In Quebec, Canada’s sole French-speaking province, language has long been a contentious issue. Now, the results of a recent survey performed by research agency CROP have added fuel to the fire.
To perform the survey, CROP interviewed 560 people who live in Quebec but did not grow up in French-speaking households. The participants were a mix of Anglos (Canadians who grew up in English-speaking households) and immigrants from other countries.
In its write-up of the results, local magazine L’actualité portrayed the results as devastating for the future of French in Quebec. The magazine cover featured a frog holding a sign that reads “Ici, on parle English” or “Here, we speak English.”
Inside, the article claimed that the survey results showed that young Anglos living in Quebec simply do not care about preserving the province’s historically French culture.
For example, only 37% agreed with the following statement: “The predominant position of the French language is the key component of Montreal’s originality. Without it, the city would lose its soul.” Young English speakers also didn’t recognize local, French-speaking Quebec government figures and celebrities.
However, most of Quebec’s anglos do in fact speak French, and 83 percent wanted their children to learn the language, too. Plus, surveys like this can be unreliable and this one had a rather small sample size.
Nonetheless, the government of Quebec has already taken action, encouraging the province’s “language watchdog” to take action more quickly, and finding the funds for the agency to hire more employees. One legislator has also proposed more stringent language rules.
However, according to Globe and Mail columnist Lysiane Gagnon, these measures don’t get to the root of the problem:
“Nowhere in L’actualité’s issue on “the future of French” is there a word about the main reason of the (relative) decline of French in Montreal: the fact that the French-speaking middle class is leaving the city in droves to settle in the nearby suburbs.”
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Interesting article, but in the second paragraph shouldn’t it be “did not grow up in FRENCH-speaking households”? That would make more sense when one reads the rest of the article.
You are so right, Catharine. I’ve fixed it, thanks so much for pointing it out!