Push made to defund anglo universities
The Journal is pushing for the defunding of Quebec’s anglo universities, seeing them as sinister agents aimed at anglicizing Montreal. And Mario Dumont simply cannot handle the fact that some people deny that French is in decline in the city.
I will have to defy Mario. The Canadian census of 1931 has just been made public and I’ve been skimming it for some family history data. And there are a lot of anglo names, and not just in neighbourhoods where you’d expect. For example, that year, my dad had just arrived as a child in Canada, and was living with relatives in Hochelaga. About half the names on the census sheets for the area are anglo names. I doubt they would be now. And I’ve noticed that trend over and over again. Montreal was a far more anglo city in the early to mid 20th century than it is now. It is not in decline from a glorious past of 100% French speakers.
Also, more anglos and allos than ever are now speaking French comfortably in their working and general public life. I can’t cite studies but I’ve seen things cited that bear this out. But that may never be enough.
I’ve noticed, by the way, the difference in attitude expressed in one word: Il faut franciser les immigrés. But anglos don’t think in terms of anglicizing people. Francizing people feels like it is changing their basic nature. I’ve never heard of anglicizing someone when what you mean is teaching them English.
shawn 17:46 on 2023-06-13 Permalink
In this case, it’s an op-ed by one guy. But we’ll see.
(BTW Péladeau was on RDS – a rarity in itself – before that Alouettes home opener and he praised Percival-Molson to the hilt. Of course, he wants to get fans there and doesn’t want to pay for a stadium of his own but it was interesting to watch.)
shawn 17:47 on 2023-06-13 Permalink
(I meant the first piece on defunding. I wish the Dumont piece was a lone voice but we know it’s not).
Poutine Pundit 00:11 on 2023-06-14 Permalink
The percentage of bilingual mother tongue English-speakers in Quebec went up from 37% in 1971 to 72% in 2021, with 82% bilingualism rates among the youth cohort, so yes, English-speakers have never been this bilingual. Stats here, page 4: https://www.concordia.ca/content/dam/artsci/scpa/quescren/docs/Memoire_QUESCREN_avenir_francais_2023.pdf#.html
Kate 09:22 on 2023-06-14 Permalink
Thank you, Poutine Pundit.
Since I’m mentioning family history, mine is probably typical here. My mother and her brother and sister were all born here and worked here all their lives without speaking French. My aunt, in fact, in the classic mode, even worked at Eaton’s for awhile before she got married. Never spoke any French (and she wasn’t fat) but it was not a job requirement at the time.
Dad was parachuted into Hochelaga at age 11, went to school in English but learned to speak French from the other kids in the area. I don’t know whether he could write accurate French but he did speak it. It was from Dad that I learned useful phrases like “m’a te donner une claque su’l’yueule” which I did not learn in French class at my English school. I remember noticing the gap between our textbook French and the kind of French my Dad knew from scrapping in a Hochelaga alley.
My cousins and my sister and I all went to school in English in Montreal. Aunt’s and uncle’s families left for Ontario between 1963 and 1980. My sister and I worked in English and French although our written French would probably be severely criticized.
Neither my sister nor I ever had kids, but the kids of various anglo friends all went to school in French and speak French flawlessly, while also writing it accurately. My sister and I would probably have sent any kids to French school as well.
However, I could hazard a guess the anglos I know from that generation mostly speak English at home, read English books and watch English movies and TV. If they stay here they’ll probably send their kids to French school. Everyone knows we need French in the outside world and to work but we have not been fully francisé because in private, we’re living in the langue de Shakespeare, not Molière.
Uatu 10:45 on 2023-06-14 Permalink
I think it’s funny that a guy with an Italian name, Mario and a graduate of Concordia would complain about Anglicization
Kevin 16:06 on 2023-06-14 Permalink
As someone pointed out on Twitter, nobody has to go to an English-run school in Quebec, so they had to compete to attract/ retain students. The quality of French taught now is far better, and more relevant, than it was in the 80s and 90s.