Balancing act.The Official Languages Act of 1969 declared French and English to be the two languages of Canada There are a multitude of languages spoken in Canada, but only English, French and certain aboriginal languages have official status. The Constitution of Canada itself recognizes two official languages, English and French, and all constitutional acts since 1982 have . Entrenching bilingualism in the law in this way did not please everybody. Many Westerners saw bilingualism as yet another giveaway, at their expense, to keep the spoiled child of Quebec in the Canadian family. People of Ukrainian or German or other non-English and non-French descent demanded to know why their ethnic identities counted for less with the federal government than those of smaller French-speaking minorities in their area. Columnist John Dafoe has written that multiculturalism multiculturalism or cultural pluralism, a term describing the coexistence of many cultures in a locality, without any one culture dominating the region. was invented to counter this dislike of bilingualism. He says it was "the sugar that was supposed to persuade Western Canadians to swallow the medicine of bilingualism." But, many French Canadians French Canadian n. A Canadian of French descent. French  -Ca·na have seen this attempt to
sweeten sweet·en v. sweet·ened, sweet·en·ing, sweet·ens v.tr. 1. To make sweet or sweeter by adding sugar, honey, saccharin, or another sweet substance. 2. To make more pleasant or agreeable. a bitter pill as a dilution of the importance of their language. So, multiculturalism has been less than popular in Quebec. |
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