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French is not a foreign language in BC like Oriental languages are. Read up on the Franco-Columbian community, and you will be surprised on how much they contributed to building BC. There are even communities in BC founded by francophones, such as Maillardville in the Fraser Valley.
I'm not sure you really understand contemporary British Columbia. Maillardville is currently a small neighbourhood in a city with a dominant white/Chinese/Korean population (Coquitlam). It has some nice houses, an Ikea, a bus station, a couple of garages, and some nice churches. It is also a nice place where hobos from New Westminster (also very distanced from it's British roots) like to steal copper wire.
Whatever you see on the street signs or historical societies posted on the city website is about history 100 years ago and in no way reflects the current reality of Coquitlam.
Of course francophone pockets exist in BC... they pale in comparison to the sizable populations of Asian immigrants. If you don't think Asians have contributed to contemporary Vancouver/British Columbia moreso than you don't know history and you've never lived in Vancouver or the surrounding GVRD.
Maybe google and wikipedia give off a false impression.
PS... Maillardville is not in the Fraser Valley, it is a good 25 minute drive from the FV, where I am from.
I never meant to imply that Mandarin and English bilingualism will ever really take off there, it's just that is more useful in daily life there (yes, even for English native speakers) than French. That doesn't mean Mandarin is popular amongst anglos, it means French is just an afterthought in practical life.
French is not used for practical purposes in British Columbia. It is sometimes required (in theory) for certain federal positions.
I'm not here to diss French. But I lived in British Columbia for 26 years, I spent 10 years as a 911 dispatcher there, and I trained as an ESL teacher in Vancouver, and spent years doing research about second language issues in British Columbia, so I'd like to think I'm not talking about of my bum. With all due respect, visiting or reading about British Columbia does not mean you understand practical life in British Columbia.
Not a single person who is actually from British Columbia can look me in the face and tell me that French is more important or useful in that province than Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Punjabi, or to a lesser extent, Japanese. The whole French/English debate which seems to consume life here in Quebec is pretty much non-existent in BC, and is more of an annoying laughable topic that comes up on occasion when watching CBC national news rather than being any real life issue. It simply does not matter or register on the mind of people there.
The only time I *ever* encountered French in my 10 years of dealing wtih emergency services (which tends to encompass the whole population rather than segments) was a French tourist who lost her purse about 8 years ago, and she could still speak at an intermediate level. The amount of Mandarin speakers was several on a daily basis (and yes, that's outside Vancouver - Koreans mostly in the Fraser Valley along with Punjabi).
I'm thinking sometimes people from central/eastern Canada forget that the west simply doesn't give a rat's bum about the language debate. It's really not a topic that is given much thought there. That's "back east" problems.
I am from B.C. and currently live in B.C. What you say is true.
French is not a foreign language in BC like Oriental languages are. Read up on the Franco-Columbian community, and you will be surprised on how much they contributed to building BC. There are even communities in BC founded by francophones, such as Maillardville in the Fraser Valley.
??? French is not, technically speaking a foreign language anywhere in Canada, since it's an official language.
Yes all other languages are foreign. If you go by numbers on how many speak French in B.C. compared to Cantonese, Mandarin, then Chinese is more widely spoken.
Your " research " on Maillardville is terribly flawed as Aliss has pointed out.
??? French is not, technically speaking a foreign language anywhere in Canada, since it's an official language.
Yes all other languages are foreign. If you go by numbers on how many speak French in B.C. compared to Cantonese, Mandarin, then Chinese is more widely spoken.
Your " research " on Maillardville is terribly flawed as Aliss has pointed out.
Is French (an official language of Canada) offered in Government offices in BC? Because as far as I heard it is not on the options menu. This could be anglo-french bashing but I wouldn't be surprised if in English Canada, services were offered in multi language but leaving out French.
Is French (an official language of Canada) offered in Government offices in BC?.
As Canada is officially bilingual French or English is supposed to be available in federal government offices throughout the country, however the quality of such service might be questionable for example getting served in perfect French in BC or perfect English in Quebec.
So what are you proposing, then? That instead of French, Mandarin or Cantonese or Japanese or Korean be taught in schools as BC's second language? Regardless of the demographics, learning French opens far more job opportunities as a whole in Canada than learning an Oriental language will.
