Review Approach To Bilingualism

Canada’s approach to bilingualism is costly and not very effective. Considering the billions of dollars that have been spent over the past few decades, there continues to be a big question mark over the value for money, as it relates to the money spent by the federal government. The kerfuffle currently being generated by International Co-operation Minister Julian Fantino’s apparent decision to communicate in only English can serve as a catalyst for re-examining how we approach the furthering of bilingualism in Canada. If one of the purposes of the Official Languages Act is to “advance the equal status and use of English and French”, then that statement infers people should be allowed to convey their communications in the language of their choice.

If the person on the receiving end were encouraged to develop the ability to understand that verbal or written communication, rather than demand it be in another language, I believe it would help further the objective of a more bilingual country. The current approach not only tends to pigeonhole people into three groups; English, French & bilingual, it also does nothing to encourage unilingual people to learn anything about the other language, except perhaps for the demands of their employment. From my perspective, true bilingualism allows every person the right to communicate in either French or English with the understanding that the person on the receiving end will develop the ability to understand that communication. Even though not everyone may agree with that notion, the current approach to bilingualism continues to divide more than it unites Canadians.