Winnipeg, March 23. 2000
Tradition, Perspective and Vision: English-French Relations in Canada
Speech delivered to the Association for Canadian Studies
Dr. Dyane Adam - Commissioner of Official Languages
Check against delivery
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me begin by thanking you for inviting me. The theme of this conference is challenging and very relevant. As you may well imagine, the past, current and future state of English-French relations in Canada is a subject that I have been thinking about a great deal in the few months since I became Commissioner of Official Languages. In the first interviews I gave to Le Devoir and the Montreal Gazette, I said that I thought there was a need for a new discourse on Canada's language duality. Since then, as I go to conferences and colloquia across the country, I sense that I am not alone in feeling this. This conference is but another example of a growing desire to "re-engineer" language duality for the 21st century.
I read with fascination the book that is at the heart of your discussions today: As I recall - Si je me souviens bien... This stereoscopic view of key events in Canadian history gives them a depth and focus that has seldom been seen before. I congratulate all those who have worked to make this collective effort a success.
If one's opinion of the current state of English-French relations was based solely on the heat and noise of newscasts and headlines, rather than on the work of academics, one might forget that Canadians have a very long record of cooperation, understanding and achievement. During panel discussions today, you will be testing the truth of this optimistic assertion. You will illustrate how, in fact, Canadians have gotten along while disagreeing on almost everything almost all of the time. Indeed, As John Miesel suggests in the conclusion of As I recall - Si je me souviens bien...: "For our two communities must continue to work together in formal and informal settings even if such interaction produces friction and the raw material for a future collection of essays resembling those in this book."
The theme of the conference also reminded me of a set of three posters our Office produced a few years ago. Many of you will have seen them. They bore the captions: TRADITION, PERSPECTIVE and VISION. Their message, supported by reproductions of breathtaking Canadian paintings, was that our English- and French-speaking citizens have a common heritage, shared values and can build a future together. As Commissioner of Official Languages, I would like to say a few words about each of those captions.
Tradition
Since I am not a historian, I do not often have to grapple with the dry documents that are all that we have left of the anger, tears and bitterness of French-English relations in Canada in earlier times. The Deportation of the Acadians, the Plains of Abraham, the hanging of Riel, the Manitoba School Question, Règlement 17... How tenacious are the myths that have been built around these crises. How many of us have heard the stories about hiding French text books from school inspectors, about being told to "speak white", etc., as if somehow these hurtful incidents had taken place only yesterday or the day before. So much so that we must guard against a sort of false memory syndrome about these conflicts.
Some people will argue that just as Canada has too much geography, it has too much history. In a recent article in Air Canada's in-flight magazine enRoute, the journalist and ex-historian Gwynne Dyer suggested that Canada's history and its traditional identities are largely meaningless to new generations. He argued: "I'd rather betray the past than the future. Let the kids kick free of the history and build their own Canada. It's already a much nicer place." I think it is too simple to suggest that our history is irrelevant. The study of the past is not about blame or getting even. It is about understanding. There is as much danger in dismissing our history as in being sentimental or simplistic about its truths.
A good approach to the collective consciousness of the past that we call tradition is to discover in it what is most worth having and preserving. History is, in a sense, a school for democracy.
It also teaches us that, as a country, we cannot know where we are going unless we know where we came from.
It seems to me that English-French relations in Canada are indeed too caught up in the wrongs of the past. As a result, we do not always appreciate what we have achieved in recent years in making respect for English and French, and the communities that speak these languages, a common ideal. There is a need of a little more perspective, for a clearer focus on today's reality. We have to shake off old language taboos and see objectively how English and French can be the bricks and mortar of a new Canada in a new century.
Perspective
It is no accident that there has been more language legislation in Canada and in the provinces in the last thirty years than in the previous hundred. Indeed, the growth and development of the French language in Canada has far exceeded the fondest hopes of the members of the B&B Commission. The value of language accommodation has not only been defined and legislated; it is being demonstrated daily in our lives. One of the best proofs of this is the fact that the rate of bilingualism among young Anglophones outside Quebec (age 15 to 19) now stands at 16%.
