Ottawa, May 29, 2006
Linguistic and Cultural Diversity:
Dynamics and Changes as a Consequence of Globalization
Notes for a Presentation to the Third Inter-American
Language Management Seminar
Dr. Dyane Adam - Commissioner of Official Languages
Check against delivery
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am very pleased to be able to participate in this seminar. I have no doubt that the presentations we will hear during these three days will be very stimulating.
At the outset, I would like to say a few words about the work I do and Canada’s linguistic reality. I will then make a few comments on the possible reconciliation between linguistic and cultural diversity in the Americas, but not before taking a short detour to Europe. Let us begin our trip.
Role of the Commissioner of Official Languages
I am the Commissioner of Official Languages, that is to say, the linguistic ombudsman of the federal government. Parliament empowers me to take all actions and measures necessary to ensure that federal institutions recognize the equal status and rights of both official languages in their day-to-day operations and their dealings with the public they serve. This also includes their activities for the advancement of English and French in Canadian society.
In short, I am an agent for change. I must frequently explain to Canadians the many social, economic, cultural and political advantages of bilingualism. At heart, I defend a vision of our country, a way that we have found to get along together. It is a social contract between our two major language communities founded on respect and the valuing of our differences.
As a country, Canada occupies almost 10 million square kilometres and has a population of over 30 million. Nine million Canadians (23%) are French-speaking. Of these, around 6.7 million live in the province of Quebec. This means that, after France, Canada is one of the countries in the world where French is most widely spoken. There are more French-speakers in Canada than in Switzerland and Belgium combined.
Canada is a land of immigrants. Proportionally, it is one of the countries that takes in the most newcomers. One of every five people in our country today was born outside Canada.
Among the more than 100 languages spoken in Canada, there are more than 50 aboriginal languages that a small number of people speak. The three main aboriginal languages are Cree, Inuktitut and Ojibway, spoken respectively by 80,000, 29,700 and 23,500 people.
Nine out of ten Canadians speak English or French most often in the home. In fact, less than 2% of the population cannot speak English or French. Thus, although Canada is a society made up of many identities, it also a society that communicates through English and French.
This reality explains why Canada decided to adopt its first Official Languages Act in 1969 and to improve it in 1988.1 That year, it also enacted a Multiculturalism Act2 that recognizes, within the framework of official bilingualism, the equal value and dignity of all cultural communities. As official languages and as two major languages of communication, English and French frame and regulate a dynamic and evolving cultural landscape.
During recent decades, Canada has taken a great step forward. It has understood that its language duality and its cultural diversity are rooted in the same soil and are perfectly complementary. Both foster values of generosity, equality of opportunity and respect for human rights. This concept was not a problem or an obstacle; rather, it was a solution for the future, and a window opening on the world.
The Reconciliation of Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in the Americas
This brief description of Canadian reality allows me, by a rather circuitous route, to approach several of the themes of this seminar. In particular, what interests me is the reconciliation of linguistic and cultural diversity in the Americas with the phenomenon of globalization.
Last November, the European Commission proposed a new framework strategy for multiculturalism to its members. Jan Figel, the Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism, stated: “Languages are what makes us human, and Europe’s linguistic diversity is at the core of its identity.”3
I believe that the same thing can be said about linguistic and cultural diversity in the Americas. They are at the core of our identity as a continent. The European Commission document suggests initiatives that are not unlike a number of the resolutions that were made during the last Inter-American Seminars. For example:
- Develop language skills to promote the mobility of workers and economic competitiveness;
- Reinforce the role of language industries;
- Support multilingual Web sites;
- Implement national action plans for multiculturalism;
- Invest in language research and new information and communications technologies;
- Further improve the training of language teachers;
- Promote language learning from as early an age as possible, and strengthen the learning of subjects by teaching them through the medium of a foreign language; and
- Review training programs at universities to provide students in the language professions with better skills.
Whether the issue is the management of languages and cultures, or even identities, in a territory, a country or a continent, the problems are essentially the same. The linguistic and cultural challenges that Canada dealt with in the past and continues to face today are also those that now confront the Americas.
In this context, the exercise of good governance is more than simply granting a formal linguistic status to all players. What builds a deep solidarity among the citizens of a country or the peoples of a continent, is, above all, the promotion of equality of opportunity while respecting identities.
