Canada to firmly re-assess its status as a British colony

[Berkut]

but if a country is going to say it has two languages, they should manage that.

Yes.  Either they comply with the law, or they repel it.  Should be simple enough to understand to Canadians.  But it seems too hard for most of them, unfortunately.

Meh, there are lots of laws that are not enforced but nobody bothers to repeal.

Wouldn't the easiest solution be just chopping of Quebec? I mean really, let them go be their own "country", I am sure it would work out great for them. They could all refuse to speak English to each other and the rest of North America would have something to laugh at. Sounds like a sure win-win.

[garbon]

but if a country is going to say it has two languages, they should manage that.

Yes.  Either they comply with the law, or they repel it.  Should be simple enough to understand to Canadians.  But it seems too hard for most of them, unfortunately.

I suppose the opposite thought is that if it is an official language there will be at least some places where one will be able to use either language freely - where with no mandate, that's would happen as often as it does here in the US for some languages.  However, I can imagine that such is not particularly palatable, as a haphazard implementation has to be annoying - never knowing whether or not you'll be able to use French in a particular locale, establishment or service.

[Valmy]

Meh, there are lots of laws that are not enforced but nobody bothers to repeal.

Wouldn't the easiest solution be just chopping of Quebec? I mean really, let them go be their own "country", I am sure it would work out great for them. They could all refuse to speak English to each other and the rest of North America would have something to laugh at. Sounds like a sure win-win.

Ok now you are just being a hater.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Hmmm.........I had the impression that the linguistic divide between Quebec and the rest of Canada was getting greater in recent decades. ie that French is getting stronger in its Quebec redoubt but the remainder of the country is becoming totally Anglo.

Is this the case, or am I under a false impression?

[Valmy]

Hmmm.........I had the impression that the linguistic divide between Quebec and the rest of Canada was getting greater in recent decades. ie that French is getting stronger in its Quebec redoubt but the remainder of the country is becoming totally Anglo.

Is this the case, or am I under a false impression?

I think it is a false impression.  I think French is not getting particularly stronger Quebec with immigrants coming in and Quebeckers no longer having babies.  It was never really a factor in the west.

The status of French in Ontario and the Maritimes may be suffering, so you may be right there, though I am not sure.

[dps]

You are correct sir.  I imagine that many of the judges down in Rico are bilingual, but probably not all.  I don't really understand why the Francophones have such a chip on their shoulder about this.  This all sounds like minor grievances.  If Canada defunded all the highways in Quebec or forced them to eat jellied Eel and spotted dick, I would think that is a legitimate beef.  The three terrible crimes discussed in this thread are the adding of "Royal" to military units, the removal of a painting, and the failure to be served a 7-up by someone speaking French.  It's like they are going around looking for things to offend them.

I think Canada is an excellent example why the US should not adopt an official language.

I think on the language bit - is that if no one stands up for the French language in Canada, it will eventually fade out.  Clearly it would have been much easier for the 7-Up complainer to just order in English (as he knew it) - and if you follow along in the vein of convenience - there's very little reason to maintain French over the long haul. Infinitely more convenient to speak in a language that most everyone understands.  That has to be grating in a country like Canada where French is listed as an official language.  Make it too much of a hassle for people to speak one of the official languages - and why would they keep using it?

If you have to pass a law to convince people to speak some language, then the language is already dead. You are just trying to put it on life support.

And nobody is "making it a hassle", it might BE a hassle, but not taking active measures to accomodate soft drink orderers is not "making it a hassle", it is just not making it NOT a hassle.

The thing is, in the not-too-distant pass, the Canadian government DID make it a hassle for people to use French, and the French-speaking community there has a legitimate gripe about that.  But I agree with you that while reasonable accomodation should be made for French speakers, it seems that many French-speaking Canadians want things to go way beyond what is reasonable.  For example, the guy in the story doesn't need accomodation--he could have easily ordered his damn 7-UP in English.  A person who spoke only French would have a much more legitimate complaint IMO (though still not worth half a mil).  It's been suggested that there were French-speaking stewardesses on the flight, and he deliberately picked one that didn't speak French to ask for the 7-UP.  Now, I don't know that that's the case, but if it is, it makes him even more of a dick.  It's just not reasonable to expect that every employee of the government or of a quasi-government organization be able to speak French.  But, given the situation in Canada, it IS reasonable to have someone available who does speak it (maybe not in some little post office in a tiny little town where there's no French speakers living anywhere nearby, and the postmaster [if Canadian post offices in tiny little places are anything like US post offices in very small communities] might well be the only staff), but on an Dandadian airliner where there are, what, at least half a dozen stewardresses (or stewards), well, it's not unreasonable that at least 1 of them be expected to know French.

