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Actually, from my experience and the experiences of the people I went to school with, bilingualism has been a real eye-opener in understanding Canada and the other perspectives that are out there. God knows that there have been a lot of hiccups along the way (Trudeau's not even trying to explain it to Anglophone Canadians who protested, the lengths to which it's been taken, the fact that bilingualism was implemented on an individual basis when recognition of the official language minority communities should also have been recognized) but without it Canada would be a much worse place than it is now.

   

Albertans are already good Canadians, even if they don't give a rats ass about legalizing pot.

   

   

I take it that means providing employment in the oilpatch to our fellow Canadians, being the lead contributor in federal transfer payments, providing the Alberta Centennial Scholarships in 2005, playing an instrumental role in the 1982 constitutional reforms, fighting alongside the rest of Canada in war, having a Premier who's taking the lead in wanting to establish a national energy strategy, implementing French immersion in our schools and making French an official language of the provincial legislature don't count for anything when it comes to being good Canadians?

   

Yes because if Quebec was more than a single issue province defined by speaking French we wouldn't have any of the fun we do with them.

Do you have any messures that you used to come to the conclusions that Canada is better for having offical bilingualism?
~
Also great run on sentance.

   

The people I've known from across Canada who've made an effort to learn the other official language.

The better understanding I've gotten of the other perspectives and cultures in Canada, all of which started by my being exposed to other cultures through French immersion.

The fact that it allows a greater range of immigrants to settle in and contribute to Canada.

Our surviving the Meech Lake and Charlottetown debacles and two separation referendums.

Above all, the fact that we're still a country.

Bilingualism isn't the only factor involved, of course, but it's been an important one.

   

And you couldn't learn about them via a study of history, or by modern current events?
I'm not sure that people speaking French immigrating to Alberta is helping. In that it would be simpler cheaper and easier if the people spoke and read the common language of the area.

Sorry, the policy of bilingualism caused the problems with the constitution reform, it didn't help it.

And what is worse is that we can't ever do anthing with the constiution because Quebec is going to keep crying for special treatment if we ever reopen it.

I would say that having two languages damn near destroyed the nation, it created an easy divide that people fall into. Or rather Quebec VS everyone else. (and NB!)

   

   

Of course I could. I do it all the time. Studying French immersion as a kid and learning about French Canada was what got me started.

   

Here is the deal with immigration. You can immigrate to Quebec if you speak FRENCH. Without French, visa denied.
You can immigrate to the rest of the country if you speak either French or English (and of course meet all the other requirements).
You can move everywhere in Canada once you have landed.

So who cares, actually, which language is put on the immigration papers?

   

Quebec by the sounds of it.

From a practical point French should be dropped.

   

Practical for whom? You?
I couldn't care less.

   

No for the people being raised to speak French. English has become the international language, it would better for them to know Enlgish over French. Oh they can learn both you say? Well true, and some people do, but not all.

French should drift away like all the other languages people gave up. You don't see people crying about keeping their Ukrainian language and need laws to protect them. And because it's just a side point rather than an all consuming reason to live, these people are not divided beacuse of something as trivial as language.

If Quebec had given up French in a manner like everyone else gave up German and Ukrainian (to name two) then Quebec would be in a position to join in the nation in how it's operated. Rather than being a nit picker on the outside.

   

Not quite. Back in 1867, the Fathers of Confederation would have preferred to abolish the colonial borders altogether and simply fuse the colonies all into one big dominion, but the presence of Quebec precluded that. Hence the federal system of government-something I'm rather grateful for as an Albertan-and the recognition in the BNA Act of French and English in the Quebec legislature. In essence, the Fathers of Confederation treated that province as a distinct society within Canada.

As noted by George-Etienne Cartier, the French-Canadian, Catholic minority in Ontario was to receive similar educational rights and protections.* Similar provisions were meant to be put in place in the Prairie provinces once Canada expanded westward. Unfortunately, a number of anglophones who opposed this actively opposed and violated the original agreements, discriminating against the French Canadians. The situation wasn't helped by the limited immigration of French Quebecers to the West, which was in part due to the Church and only strengthened the opponents of French Canadian recognition in the West. More than that, though, it was the active opposition and francophobia of a lot of the radical British imperialists, who sought to impose the "One Nation, One Religion, One Flag" on Canada.

French Quebecers who saw all this began to think that Quebec was the only place where they could maintain their French language and culture. The discrimination that continued through much of the 20th century further entrenched this feeling, to the point where many French Quebecers felt like second-class citizens in their own province. That was what provoked the whole constitutional business in the 1960s, which Pierre Trudeau went into politics to try and deal with.

One of Trudeau's major solutions was official bilingualism. Unfortunately, he insisted on ramming it through without even trying to explain it to Canadians in other parts of the country, which got a lot of peoples' hackles up. They weren't aware of all the crap that Francophones in other parts of the country had to deal with, the broken agreements and violations of the original agreement. Even while he was doing this, Trudeau was also fighting Quebec nationalism and trying to turn Quebecers away from it...which only reinforced the conviction in the rest of the country that Trudeau only cared about Quebec. Ironically, Trudeau became hated by French Quebecers because of his pigheaded refusal to recognize that province as a distinct society in the Constitution, which is what the majority of French Quebecers were looking for. Bilingualism was helpful, but it was only one half of the solution.

In turn, French Quebecers in the modern era who saw the protests against French and the criticisms of their attempts to maintain their French character as an indication that the rest of Canada didn't understand what they were trying to do-for comparison, try imagining that your province is the only English-majority one in a French-speaking continent. The rejection of Meech Lake was seen as a rejection by many Quebecers, when most Canadians in other parts of the country were irritated by what they saw as endless concessions to Quebec.

The end result has been a lot of misunderstanding on both sides, and a lot of understandable frustration. We've inherited the mess caused by the whole "One Nation, One Religion, One Flag" nonsense, and bilingualism has been an important step in cleaning it up. Again, it hasn't been perfect, and people haven't always understood the basis for it (and Trudeau bears as much of the blame for this as anybody) but it's gone a long way in rebuilding some of the bridges in Canadian society.

* If you want to read Cartier's speech for yourself, see if you can find a copy of Desmond Morton and Morton Weinfeld's excellent book Who Speaks For Canada? Words That Shape A Country. Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, 1998. Pages 36-38.

   

So what point do you have besides that having government supported divisions causes social problems?

You just made my point that having more than one language in the nation is going to cause problem.

   

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