For example, this is why Canada included in its language legislation not just a commitment to promote its two official languages in Canadian society, but also that of fostering the growth and development of its Anglophone and Francophone minorities. Moreover, last November, the Parliament of Canada clarified its intent in this regard by reinforcing the sections of the Act that deal with the equal rights of official language minorities.4
The Act now requires federal institutions to take positive measures to implement this commitment. An aggrieved citizen may turn to the courts for a remedy if this obligation is not met. Clearly, results are required .
What this means in practice is that federal departments and agencies must move well beyond the simple delivery of services in English and French where there is significant demand. They must ensure that their programs and the grants they give actively contribute to the growth and development of minority language communities.
In several cases, this means the creation of distinct programs, or the use of different methods to deliver services, cooperating with the provinces in areas under their jurisdiction or shared jurisdiction such as immigration, health, education and culture.
Since 2003, the federal government has also been implementing an Action Plan for Official Languages,5 with a budget of 750 million dollars over five years, to give new impetus to our official languages.
One of the many objectives of this ambitious Action Plan is the goal of doubling the proportion of bilingual young Canadians by the year 2013. As a result, by that year, one in two young Canadians should be bilingual.
Achieving this objective will require the development of a wide range of new pedagogical tools, although Canada has already done major, pioneering work in the area of language teaching methods. In particular, this includes more use of new information technologies.
Another interesting feature of the Action Plan is the creation of a Language Technologies Research Centre.6 The Centre was inaugurated a little over a week ago at the Université du Québec en Outaouais. One research focus for the Centre will be the natural language processing activities of the Information Technology Institute of the National Research Council of Canada.7
In passing, I also note that the Translation Bureau8 of the federal government is a world leader in the field of translation and interpretation. With 1,750 employees, including 1,150 translators, interpreters and terminologists all over Canada, the Translation Bureau today provides a full range of language products and services: interpretation, translation and multilingual services.
The Bureau’s TERMIUM database,9 which can also be consulted in Spanish, has 3.5 million entries for translation, terminology and official titles. Several initiatives have also been taken to improve the Portuguese and Spanish databases. Individual customers anywhere in the world can also subscribe to the service and access it by Internet.
I would be remiss if in passing I did not hasten to salute the remarkable work that the Office québécois de la langue française10 performs in the area of linguistic and terminological research.
Finally, according to a recent survey published by Statistics Canada in March 2006,11 Canada’s language industry, made up of more than 600 private sector firms (providing translation, training and interpretation services) recorded revenues of over $404 million in 2004. It seems clear that this industry will continue to grow rapidly.
The citizens of Canada have understood that in an era of globalization, it is exclusion, not inclusiveness, that costs money. The linguistic and cultural diversity of our country enables us to build close economic and cultural links with many countries in the Commonwealth, in La Francophonie and in other forums.
Conclusion
Having said this, I am not certain that the Canadian experience in this area is entirely exportable. We all see our future through a glass darkly. However, I am confident that once we have listened to all the presentations, we will discover a common thread running through them, a convergence of opinions and hopes.
What is certain is that in the Americas there are millions of Spanish, Portuguese, French and English speakers. Together, they make up a continental market that is continually growing in importance.
Driven and spurred on by ever increasing international competition, the four main languages of the Americas have reached a turning point. They can live in isolation, indifference or conflict, or they can reinforce and respect one another for our collective good.
Many Canadians and I have placed our bets on the latter choice. Our official languages, and the people of diverse origins who speak them, are the threads that make up the social fabric of our country. This representation of the Canadian social fabric is what my Office’s pin symbolizes. The golden fabric in the centre stands for the point of convergence of our two linguistic communities, and alludes to the wealth of their dialogue as well as the richness of their diversity.
Thank you!
1 http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/O-3.01/index.html
2 http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-18.7/index.html
3 http://europa.eu.int/languages/en/document/74
4 http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/lo-ol/legislation/bill_s1_e.cfm
5 http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/olo/default.asp?Language=E&Page=Action&doc=cover_e.htm
6 http://www.crtl-ltrc.ca/index_e.htm
7 http://iit-iti.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/
8 http://www.translationbureau.gc.ca/
