Intersections of duality: The Relationship Between. Ethnocultural Identity and Minority Language
Year:
2005
Author :
Journal:
, Canadian Issues / Thèmes canadiens (Printemps)
Pages :
, 107-111
Abstract
Language is an important vehicle for the transmission of culture and a necessary means for communication to permit state and society to conduct its ongoing business. In 1969, Canada enacted a legislation recognizing English and French as the country's official languages. In so doing, its main intention was to favour greater equality between its two principal language communities by widening the opportunity to offer services in the French language. Establishing official languages did not imply the creation of official cultures; hence in 1971 the federal government introduced a policy of official multiculturalism aimed at widening opportunity for cultural expression and identification. Many Francophones contended that multicultural policy risked putting various minority ethnic cultures on the same footing as French culture and thus substantively and symbolically diminishing the latter. This view was enhanced by the idea that since English was dominant outside of Québec, the minority ethnic cultures would be expressed in that language. Paradoxically, spokespersons for some of the minority ethnic groups insisted that opportunities to preserve their heritage were undercut both substantively and symbolically by the adoption of official languages, thereby assuming other cultures could flourish without support for the corresponding language. Reitz (1974) has observed that: "ethnic language retention is a cornerstone of the ethnic communities themselves. Failure to learn the ethnic language leads to failure to participate in the ethnic community and this to a large extent explains reduced participation in the second and third generations." But ethnic identification can persist without knowledge of the corresponding heritage language (though it might be argued that such ethnic expression is a diluted and/or highly symbolic manifestation of identity). In part this has to do with the different criteria employed by federal and Québec authorities relative to the broader question of who is a Québec anglophone. The federal Treasury Board has tended to use the first official language category in order to estimate the requirements of English speaking institutions vis-à-vis their constituency. This inclusive definition results in federal authorities crediting Quebec's Anglophone population with 300 000 more individuals than do provincial authorities who by employ mother tongue. In the case of the Québec government in the year 2001, the Québec Anglophone population constituted some 600 000 persons whereas by virtue of the provincial definition, there were more than 900 000. Much of the difference is a function of those persons for whom English is their principal official language but not the language they first learned and still understood in other words their mother tongue. Québec authorities are more inclined to consider many of these immigrants and their descendants as allophones and thus ineligible for provincial designation as anglophones. Ethnocultural diversity has become an object of heightened attention in the Francophone communities outside Québec. The vast majority of immigrants that settle outside of Québec adopt English as their principal language. Until very recently the attraction of immigrants from Frenchspeaking parts of the country outside Québec has not been a priority. In the year 2000 some 4.6% of all immigrants settling outside of Québec knew French only upon arrival with another 4.3% declaring knowledge of both English and French. In 2004 the respective shares were 4.5% for French only (1 359 persons) and 7.3% for English and French (5 762 individuals). There was a concern that even if such immigrants settled in the rest of Canada that too would make English their principal language. Still, in light of the demographic vulnerability of French language communities outside Québec, interest has grown in increasing the numbers of French-speaking immigrants. While immigration is not viewed as the single remedy to the demographic challenges confronting Francophones outside Québec it can contribute to enhancing the vitality of minority linguistic communities.
Theme :
Accessibility of servicesDemographyIdentityInstitutionsLinguistic minorities
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