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<h1 itemprop="headline" class="">Dan Delmar: Here's why I speak French with an English accent</h1>
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<a itemprop="name" class="" href="http://montrealgazette.com/author/dan-delmar-special-to-montreal-gazette"><img src="http://wpmedia.montrealgazette.com/2015/09/dandelmar.jpg?quality=55&strip=all&w=33" class="" alt="MONTREAL, QUE.: SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 -- Dan Delmar will be writing some election columns for The Montreal Gazette, photographed in Montreal, Thursday September 10, 2015. (Vincenzo D'Alto / Montreal Gazette)" height="33" width="33"> <span class="">Dan Delmar, Special to Montreal Gazette</span><br> <span class="">More from Dan Delmar, Special to Montreal Gazette</span></a> </div>
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Published on: May 15, 2016 | Last Updated: May 15, 2016 1:00 PM EDT </div>
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<img itemprop="url" class="" alt="MONTREAL, QUE.: NOVEMBER 05, 2012--Alexandr Cebotari, left ,from Moldavia is looking at a Larousse French dictionnary during an integration class at Ecole primaire La Mosaique.Right is Kyong Seo Lee from Korea.The photo op was held during a press conference on November 5, 2012, at Ecole primaire de la Mosaique which reunited francophone experts.They talk about how to integrate non-French-speaking immigrant children when they make up the majority of the school population. (Marie-France Coallier / THE GAZETTE)" src="http://wpmedia.montrealgazette.com/2016/05/montreal-que-november-05-2012-alexandr-cebotari-left.jpeg?quality=55&strip=all&w=840&h=630&crop=1" height="630" width="840">
<p><span class="">Today, children who immigrate to
Quebec are obliged to attend French schools, but a couple of generations
ago, they were often excluded.</span>
<span class=""><span itemprop="creator">Marie-France Coallier</span> / <span itemprop="copyrightHolder">The Gazette</span></span> </p>
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<p>As Quebec again <a href="http://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/dan-delmar-quebec-liberals-add-to-irrational-language-laws">strengthens language laws</a>,
members of minority communities are reminded, even subtly, that in the
eyes of their government, they are not quite equal in standing to their
francophone counterparts. Misguided language policies, inspired by
ethnocentrism that flies in the face of science, have unfortunately
sowed the seeds of cultural divide between citizens.</p>
<p>I am reminded by that link between policy and people when, every so
often, I am asked variations of the same question: Why do you, a
lifelong Quebecer raised in a francophone neighbourhood, have an
anglophone’s accent? It’s the equivalent of asking, why don’t you seem
like one of us; why is your laine still somewhat impure? </p>
<p>The query, most recently from an educated, apparently tolerant
francophone entrepreneur, doesn’t offend me. It points to relatively
common questions that many francophones might have about anglophones and
other minorities; questions about cultural integration, exemplified by
exercises like <a href="http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2013/10/20/who-is-marie-mai">the amusing 2013 Journal de Montréal survey</a>, which
indicated that anglophones are largely ignorant of major Quebec
cultural influencers like Marie Mai, Guy A. Lepage and Jean-René Dufort.</p>
<p>The standard answer I provide to such questions about gaps in my
Québécois cultural credibility is, “it’s a long story,” and here it is.</p>
<p>I shouldn’t be an anglophone, but the Quebec education system forced my family into that linguistic camp.</p>
<p>English is my mother tongue, but there’s nothing about my ethnicity
that is even remotely anglo. I, and a generation of Quebec millennials
born to immigrant parents, became anglicized as a result of the same
sort of xenophobic, identity-based policies that Quebec’s political
elite continue to tell us is meant to strengthen the French language.
They’ve had the opposite effect.</p>
<p>Both of my parents arrived to Quebec as children. Their own parents
wanted them educated in French. In those days, immigrant children were
at the mercy of religious school boards. The Catholic boards often were
reluctant to admit even Catholic immigrants to their French schools,
much less Jews. And prior to Bill 101, French Protestant schools
were almost inexistent. Neither of my parents spoke a word of or were
particularly receptive to the English language, but they were
nonetheless forced into anglophone schools.</p>
<p>My parents and their siblings, many of whom were raised in
francophone Morocco, continued their upbringing in anglophone
environments. Most would go on to marry anglophones, raising children of
their own as a part of English Quebec. Failing to assimilate even
francophone immigrants remains a glaring failure over decades of
nationalist leadership, and I embody that failure.</p>
<p>Though the religious segregation of Quebec students has ended,
linguistic segregation persists. Both further the cultural divide.
Ultimately the goal of Quebec policy-makers should be to <a href="http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/an-alternative-to-english-language-school-boards">further both French and English language learning</a> within francophone environments, for all students, to promote cultural rapprochement.</p>
<p>Given that I was raised as an anglophone, it was comfortable to
pursue my education in English, even in the Laurentians. Dissatisfied
with French-language resources in English public schools, my parents
decided before high school that I should have some French-language
schooling in order to improve my chances of success in largely
francophone professional environments. Most anglophones aren’t so
fortunate.</p>
<p>If I choose to raise a family in Quebec, my children would likely be
educated entirely in French and have more opportunities as a result. The
mistakes of Quebec’s nationalist leadership will have taken two
generations to undo — at least using my family’s story (not an uncommon
one) as a barometer.</p>
<p>The answer, then, to the question about my accent is that it remains
because, over the decades, integration of minorities has been less than
smooth, and leaders in both linguistic camps ought to examine their
complicity in raising generations of outsiders. But “it’s a long story”
is more diplomatic. </p>
<em>Dan Delmar is a public relations consultant at <a href="http://provocateur.media/">Provocateur Communications</a> and host of <a href="http://www.cjad.com/TheExchange.aspx">The Exchange</a>, Mondays and Wed<br><br clear="all"></em><a href="http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/dan-delmar-heres-why-i-speak-french-with-an-english-accent">http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/dan-delmar-heres-why-i-speak-french-with-an-english-accent</a><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/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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