Quote:
Originally Posted by MTL-514
I would tend to agree with most of what you wrote, Acajack, and have to admit that I don’t know much about the situation in Quebec City back then, or about that in Hull/Gatineau/Aylmer (although I became quite familiar with that region when I lived there, and in downtown Ottawa, from 1993 thru 2000).
Where my position might diverge somewhat from yours (but maybe not), having read your take on language issues in Montreal, over a number of years, is the following: while Bill 101 has certain merit in that there was inarguably an imbalance to be corrected, it’s extremely unfortunate that the people/party who brought in in were also those who were threatening to rip Montreal (largely against its will) along with the rest of the province of Quebec, out of Canada, and that in their radicalism and overzealousness, chose to bring in legislation not requiring bilingualism but banning it, and imposing an entirely fictional and unjust unilingual French face on what was at the time still Canada’s largest and most important city, and a city that, demographically was anything but French-only. This exacerbated and prolonged Montreal’s and Quebec’s linguistic divide and caused irreparable damage to Montreal’s (and even more so the Rest of Quebec’s) historical second language communities and institutions, that we are still struggling to bounce back from, or at least contain, in 2020. Not to mention decades of economic and demographic damage and stagnation it caused Quebec and particularly Montreal (which, thankfully, we finally seem to have now reversed and put behind us in the past decade or so - hopefully permanently).
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I wasn't around to witness the passing of Bill 101 or its immediate impact on the anglo community but at its peak, the percentage of mother tongue anglophones in Quebec was 13% which maybe translates to something like 20-25% in Montreal. I'm not sure that's enough to warrant a policy of official bilingualism, even if for many
it would be nice.
There is still resistance among older anglophones to really buy-in, despite having chosen to stay. On one hand, I kind of get it - they were accustomed to things that they no longer enjoy and that would make many people bitter. On the other hand... soyons honnête, and certainly as you mentioned, Bill 101 in some form was/is/will continue to be necessary. It's probably a large contributor to Quebec still being part of Canada today (
if, of course, you're into that kinda thing.)
I'm not sure the damage to the anglo community is irreparable. Retention of anglo youth is substantially higher than in previous decades because many are at least functionally bilingual and never really knew much linguistic drama to begin with. The population is making small gains, even if still in relative decline (though... the francophone population is
also in relative decline).
Personally, I find today's signage laws to be appropriate. I also agree that the language of work should reflect the collective population. In my honest opinion, and I'm certainly open to discussion, I only take exception with the odd kid from the US or the UK whose family is transferred to Montreal for work or whatever being made to go to French school. The transition is abrupt and the kid often suffers for it (I'm aware of the private-school loophole, often utilized to circumvent this). I really don't think that loosening this would open the flood gates to a wave of anglo immigration anyway. Have them go to french immersion to gain their bearings.