Despite recent reports of the decline of French across Canada, the Canadian public service continues to be dominated by English. A large proportion of Anglophones perceive any attempt by the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer (OCHRO) to raise the level of French for public servants as an attack.
On February 4, a thread on the Reddit platform revealed that the OCHRO was planning to raise the language requirements for managers in the Capitale-Nationale (NCR) region and designated bilingual regions, such as Montreal. Once implemented, this policy would require managers to be able to “write elaborate and coherently structured texts” in both official languages.
This announcement aroused the ire of English speakers, who hastened to denounce “the state of aristocratic domination of 20% of the population”. It should be noted that Francophones represent 31% of Canadian public servants, but their presence is decreasing in executive (28.1%) and senior management (19%) positions. according to data collected by Radio-Canada. This did not prevent a Reddit user from asserting that “Francophones can and will eventually occupy all positions” in the Canadian public service, because “they can occupy both essential positions in English, bilingual positions and essential positions in French”.
Another user said “please take your province and make your own country with your own public service. The two official languages have brought no real benefit to this country. On the contrary, they have constituted a glass ceiling for deserving and competent English speakers. Another person flatly denies the decline of French in Canada: “Keep rehashing the same old propaganda about the disappearance of French. No one else in the whole world has a problem with English being the language of communication de facto when dealing with other nationalities. »
Not to mention the odious comment stating that ” [il est] crazy that we have to learn a language from a population that has determined that it is appropriate to legally ban people from working in the public service because they wear a religious symbol”.
misplaced growl
This resentment towards Francophones, Quebeckers in particular, does not go unnoticed among French-speaking civil servants. Many denounce the contempt of Anglophones and their reluctance to respond to emails in French, to have documents translated, or to take French courses paid for by the government.
Being a francophone myself, I find it particularly hurtful to hear such contemptuous remarks about French and those who speak it. Admittedly, Anglophones generally do not learn French as well as Francophones learn English. The French courses offered by the Canada School of Public Service are not always well structured and do not allow holistic learning of French.
I deplore the difficulties that my English-speaking colleagues have had to face during their careers, but their grumbling is unfortunately misplaced. Like 82.5% of civil servants in the NCR, I work in English. Thinking, speaking, writing and reading in English, every day, represents an immense mental effort for me, despite my bilingualism. Every working day exhausts me.
Like my colleagues, I did all my schooling in my mother tongue. Unlike them, I was forced to work on my second official language in order to get a job in Ottawa. “Looking for a position in Quebec, then”, I will be told. However, 68% of positions in the Canadian public service located in Quebec require bilingualism, compared to 13% of positions located elsewhere in Canada (excluding the NCR).
There is no way out. Unless there is a drastic change, the “bilingual” meetings I attend will continue to be a sham containing only two French words, “bonjour” and “thank you”. I’m only at the beginning of my career, but I’m already exhausted by this constant fight. How many complaints will I have to file with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages? How many times will I have to hear that I am part of a “linguistic elite”? How many times will I have to listen to my colleagues imply that I will obtain a management position because of my bilingualism and not because of my skills? Too many, no doubt.