The decline of French in Quebec is a nationalist myth

MONTREAL—Let Us Compare Mythologies. The title of Leonard Cohen’s first book of poetry seems pertinent in a new context: the introduction of the clumsy and fatuous Bill 96 by the CAQ government. The 100-page language law’s proposals are built on the mythology of the “decline” of French in Quebec. The bill was introduced last week after a mind-numbing barrage from nationalist politicians, columnists, and demographers over the past two years, who have taken statistics and twisted them to suit their narrow agenda. This has created a public perception that doesn’t bear scrutiny. But as the saying goes, “in politics, perception is the truth.” Emmanuella Lambropoulos, the Liberal MP for Saint-Laurent, was the target of indignation from the Bloc Québécois and her own party last November when she dared ask Commissioner of Official Languages Raymond Théberge about the purported decline of French in Quebec. This fury comes from one statistic: a marginal reduction in the number of mother-tongue francophones in Quebec, according to the 2016 census. This was also the focal point of a study by the Office Québécois de la Langue Française (OQLF) in 2019, which defined a francophone as someone whose mother tongue was French or spoke only French at home. Based on these criteria, there was a slight decline in francophones, from 83 per cent in 2011 to 80.6 per cent in 2016 (new numbers will soon be available with the 2021 census). At the same time, the number of allophones—those whose mother tongue is neither French nor English—increased. Of this population, about 53 per cent adopted French as their principal language. Another 40 per cent of allophones and anglophones speak French regularly. A 2019 paper on the academic website SSRN said “we provide evidence the French language is gaining ground in Quebec … census statistics are distorted by inter-linguistic marriages and a rise in the proportion of individuals whose language at home is different from their language at work.” I speak French every day, and my children who live in Quebec did all their primary and secondary studies in their second language. But we are not counted, as we are not mother-tongue francophones. Emmanuella Lambropoulos, the Liberal MP for Saint-Laurent, was the target of indignation from the Bloc Québécois and her own party last November when she dared ask Commissioner of Official Languages Raymond Théberge about the purported decline of French in Quebec. The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia When I was a reporter in Montreal and Québec City, I frequently interviewed Dr. Camille Laurin, the “father” of Bill 101, the Charter of the French Language. He compensated for the declining francophone birth rate by requiring immigrants to attend French schools. Four decades later, these “children of Bill 101” are fully integrated into French Quebec: 92 per cent work in French and 95 per cent of Quebecers can carry on a conversation in French. Had Dr. Laurin or René Lévesque been told the success their efforts would have in 2021, they would have been ecstatic. For today’s nationalists, that’s not good enough. They raise a 2017 StatsCan study projecting a seven per cent decline of French speakers in Quebec by 2036. Doctoral student Etienne Cardin-Trudeau, writing in French on Ricochet, rejects these concerns, pointing out the study also forecasts a five per cent decline of English in the rest of Canada. He predicts there will be substantial language “transfers” of allophones to French in Quebec. Enter Bill 96, the new Bill 101, imposes stricter French-language requirements on municipalities, small businesses, and new Quebecers, and will only ensure English-language services to “historic anglophones.” That may exclude many marginalized people—the elderly, rural poor, recent immigrants (who have six months to adapt to French), and BIPOC—who require services in English. That said, of the million or so Quebecers who use English as their principal language, the rate of bilingualism is about 80 per cent—the highest in Canada. That should not be surprising, Montreal is a dynamic multicultural, bilingual city, which has always engaged internationally. A recent OQLF study expressed concern Montreal businesses want employees who speak French and English, to serve tourists or speak with international counterparts. But that is a commercial asset, not a threat to French. The growth in the use of French by non-French mother tongue citizens, should be celebrated, not ignored. The bottom line, according to Cardin-Trudeau, is this: “There is nothing inspiring in withdrawal, fear, or contempt of the intelligence of citizens. To be francophone means to speak French, it is as simple as that.” Andrew Caddell is retired from Global Affairs Canada, where he was a senior policy adviser. He previously worked as an adviser to Liberal governments. He is a fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and a principal of QIT Canada. He can be reached at pipson52@hotmail.com. The Hill Times

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The decline of French in Quebec is a nationalist myth

The growth in the use of French by non-French mother tongue citizens, should be celebrated, not ignored.

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