Canadian Language Education Questions

[Valmy]

When are the good $2000 stroller warriors of English Canada going to rise up against their French overlords?

[Barrister]

Prime Minister: bilinguism not required.
Cabinet Minister: bilinguism not required.
Supreme Court judge: bilinguism not required.
Federal court judge: bilinguism not required.
Deputy minister (and all variations): bilinguism not required.
Head of RCMP: bilinguism not required.
Head of CBC: bilinguism not required.
Head of CSIS: bilinguism not required.
Head of Via Rail: bilinguism not required.
Top 10 jobs of any crown corporation: bilinguism not required.
Top 10 jobs in any government department: bilinguism not required.
General sollicitor: bilinguism not required.
Auditor general: bilinguism not required.
Member of parliament: bilinguism not required.
Judge of any court in BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, NS, IPE, NF&L: bilinguism not required. (btw, you can't be judge in Quebec's superior court unless you are bilingual french-english, and possibly a card carrying member of both Liberal's party too )
Crown prosecutor: bilinguism not required.
Head of Canadian armed forces: bilinguism not required.

Let's see...

Prime Minister - it's up to those who elect him what the requirements are, of course.  But please name me the last monolingual prime minister - Diefenbaker maybe in the 50s?

SCC judge - well Quebec is guaranteed 3 justices out of 9 in any event.  It was a minor scandal when one unilingual justice was appointed (Moldaver).  8 of 9 speak both languages.

DMs - political appointments.  All ADMs (who, in true Yes, Minister fashion, hold the real power) must be bilingual.

Similarly to top jobs in any government department - those are public service positions, and definitely are bilingual.

MPs, solicitor general - again are politicians, and depend on those who elect them.  I can tell you that since less than 5% of the population out here speaks French, to require MP candidates to be bilingual would be a profoundly undemocratic move.

Judges - I can tell you it's a person's constitutional right to have a trial in either official language, and that right is respected throughout Canada.  There are a number of bilingual judges (and prosecutors).  I however fail to see the advantage of requiring all judges and prosecutors to be bilingual, given that less than one trial in 100 is held in French.

Armed forces - all officers are required to be bilingual.

[viper37]

So anglo-chauvinists who mouth off about how French is a waste of resources or doesn't represent Canada most certainly do not represent me or my point of view. I'm very happy with official bilingualism in this country, and I'm sympathetic to the idea of the distinct society of Quebec.

See Gral, we got two of them, over the long run.

That does not mean, however, that I can't find individual language based policies in Quebec to be ridiculous or counter-productive or wrong-headed even if I'm sympathetic to the preservation of Quebec culture and the French language.

I often find Albertan politics to be silly, with their anti-abortion and anti global warming speeches.
Lots of Québécois feel like that too.

Yet, when the Bloc campaigned against "Western Cowboys", they saw their numbers dip rapidly, and they received their lowest score to that point, before becoming nearly extinct at the last election doing the same kind of negative campaign.

While anglophobia is real in Quebec, it's nowhere near as prevalent as in English Canada where it will reach traditional medias.  The only anglophobic media I could think of is Vigile.net, a website only read (and reposted everywhere) by hard core PQ fans.  The Reform party once made it's campaign against officila bilinguism and saying there were too many French in Ottawa.  The xenophobic views often expressed by their members were nothing compared to Quebec's charter debate, yet, it received barely no mention in the media, compared to the evilness of the PQ silly charter.

And again, the recent charter fiasco has proven that anti-french and anti-Quebec sentiment are only skin deep.

[Barrister]

I often find Albertan politics to be silly, with their anti-abortion and anti global warming speeches.

Link please.

[garbon]

If I am in a company of people where everybody speaks one language and then only some of those present also speak another language, I just find it impolite to start talking in the language not everyone in the group understands - this goes both for speaking Polish in an English speaking group where not everyone understands Polish, and vice versa.

So, you infringe on people's individual rights.  How intolerant of you.

[Admiral Yi]

Every single officer, from the lowest shavetail louie on up, has to be bilingual?

[viper37]

Prime Minister - it's up to those who elect him what the requirements are, of course.  But please name me the last monolingual prime minister - Diefenbaker maybe in the 50s?

I don't deny that it's up to those that votes to chose the right candidate, but nothing would prevent an unilingual candidate to postulate for the job, like, say, Preston Manning.

As for monolinguals PM: (saying "allo" does not count )
MacDonald, Borden, Mackenzie King, Diefenbaker, Pearson, Turner, Campbell.
Only Joe Clark and Harper were truly bilingual anglophones.

SCC judge - well Quebec is guaranteed 3 justices out of 9 in any event.  It was a minor scandal when one unilingual justice was appointed (Moldaver).  8 of 9 speak both languages.

But the Feds did try a loophole to that requirement, wich was rejected by the court, and they are still trying to find another scheme to get him back to this bench.

