Issues Faced by Francophones in Canada – A News Review

ISSUES FACED BY FRANCOPHONES IN CANADA – A NEWS REVIEW

ISSUES FACED BY FRANCOPHONES IN CANADA – A NEWS REVIEW
Introduction
Language politics have a great influence in the formation of provinces, and the
shaping of political ideologies (Pal 1993). In today’s world, maintaining diplomatic
relationships between other nations is very important as the world thrives of trade
negotiations and mutual assistances. Canada and France, two nations which share a maritime
border, maintain an great relationship. However, they have their share of sour moments over
linguistic and sovereignty issues, focused on Quebec, Canada’s largest province (Mackey
2005). Issues with providing the official language status to French in Quebec and English
outside of it causes challenges to the state administrations, and to the future of the French
outside of Quebec. In this article, three news articles reporting issues faced by Francophones
in Canada shall be summarised, discussed, and analyzed.
Summary of the News Reports
Reports from three news articles which focused on the issues faced on the general
perception of the language, disadvantages in education, and workplace challenges were
chosen, and are summarised below.
1. Valiante, Giuseppe. Controversy in Quebec as more French students choose English
colleges. News Report, Montreal: The Canadian Press, 2017
In this report, the author speaks about the limitations that the francophone students of Quebec
face while choosing a language of their choice. He says that as English courses in the public
pre-university system CEGEP of Quebec not recognized by the law, those students have to
avoid exposure, thus losing out on a lot of opportunities. Valiante also says that by this, the
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education of the students is affected, as many students choose not to enroll in French based
courses, and this is an issue that must be addressed to as early as possible.
2. Keung, Nicholas. Francophone immigrants face greater challenges outside Quebec.
News Report, Toronto: Immigration, 2017
In this report, the author talks about the issues faced by French immigrants in Canada,
especially out of Quebec. He says that even as French is one of the official language of
Canada, its influence is limited only to Quebec, thus widely limiting job opportunities for
francophones out of Quebec. He states that immigrants form a large part of Canada’s
workforce, and language issues have a great impact on the jobs offered to them. Keung, in
this report, interviews many affected francophones, as well as the government officials, and
states that there is a lot to be achieved in order to set the issue in right balance.
3. Butler, Don. Francophones see threat to future of French in Canada, survey finds.
News Report, Ottawa: Ottawa Citizen, 2016.
In this news item, the author reports the fear of francophones, that the future of French
language and administration is threatened. However, he says that upon research, only one-
thirds of the English speaking people seem to agree with this issue or have a favorable
opinion about the francophones. The anglophones and francophones are more or less on the
same page on promoting bilingualism throughout Canada, that it would enhance bilateral ties,
provide better opportunities, and improve prospects for the future. The author says that due to
a widespread reach, English is the better preferred language of choice even for many French
speakers; even as a few people have no interest towards a bilingual lifestyle.
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