Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Nobody is "abolishing" English, it's just not an official language of Quebec. Anglophones in Quebec can still access services in English, can go to school in English, and in many cases work and live almost exclusively in English. It is considerably easier for an Anglophone to live in Quebec than it is for a Francophone to live in any province other than New Brunswick.
As for Spanish having a stronger formal presence in the US than English does in Quebec...that's nonsense. I live in a neighbourhood in NYC that is 90% Spanish speaking and while there are services available in Spanish, a monolingual Spanish speaker has almost zero chance of making it into the middle class, whereas an English Quebecker could attend one of the best universities in N. America on the taxpayer's dime and not learn a word of French.
And even given the limited recognition of Spanish in the US, people still complain. Plenty of people complain. The English-only movement is a thing, with considerable support in the US.
Spanish in the US is an immigrant language. It's not like French in Canada.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jambo101
Difference of opinion/perception AJ. Back before the quiet revolution the English had all the money and were instrumental in creating Quebecs industrial/economic infrastructure,it was only natural that the head offices were mostly Anglo and those head office workers would probably not hire unilingual francophone employees for office work but they were certainly welcome and needed to work in the factories.
While you may think of it as Anglo suppression and domination i'm sure it was unintended and just a matter of an economic hierarchy, if suppression and domination of the francophone was intended an Anglo equivalent of bill101 and its language police would surely have been instituted with the result being a total elimination of the French face of Quebec,Didnt go down that way did it?
As for some still seeming to have this attitude and reflex of Anglo domination to this day?
I'm curious as to who you might be referring to as the Anglo demographic in Quebec has been reduced to a mostly bilingual 8% with no power or leadership and most companies have moved their head offices elsewhere, basically the Anglo demographic in Quebec is irrelevant and the elimination of bill101 and the language police wont result in Quebecs francophones becoming Anglophones.
The problem here in Quebec is the fear that without all this draconian language legislation and language police to back it up all the francophones will in short order turn into Anglophones
They have every right to want to preserve their culture.
They have every right to want to preserve their culture.
I got no problem with them wanting to preserve their culture i just dont think creating all manner of laws banning English and its infrastructure is the way to do it.
Better way would be to push all the positive aspects of the French culture here in Quebec and not by just eliminating all other languages and cultures through draconian language legislation,
Language police? gimme a break.
If saving their culture is so important how about separate and have their own little francophone country.
I'm sure they would do their best to respond to your needs,rather than a terse this is Ontario speak English.
I'd be amazed if one of the requirements to be a 911 dispatch in the Montreal area wasnt some degree of bilingualism.
My daughter is a dispatch girl for the city of Pointe Claire and bilingualism is a mandatory qualification for the job.
I'm sure they would do their best to respond to your needs,rather than a terse this is Ontario speak English.
I'd be amazed if one of the requirements to be a 911 dispatch in the Montreal area wasnt some degree of bilingualism.
My daughter is a dispatch girl for the city of Pointe Claire and bilingualism is a mandatory qualification for the job.
Also, you obviously have never tried to get service in French in Ontario. No, they do not "do their best to respond to your needs", unless doing their best is replying "Sorry, I only speak English". And you're lucky if you get the "I'm sorry" part. Occasionnally you'll get the French-immersion school graduate or Franco-Ontarian who will happily switch to French, but it's the exception and not the rule, unfortunately. Most of the time you get the "but you speak English anyway, so why should we bother providing service in French" kind of attitude... Even from Pearson airport's security staff and border agents, who are supposed to provide bilingual service... dont' get me started there
I'm sure they would do their best to respond to your needs,rather than a terse this is Ontario speak English.
I'd be amazed if one of the requirements to be a 911 dispatch in the Montreal area wasnt some degree of bilingualism.
My daughter is a dispatch girl for the city of Pointe Claire and bilingualism is a mandatory qualification for the job.
Funny, that's exactly what an OPP officer told me when he stopped me for speeding on the 417 in Casselman a few years ago. He added: "You're not in Quebec here."
Note that Casselman is about 90% francophone and is in the middle of a 70-75% francophone part of Ontario (Prescott-Russell).
Also, that area has had trouble in recent years with 911 dispatchers who spoke no French and only English.
I asked my daughter about her fellow dispatch operators as the incident happened in the Dorval Circle and the call could have been routed to her switch board in Pointe Claire, she said every one of the 16 dispatchers in that department is bilingual and its a qualification for the job if the guy refused to speak English it wasnt because he couldnt speak English.She speculates the story is BS or the call may have been mistakenly transferred to the Urgence Sante switchboard where this "dont speak English" attitude is more prevalent.
Last edited by jambo101; 06-11-2015 at 09:39 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
