One National Canadian Politician Claims That Threat To French Language in Quebec 'Amounts to Little More Than a Mere "Myth"

 

In recent days, I have been discussing the issue of French language in Québec province. The government of Québec continues to generate controversy with bills which try to preserve the French language within the province. 

However, not everybody agrees with the necessity of these methods. In fact, some argue that there really is no problem at all, that the continuance of the French language in Québec province is a mere myth.

Last summer, Colin Standish, who leads Canadian Party of Quebec (CaPQ), basically made that claim.

"The idea that French is threatened in Quebec is a myth," said Colin Standish at the launch of his fledgling party's electoral campaign Tuesday.   

"There is no statistic that shows that there is a detrimental decline in the French language in this province."

Standish does not stop there, however. In fact, his party champions the idea of a counter to the laws designed to protect the French language with English-language services act to protect the rights of non-French speakers and minority rights Québec.

The idea that advocates of French-language preservation in Québec tend to be insensitive towards the rights of minorities and English-speakers is not a new one. But this raises a lot of questions. Are those criticisms overblown and a convenient go-to for English-speakers, or indeed, are the champions of a French-speaking Québec almost necessarily infringing on the rights of minorities? For that matter, do the English-speakers tend to gloss over the French rights in their own provinces? Things have changed recently, but it was only in 1969 that the two languages were given equal status officially in Canada. But there was a history - a long and extensive history - where French clearly took a back seat to English in Canada. And speaking French meant that you did not have the full range of benefits which English-speaking Canadians enjoyed. And again, we're not talking about ancient history. Indeed, much of this began to be resolved - more or less - in the 1980's. 

Threat to French language in Quebec 'is a myth,' says Canadian Party leader at campaign launch by Sabrina Jonas · CBC News · Posted: Aug 31, 2022

Party would create English-language services act to protect anglophone, minority rights  Sabrina Jonas · CBC News · Posted: Aug 31, 2022

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/canadian-party-of-quebec-1.6567686