Le Droit, Philippe Orfali

Le secrétaire parlementaire aux langues officielles, Jacques Gourde, ne s’en cache pas, il ne maîtrise pas l’anglais. Mais cela ne l’empêche pas de s’acquitter pleinement de ses responsabilités auprès des Anglo-Québécois, soutient-il.

LeDroit révélait hier que des représentants de la communauté anglo-québécoise demandent la démission de M. Gourde, nommé en janvier 2011 au poste de secrétaire parlementaire aux Langues officielles. À ce titre, il est notamment chargé d’assurer le lien entre les groupes d’intérêts franco-ontariens, anglo-québécois, etc. et le ministre fédéral des Langues officielles, James Moore.

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MONTREAL – In a recent column, I noted that a series of town-hall meetings held in 2008 involving 300 Quebec anglos aged 16 to 29 found that many reported a lack confidence in their French, despite having gone through French immersion in school (“The best French teacher for anglos is life experience,” Opinion, March 31).

The town-hall participants said this lack of confidence was holding them back from a more meaningful social immersion in Quebec. However, I want to point out today how it wasn’t the only contributing factor that they identified. Many young anglos reported also being held back by a sense that francophones don’t really like anglophones – which makes them shy about being in a francophone milieu.

Have young anglos set too high a bar for themselves when it comes to how good their French needs to be before they can be confident of acceptance by francophones? That’s a question that deserves more study.

As I said in that column, the 2009 publication by the Quebec Community Groups Network that was based on the findings of the town-hall meetings challenged some of the myths that we have of this post-French-immersion, post-Bill 101 generation – notably, that they are some sort of new bilingual super-elite.

I was writing about the QCGN study as a counterpoint to a controversial poll of Quebec anglos published by L’actualité magazine in its April 15 issue. Among other things, the poll presupposes a very high comfort level in French among young anglos. It goes on to explore through polling whether these “new anglos” are any more supportive of the nationalist position on various Bill 101-related issues than their parents were, or are. The short answer, the magazine says, is no.

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The Gazette

Whatever one’s opinions of the conclusions L’actualité magazine has drawn about young anglophones from its recent poll, the mindset of this French- immersion, post-Bill 101 generation is certainly worth exploring.

L’actualité starts with the reasonable operating assumption that young anglos are bilingual. It goes on to test whether or not they are familiar with various mainstream public figures in politics and culture and, more provocatively, ask them whether they think it’s their role to protect and promote French. Its article about the poll appears in the current April 15 issue.

My colleague Henry Aubin published a detailed critique of the poll in Thursday’s Gazette under the headline “L’actualité poll is nothing but alarmist exaggeration”(bit.ly/H3hZew).

Here I’d like to examine the underlying operating assumption that young anglos are bilingual – or at least as bilingual as we think. To be sure, the 2006 federal census noted that 68 per cent of Quebec anglos are bilingual; the rates are higher for younger age groups. However, new research in the anglophone community suggests that despite what the census figures say, many young anglos are unhappy with their French and insecure about their ability to find a good job in Quebec, including Montreal.

Something happened in January 2009 that shattered conventional notions about bilingualism within the English-speaking community. The Quebec Community Groups Network published a study that found many who have grown up with French immersion suddenly discover in their early 20s that their French isn’t really very good.

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