DMs - political appointments.  All ADMs (who, in true Yes, Minister fashion, hold the real power) must be bilingual.

Can't find it right now, but it wasn't the case when I was working there.

Similarly to top jobs in any government department - those are public service positions, and definitely are bilingual.

Not really, know.  You often see unilingual english speakers in these jobs.

MPs, solicitor general - again are politicians, and depend on those who elect them.  I can tell you that since less than 5% of the population out here speaks French, to require MP candidates to be bilingual would be a profoundly undemocratic move.

It would serve as incitement for people to learn this country both official languages.

Judges - I can tell you it's a person's constitutional right to have a trial in either official language, and that right is respected throughout Canada.

No, not really.  See the British Columbia case where English is the language of the law and the Supreme Court upheld that.  Trial is in english, and all documents must be submitted in english.
Manitoba has a provision for this only since 2008, and it's not always respected.
Alberta laws need not be translated in French.  And the right to a french trial exists only since 2000.

There are a number of bilingual judges (and prosecutors).  I however fail to see the advantage of requiring all judges and prosecutors to be bilingual, given that less than one trial in 100 is held in French.

I don't even ask that much.
But it is to answer Malthus complaints that Quebec people are favored for government jobs because of bilinguism requirement.
Anyway, about that
Second paragraph.  It's only recently that francos became over-represented in public services.

Armed forces - all officers are required to be bilingual.

That's only the theory, often ignored.
But classes are provided by the army, you don't need to be bilingual to join.

[viper37]

Link please.

All the debates we hear about a Conservative MP trying to push back anti-abortion law some way or another, that is totally non existent in Alberta?
Wildrose leader now believes in climate change: 2013...

During the 2012 campaign, the Leader said that the science on climate change wasn't settled. Earlier this week, Ms. Smith said the science didn't matter but that market access for Alberta's crude and trade with other concerned countries and jurisdictions does.

Kinda makes me doubt of the sincerity...

About abortion an gay rights

In a survey last fall for the Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Association, Smith wrote that her party would "ensure conscience rights for marriage commissioners and health professionals."
The rule would mean provincial employees could refuse to perform abortions or to marry gay couples if those duties go against their personal beliefs.

But it's Alberta's politics, it is not my business at all what Alberta does or does not do to Albertans.  I was just giving an example. 

[viper37]

Every single officer, from the lowest shavetail louie on up, has to be bilingual?

The theory is yes.  In practice, though:

ISSUE
In 2011, the federal government announced
the closure of the Marine Rescue Sub-Centre in
Québec City. Marine distress calls from vessels
in the waters of Eastern Canada would now be
handled by the Trenton and Halifax Joint Rescue
Coordination Centres. This announcement
triggered strong reactions from people worried
about losing the public's right to be served in
French. In the wake of this announcement, the
Commissioner received several complaints
against Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

COMMISSIONER'S ACTIONS
The Commissioner conducted an investigation to
evaluate whether the decision of Fisheries and
Oceans Canada contravened Parts IV and VII of
the Official Languages Ac, which deal respectively
with communications with and services to the
public, and the promotion of English and French.
The Commissioner then decided to expand the
investigation to include National Defence, which is
responsible for coordinating maritime search and
rescue in Canada.
At the time the Commissioner's final investigation
report was submitted, the Trenton and Halifax Joint
Rescue Coordination Centres still did not have the
capacity to handle distress calls in English and
French equally at all times. The complaints were
therefore considered to be founded under Part IV
of the Act

So all calls for the St-Lawrence would have been handled in Halifax.  In English only.  By people who don't know the river and the geography.

Try to imagine the opposite.  Halifax gets shut down, Quebec city takes over the mandate.  The public outcry in canadian media...

[Berkut]

So all calls for the St-Lawrence would have been handled in Halifax.  In English only.

Your article does not say in English only, it says

"the Trenton and Halifax Joint
Rescue Coordination Centres still did not have the
capacity to handle distress calls in English and
French equally at all times."

That is so far away from "in English only" it isn't even funny. Why do you just blatantly lie about this stuff?

[Razgovory]

Viper this is absurd.

[Berkut]

We asked him for examples of how his people are being "strangled" and he provides examples. Don't say that is absurd!

[Razgovory]

I oppose all attempts to make English the "Official language" in this country.  I don't care for these identity politics.  I would be much more sympathetic if there was real and serious grievances like the discussion a few weeks ago about Latvia disenfranchising Russian speakers (most of whom were born there).  That is genuine strangling and tyranny.

[Martinus]

If I am in a company of people where everybody speaks one language and then only some of those present also speak another language, I just find it impolite to start talking in the language not everyone in the group understands - this goes both for speaking Polish in an English speaking group where not everyone understands Polish, and vice versa.

So, you infringe on people's individual rights.  How intolerant of you.

I was wondering about this too. Viper is so ridiculous, it is not clear when he is serious or sarcastic. 

[The Brain]

FWIW I support independence for Canadian Francophones.