The Commissioner speaks about Quebec Anglophones:
“I decided that a portrait of English-speaking seniors was needed, because there has been, until now, little data on their reality. For example, over half of English-speaking seniors are unilingual, and they face the challenge of finding professionals in their region who not only are able to serve them, but who also speak their language. These seniors find themselves in a vulnerable position, or depend on a family member when they need to get information or public health services, for example,” said Graham Fraser.
It might have something to do with living in a province that hates Anglophones. Just a thought.
That in 2013 we still have a Commissioner of Official Languages has a kind of quaint charm, like it's still 1969. The name of the office was always a misnomer. The job of the commissioner isn't to uphold both official languages, it's to grant French a privileged space in Canadian public life. More government jobs for Francophones, more pandering to the perpetually offended. A language that requires a commissioner to preserve it is a language doomed to die. Languages do not survive by government edict, they survive because people choose to use them.
If the Commissioner wanted to do some real good for Anglophone Quebecers, of whatever age group, he should denounce the anti-English policies of the PQ. A good start would be to demand the repeal of the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101), a blatantly unconstitutional law. But that would require genuine courage, something that has always been in short supply in the upper precincts of the Public Service.
Quit trying to be rational. There's nothing rational about culture. It's bred in the bone.
Posted by: Copinacus | Wednesday, November 27, 2013 at 06:31 AM