Support for Canadian Bilingualism on the rise

[Anonby]

I bet you're right, and that the success of French immersion schools helped
change attitudes. Nothing succeeds like success, right?

Knowledge of French helps you obtain a federal government job, too. That
might have even more to do with it the attitude adjustments.

Stan

----- Original Message -----
From: "Harold F. Schiffman" <haroldfs at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
To: <lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 4:06 PM
Subject: Re: Support for Canadian Bilingualism on the rise


> Maybe 40+ years of French immersion have helped change attitudes? French
> immersion now seems to be available all over Canada and is seen as very
> prestigious, so perhaps whole generations of English Canadians have had
> this opportunity to become bilingual, and that's made a difference?
>
> HS
>
> On Wed, 9 Mar 2005, Anonby wrote:
>
>> I think that's great news, and something I have observed informally.
>>
>> I wonder why there has been this change of attitude. Any ideas? It seems
>> to
>> me that support for bilingualism comes lockstep with tolerance. Does that
>> ring any bells? On almost all issues, I would say Canadian young people
>> are
>> more tolerant, less rigid than their elders. Do you think this might be
>> true
>> of young people throughout most of the world?
>>
>> Stan
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Harold F. Schiffman" <haroldfs at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
>> To: "Language Policy-List" <lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
>> Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 11:20 AM
>> Subject: Support for Canadian Bilingualism on the rise
>>
>>
>> > Public support for bilingualism on the rise
>> > By Andrew Parkin, Ph.D.
>> >
>> > In her recent annual report, Dyane Adam, Canadas Commissioner of
>> > Official
>> > Languages, insists that linguistic duality is a fundamental Canadian
>> > value, and she cites CRIC survey data to support her assertion.
>> >
>> > While these recent surveys report on attitudes today, an analysis of
>> > polling since the 1980s paints an even more positive picture showing
>> > that
>> > public support for bilingualism is on the rise.
>> >
>> > Current attitudes
>> >
>> > Both CRICs Portraits of Canada 2001 survey, and its February 2002
>> > survey
>> > on rights and freedoms, confirm high levels of support for official
>> > bilingualism and minority language rights. Among Canadians living
>> > outside
>> > of Quebec, 88% support the official languages policy (defined as
>> > meaning
>> > that citizens can get services from the federal government in the
>> > official
>> > language that they speak).
>> >
>> > Eighty one per cent agree that French-speaking families living in their
>> > province should have the right to educate their children in French, and
>> > 70% think that it is either important, or somewhat important, to
>> > preserve
>> > French and English as the two official languages.
>> >
>> > Decline then growth in support
>> >
>> > The changes in attitudes over time are equally compelling. The Focus
>> > Canada surveys, conducted by Environics Research, show that support for
>> > bilingualism declined in the late 1980s and early 1990s, amid the
>> > controversy surrounding Quebecs French-only sign law and the
>> > recriminations that followed the collapse of the Meech Lake Accord.
>> > Since
>> > then, however, support has gradually increased. Today, it is higher
>> > than
>> > it was before the decline of the late 1980s.
>> >
>> > Consider the number of anglophone Canadians who say that bilingualism
>> > is
>> > important to the Canadian identity. Seven in ten held this view in
>> > 1985,
>> > but the figure dropped to 55% in 1991. It has risen by 21 points since
>> > then: it stood at 76% in 2000.
>> >
>> > The same pattern holds when anglophone Canadians are asked if they are
>> > in
>> > favour of bilingualism for all of Canada. It should be noted that
>> > support
>> > for bilingualism, when described in such broad terms, is lower than
>> > when
>> > it is described in terms that more accurately reflect the objectives of
>> > the Official Languages Act, or in terms of language and education
>> > rights
>> > for official-language minorities. What is important, in terms of
>> > support
>> > for bilingualism for all of Canada, is the trend. In 1988, 44% of
>> > anglophones supported bilingualism for all of Canada, but this fell to
>> > 32%
>> > in 1991. By 2000, the figure had risen to 47%.
>> >
>> > Further confirmation
>> >
>> > The same trend is apparent in a third question, which asks whether
>> > Canadians favour bilingualism for their province. In 2000, for the
>> > first
>> > time, the number of anglophones favouring bilingualism at the
>> > provincial
>> > level hit 50%, up from 33% in 1991.
>> >
>> > (While I have highlighted the attitudes of anglophones, the same
>> > general
>> > pattern holds in the case of francophones and allophones. It should be
>> > noted that both these groups are more supportive of bilingualism than
>> > anglophones.)
>> >
>> > Perhaps the best news for supporters of bilingualism is that the policy
>> > is
>> > more strongly supported by young people than any other age group  an
>> > indication that it is not only those who came of age during the Trudeau
>> > era who have bought in.
>> >
>> > Countering stereotypes
>> >
>> > When CRIC presented its own data showing relatively high levels of
>> > support
>> > for bilingualism in all regions of the country, some observers
>> > expressed
>> > surprise. They had assumed that Westerners, at least, were skeptical
>> > of,
>> > if not hostile towards, the official languages policy. This is why
>> > public
>> > opinion research is important. It allows Canadians to counter the
>> > stereotypes that they sometimes hold about one another. For instance,
>> > the
>> > most recent surveys show that two-thirds of Albertans say that
>> > bilingualism is important to the Canadian identity, and three-quarters
>> > support the official languages policy. Thus, when the Official
>> > Languages
>> > Commissioner speaks of linguistic duality as a fundamental Canadian
>> > value,
>> > she is indeed speaking of a value shared from coast to coast.
>> >
>> >
>> > The data presented in this article, unless otherwise noted, are from
>> > Environics Research Group. The data were obtained from the Canadian
>> > Opinion Research Archive at Queens University.
>> >
>> >
>> > Andrew Parkin is Assistant Director CRIC.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > FACTS AND FIGURES
>> >
>> >
>> > Canadians are becoming more bilingual
>> >
>> > In a recent speech to Canadian Parents for French, Intergovernmental
>> > Affairs Minister Stphane Dion cited CRIC research that shows Canadians
>> > support official bilingualism, then provided some figures on how that
>> > support has translated into reality.
>> >
>> > He offered the following examples:
>> >
>> > today, 24% of young high school graduates, across Canada, know both
>> > official languages, making this the most bilingual generation yet;
>> >
>> >
>> > today, 19% of young anglophones outside Quebec speak French, compared
>> > to
>> > only 8% in 1981;
>> >
>> >
>> > outside Quebec, between 1981 and 1996, bilingualism increased by 170%
>> > in
>> > Prince Edward Island, 167% in Newfoundland and Labrador, 105% in the
>> > Northwest Territories; 100% in Nova Scotia, 88% in Saskatchewan, 82% in
>> > Manitoba, 77% in Yukon, 72% in British Columbia, 70% in Alberta and 69%
>> > in
>> > New Brunswick;
>> >
>> >
>> > in Quebec, the 1996 Census put bilingualism among francophones at 34%.
>> > Among anglophones, it went from 37% in 1971 to 63% in 1996.
>> >
>> > http://www.cric.ca/en_html/opinion/opv4n38.html
>> >
>>
>