Is French (an official language of Canada) offered in Government offices in BC? Because as far as I heard it is not on the options menu. This could be anglo-french bashing but I wouldn't be surprised if in English Canada, services were offered in multi language but leaving out French.
Usually not. I have worked in a federal public service building and the only people who spoke French was one English girl from Ottawa and one French guy from Quebec, both transfered out to Vancouver (not because of their language but because there were no jobs for them out there).
So what are you proposing, then? That instead of French, Mandarin or Cantonese or Japanese or Korean be taught in schools as BC's second language? Regardless of the demographics, learning French opens far more job opportunities as a whole in Canada than learning an Oriental language will.
All of those languages are currently being taught. We learn French from K-8 as part of guidelines and then from grade 8, you get to choose - you can continue with French if you want, or you can choose the others.
RE: The bolded
I think part of what I (and other BCers) are trying to say, is that "Canada as a whole" is the problem Your English/French debate means NOTHING to the west coast, in practical daily life. It's a tick box for a job application with the government, at most. I worked for a certain well-known federal police force for 10 years I can guarantee that the French used in that office (on business cards) was simply as per Ottawa's demands and not for anything else.
If you really think knowing French is more valuable in the GVRD job market than Mandarin or Korean, then you have absolutely no freaking clue what it is actually like to live and work out there!!! Absolutely none. Are you aware that Vancouver's 911 system publishes it's information handouts in English, Mandarin, Korean, and Vietnamese (and Punjabi)??
Guess which language is not published as it is not used in daily life there...
I spend a good hour a day here in Quebec trying to learn French. It's a beautiful language, I absolutely love it, I am currently addicted to the evasion channel, my kids love Disney Jr in French, but it is not used in BritishColumbia in any practical way.
And there is a lot of resentment in the west about the language debate for one reason only- the west doesn't care and is tired of hearing about it. Do you think the Yukon cares about it too?
I think part of what I (and other BCers) are trying to say, is that "Canada as a whole" is the problem Your English/French debate means NOTHING to the west coast, in practical daily life. It's a tick box for a job application with the government, at most. I worked for a certain well-known federal police force for 10 years I can guarantee that the French used in that office (on business cards) was simply as per Ottawa's demands and not for anything else.
What's the debate? All we want is to have our basic language rights in Quebec respected as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees us. Bill 101 is an illegal law and needs to be repealed. Now they're trying to force Bill 14 on us! Does this honestly not concern you as an anglo-Quebecker?
All of those languages are currently being taught. We learn French from K-8 as part of guidelines and then from grade 8, you get to choose - you can continue with French if you want, or you can choose the others.
RE: The bolded
I think part of what I (and other BCers) are trying to say, is that "Canada as a whole" is the problem Your English/French debate means NOTHING to the west coast, in practical daily life. It's a tick box for a job application with the government, at most. I worked for a certain well-known federal police force for 10 years I can guarantee that the French used in that office (on business cards) was simply as per Ottawa's demands and not for anything else.
If you really think knowing French is more valuable in the GVRD job market than Mandarin or Korean, then you have absolutely no freaking clue what it is actually like to live and work out there!!! Absolutely none. Are you aware that Vancouver's 911 system publishes it's information handouts in English, Mandarin, Korean, and Vietnamese (and Punjabi)??
Guess which language is not published as it is not used in daily life there...
I spend a good hour a day here in Quebec trying to learn French. It's a beautiful language, I absolutely love it, I am currently addicted to the evasion channel, my kids love Disney Jr in French, but it is not used in BritishColumbia in any practical way.
And there is a lot of resentment in the west about the language debate for one reason only- the west doesn't care and is tired of hearing about it. Do you think the Yukon cares about it too?
Just for the record, in my census subdivision which has about 10,000 people and corresponds to a district in my city, native English speakers are outnumbered by speakers of both Portuguese and Arabic. And we are less than 10 km from the Ontario border and Parliament Hill in Ottawa. On my street of about 75 houses with maybe 350 people in total there are virtually no English Canadians of the Stephen Harper, Bryan Adams or Don Cherry variety.
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Your English/French debate means NOTHING to the west coast, in practical daily life. It's a tick box for a job application with the government, at most. I worked for a certain well-known federal police force for 10 years 
I can guarantee that the French used in that office (on business cards) was simply as per Ottawa's demands and not for anything else.
