportion of Francophones.
However, they will have to be found somewhere, and experience teaches that it is not so easy. Those who come to Quebec will not swell the ranks of francophone communities elsewhere in the country, and vice versa.
In reality, faced with an incurable disease, the federal action plan is more like a program to help people die with dignity, which Quebecers will have to ask themselves if they really want to take advantage of it.