I do not mean to suggest, however, that we are anywhere near having solved all our language problems. I need not tell an audience as uniquely versed as you are in the arcanes, chicanes and black arts of constitutional cauldron-stirring that the appropriate recognition of the role and place of Quebec in the Canadian family continues to challenge the finest political alchemists. Unless we can alleviate in practical and symbolic ways the very real and palpable sense of linguistic insecurity that haunts Francophone Quebecers, we will never lay the ghosts of the past to rest.
This budding century also holds another related challenge: the future of official language minority communities. Since I will be speaking on this topic on a panel this afternoon, I will merely give you a synopsis of my viewpoint, which is that the near million French-speakers outside Quebec, just like the English-speakers in Quebec, are not going to disappear anytime soon. Instead of viewing these communities as perpetual "has beens", it is perhaps time to develop a new paradigm.
There is a new Canada struggling to be born, a Canada championed by our younger generations. In reconceptualizing society, the young are embracing an all accommodating diversity. Its values are social justice, civic participation and multiple identities. Young Canadians more and more have come to believe that, like biodiversity, social diversity is essential as a bulwark against the negative aspects of globalization. I believe this vision will soon dominate public discourse in Canada.
Vision
How do minority language communities fit in this reconstruction of Canadian identity? I believe a sensible vision of the future of minority communities lies in the recognition and promotion of them not only as an added social value, but as a human capital that enriches us all. Canada can only become more united or more productive if Francophones outside Quebec and Anglophones in Quebec are provided with greater educational opportunities and essential social services in their own language.
This point can be illustrated in many ways, but one of the most striking examples can be found right here in Manitoba. This province's significant efforts in the area of minority community development have led to better understanding and a stronger sense of sharing. Manitobans are pulling together and pulling ahead, instead of pulling apart.
Having a vision of the future suggests that we must be able to step back and see beyond the narrow interests of the short term. Our efforts to accommodate Quebec and our official language minority communities, not to mention our first nations, is only the first step in coming to terms with the growing ethnic, social and cultural diversity that will challenge our country, like all major democracies, in this new century. Canada being a country of immigration, this diversity is inevitable and welcome. Our future population growth will largely depend on our capacity to integrate new Canadians. For example, I think we need to plan much more carefully how immigration can become a tool to assist minority communities in their development. Our ideal would be to see as much diversity in our minority communities as in the population at large.
Canada's language duality is not a problem; it is an opportunity whose time has come. It is one of the main reasons why many people in the world see Canada as a model of tolerance and fairness. We have succeeded in large part by making French and English the voices of understanding and inclusiveness rather than of discord.
The federal government has a crucial role to play in promoting this vision of Canada. It must continue to affirm and defend the legitimacy of the French language not only in Quebec, but everywhere in Canada. It must profess this belief often, without hesitation or fear. It must also argue that the presence of a vibrant English-speaking community in Quebec does not constitute a threat, but is in fact an important asset.
Leadership, in a word, is of the essence if Canadians are to understand more fully that French in Canada is not only normal, but also, to paraphrase Martha Stewart, that it's a good thing. Federal and provincial authorities must also be more active in recognizing value of developing their minority language communities as a human capital in today's knowledge-based economy.
Conclusion
I suggested earlier that the fabric of Canadian society was being rewoven from the old and new strands of its population. In this new order, the challenge for our leaders will be to promote our historical linguistic duality as the foundation of the post-modern state that is emerging before our very eyes. The bottom line is that we can manage diversity or we can let it happen. The prudent choice, I think, is obvious.
I began this speech by telling you about three posters our Office had produced with the captions: TRADITION, PERSPECTIVE, and VISION. What few people know is that we had planned a fourth poster, which unfortunately we could no longer afford to produce. It was to be entitled: RESPECT. A simple word that summarizes not only what I think the hyphen means in English-French relations, but also what I believe is the essential management tool in dealing with diversity in the future.