[Barrister]

but if a country is going to say it has two languages, they should manage that.

Yes.  Either they comply with the law, or they repel it.  Should be simple enough to understand to Canadians.  But it seems too hard for most of them, unfortunately.

Well - the question is whether Air Canada should have a special law that forces it to comply with the Official Languages Act, while no other airline does.

[Berkut]

Uhhh, the "law" or whatever demands that EVERY single stewardess speaks French? Seriously?

That would be a stunningly stupid law if it was the case.

I could maybe see a law that says that there be someone who speaks enough French to adequately communicate with French speaking customers, but all of them? That is just plain silly.

[garbon]

but if a country is going to say it has two languages, they should manage that.

Yes.  Either they comply with the law, or they repel it.  Should be simple enough to understand to Canadians.  But it seems too hard for most of them, unfortunately.

Well - the question is whether Air Canada should have a special law that forces it to comply with the Official Languages Act, while no other airline does.

It's really beyond that though as the Mr. T in question in this study has more on his agenda than just Air Canada. It'd be disingenuous to limit the discussion to that sole issue.

[Valmy]

Uhhh, the "law" or whatever demands that EVERY single stewardess speaks French? Seriously?

That would be a stunningly stupid law if it was the case.

I could maybe see a law that says that there be someone who speaks enough French to adequately communicate with French speaking customers, but all of them? That is just plain silly.

Eh if every uneducated peasant Slavic member of the Austrian military could understand enough German to follow orders I am sure educated Canadians can learn enough to serve a customer on a plane.  I mean how much French does that really require?

Not sure if that is the requirement though.

[garbon]

Uhhh, the "law" or whatever demands that EVERY single stewardess speaks French? Seriously?

That would be a stunningly stupid law if it was the case.

I could maybe see a law that says that there be someone who speaks enough French to adequately communicate with French speaking customers, but all of them? That is just plain silly.

I like how you read little that has been said in a thread but are quick to mash the buttons on your keyboard in some level of outrage.

[garbon]

Here's one of the faults that Air Canada admitted to:

Air Canada actually admitted breaches of the law in four instances, such as:

No translation of an announcement made in English by the pilot concerning the arrival time and weather on flight AC8622 flying the Atlanta-Toronto route on Feb. 1, 2009: Air Canada acknowledges that the announcement should have been translated by the flight attendant (who was bilingual) because it was a flight on which there was significant demand for services in French.

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/2011/07/15/man-awarded-12000-for-air-canadas-failure-to-serve-him-7-up-in-french/

[HVC]

Uhhh, the "law" or whatever demands that EVERY single stewardess speaks French? Seriously?

That would be a stunningly stupid law if it was the case.

I could maybe see a law that says that there be someone who speaks enough French to adequately communicate with French speaking customers, but all of them? That is just plain silly.

Eh if every uneducated peasant Slavic member of the Austrian military could understand enough German to follow orders I am sure educated Canadians can learn enough to serve a customer on a plane.  I mean how much French does that really require?

We have really bad french taught to us anglos until grade 9. But it focuses way to much on the written/reading aspect (and congugation, god i hate hated that). should really concentrate more on conversational french.

[jimmy olsen]

Uhhh, the "law" or whatever demands that EVERY single stewardess speaks French? Seriously?

That would be a stunningly stupid law if it was the case.

I could maybe see a law that says that there be someone who speaks enough French to adequately communicate with French speaking customers, but all of them? That is just plain silly.

Eh if every uneducated peasant Slavic member of the Austrian military could understand enough German to follow orders I am sure educated Canadians can learn enough to serve a customer on a plane.  I mean how much French does that really require?

I've never had a hard time getting service on flights to China, and some of those stewardesses spoke Korean as well.

[Valmy]

We have really bad french taught to us anglos until grade 9. But it focuses way to much on the written/reading aspect (and congugation, god i hate hated that). should really concentrate more on conversational french.

Especially since conjugation in French is not that important conversational wise.  Alot of it sounds the same (Fais, Fais, Fait) and the French speaker can figure out what you meant by the context even if you get the grammar wrong.  Also writing in French is really hard compared to speaking it....and taking dictation is a nightmaire.