Canada: Listening on language

[Francis Hult]

Via lgpolicy...
 
Listening on language

>>From Monday's Globe and Mail

June 16, 2008 at 8:13 AM EDT

'Quashing" is a technical, but pleasingly expressive word for what
happened to an ill-considered decision to phase out early French
immersion (EFI) in New Brunswick, Canada's most genuinely bilingual
province, and our only officially bilingual one. The judgment on
Wednesday of Mr. Justice Hugh McLellan of the province's Court of
Queen's Bench rightly took no position on the policy issues of
bilingualism and education. On procedural grounds, he quashed, or
struck down, a decision in March by Kelly Lamrock, the Minister of
Education of New Brunswick. But those matters of procedure point to
matters of substance.

One moral of the story may be that politicians should be careful of
what they promise in the way of consultation. In July, 2007, the New
Brunswick government appointed two commissioners to review
second-language education in the province. The government would
respond to their report within two months, which Mr. Lamrock said
would "allow for a full debate and cabinet response." The
commissioners reported at the end of February. A government news
release said the views of citizens on their findings and
recommendations would be welcome and listened to.

Full story:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080616.weimmersion16/BNStory/specialComment/home

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