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<h1 itemprop="headline" class="">Celine Cooper: What can the U.S. really learn from Canada on language policy?</h1>
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<a itemprop="name" class="" href="http://montrealgazette.com/author/celine-cooper-special-to-the-gazette"><img src="http://wpmedia.montrealgazette.com/2014/10/celine-cooper1.jpg?w=33" class="" alt="Celine Cooper" height="33" width="33"> <span class="">Celine Cooper, Special to Montreal Gazette</span> <span class="">More from Celine Cooper, Special to Montreal Gazette</span></a> </div>
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Published on: January 5, 2015Last Updated: January 5, 2015 11:37 AM EST </div>
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<img itemprop="url" class="" alt="Chrystia Freeland poses for a photograph near Dundas Square in Toronto on Thursday, September 12, 2013. " src="http://wpmedia.montrealgazette.com/2015/01/freelance-photo-postmedia-network-use-only-toronto.jpg?w=1000">
<p>Chrystia Freeland poses for a photograph near Dundas Square in Toronto on Thursday, September 12, 2013. </p>
<span class=""><span itemprop="creator">Matthew Sherwood</span> / <span itemprop="copyrightHolder">Matthew Sherwood for National Po</span></span>
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<a href="http://montrealgazette.com/news/national/celine-cooper-what-can-the-u-s-really-learn-from-canada-on-language-policy#" class=""></a><br>
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<p>Is the United States headed toward a future of linguistic tension à
la Canada? If so, are we in any kind of position to offer advice?</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/26/opinion/bilingual-nationhood-canadian-style.html?_r=0" target="_blank">recent opinion piece in the New York Times by Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland</a>
(Toronto Centre) got me thinking. Entitled “Bilingual Nationhood,
Canadian-Style,” Freeland reflects on the upcoming immigration debates
in the U.S. which she suggests will be partly defined by the fear that
“English-speaking Americans will be culturally and linguistically
overwhelmed by newcomers, many of them Spanish-speaking.”</p>
<p>Relating the American conversation to her experiences as an
anglophone Canadian working in the House of Commons and striving to
master the French language, she writes that “We (Canadians) are far from
perfect … but when it comes to living in a multilingual, multicultural
world, we get a lot right.”</p>
<p>True enough. But I’m curious: if American policy-makers are being
encouraged to look North, what lessons could they draw from our
experiences? Certainly, as the global economy, migration and new
information technologies continue to redefine both Canada and Canadians,
bilingualism and multiculturalism are as much a topic of national
public debate today as they’ve ever been.</p>
<p>It makes for an interesting comparison. In both countries, English
remains the dominant language. But unlike in Canada where
French-speaking populations are not increasing at significant rates, in
the U.S. the size and influence of Spanish-speaking communities are
growing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, <a href="http://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2014/cb14-ff22.html" target="_blank">there are roughly 54 million Hispanics living in the United States, making up 17 per cent of the total U.S. population</a>.
By 2060, Hispanics are estimated to grow to around 31 per cent of the
entire U.S. population. This will have an impact on how language and
national unity in America are managed. But how?</p>
<p class="">York University professor Eve Haque has studied this. Her
research suggests that the creation of Canadian multiculturalism within a
bilingual framework in the late 1960s and early 1970s was always about
developing a blueprint for national unity that set up a system of social
organization in which there were French and English founding cultures
and other immigrants. At the time, the increasing number of immigrants
from non-European countries was seen as a threat to national unity.
Canada was re-working its immigration policy to move away from overtly
racial preferences to preferences expressed in terms of language and
culture.</p>
<p>Difficult as it is to admit, bilingualism and multiculturalism have
never been universally accepted by all Canadians. Some of the most
strident criticism came from within the federal Reform Party of Canada
during the 1990s, while in many Quebec political and intellectual
circles, bilingualism and multiculturalism have always been roundly
rejected. Throw in the fact that Quebec — the only majority French
province — has control over its own language and immigration policies (a
concession in part to manage federal anxieties over separatism) and our
Americans friends might wonder what they are supposed to take from
this.</p>
<p>One of the examples Freeland offers as a sign of things to come in
the U.S. is the spat between Telemundo anchor and MSNBC host José
Díaz-Balart and talk radio host Laura Ingraham, who was irritated by
Díaz-Balart’s proper pronunciation of a Hispanic name. What it
immediately brought to mind for me was that row back in February of 2014
when Sun News host Brian Lilley apologized after criticizing the way
bilingual CBC anchors pronounced the names of French-Canadian Olympic
athletes in English, but with a French accent.</p>
<p>The point is that even with our official policies, these kinds of
things happen. You learn to roll with it. That’s bilingual nationhood,
Canadian-style.</p>
<p>Given the massive demographic shifts ahead, linguistic and cultural
politics will occupy much more space in American political debate,
particularly in the upcoming immigration debates. On these issues,
Canada has experiences to share. Just don’t expect us to have all the
answers, too.</p>
<p><a href="mailto:celine_cooper@yahoo.com" target="_blank">celine_cooper@yahoo.com</a></p><p><br></p><p><a href="http://montrealgazette.com/news/national/celine-cooper-what-can-the-u-s-really-learn-from-canada-on-language-policy">http://montrealgazette.com/news/national/celine-cooper-what-can-the-u-s-really-learn-from-canada-on-language-policy</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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