At the Winnipeg Jets game on Saturday, Canada’s national anthem was sung in English and Punjabi. A first, a moment described as historic. A moment certainly representative of the current evolution of multiculturalist Canada.
• Read also: In English and Punjabi
The staging designed by the Jets organization was impeccable. Musicians in traditional Indian costumes accompanied a children’s choir. These young people study in a bilingual school in Canada: the program is taught in English and Punjabi.
Punjabi is the main language of people from India living in Canada. In the Winnipeg area, Tagalog (the language of the Philippines) and Punjabi are overtaking French, if they haven’t already.
Decline
However, a few decades ago, French still had a special place. The city of Saint-Boniface was a major French-speaking city in the region. French is today a language in decline, the fourth in importance. Fourth, for now…
From this point of view, the management of the Jets is doing a logical thing by making a good place for the Punjabi. Good marketing, a unifying gesture, this effort to show the image of Canadian diversity, in hockey too, is a masterstroke.
The problem is that Canada is supposed to be a bilingual country with two official languages: English and French. THE O Canada is also a hymn written in French, of which the English version is a translation (like the Punjabi version). The national anthem is supposed to be an official gesture in a country. An official gesture is made in the official languages.
We no longer notice
With the exception of a few Franco-Manitobans, I am convinced that no one in Winnipeg saw the slightest problem. This notion of official languages dates from ancient history and no longer applies to the multicultural Canada of 2023. This thinking is even more widespread among the new generation.
Anyway, why bother with French in an arena where so few people speak it? We will be polite when the Canadians pass.
I have written a lot about the evolution of Canada during the year 2023. Because I am amazed to see to what extent the new Canada is defined without Quebec and without French.
Yesterday’s bilingualism in Canada was based on two official languages. The new bilingualism is English and any other language. Like the national anthem at the Jets game.
No need to look far to understand. The governor general, the country’s number one symbol, was appointed as a bilingual person. She speaks English and Inuktitut. Bilingual: English and one other language.
In her case, she says she is in training. She should speak a little French at the end of her mandate. Imagine the water polo player learning to swim for the last match of the season…
Is what happened in Winnipeg really that bad? No… but yes.