Promotion of French Language is Hot Topic in Quebec

The disappearance of French from Quebec is one of the trending topics with media outlets in Quebec, as reported by LFPress.

Francophones are feeling threatened that their language is not as prominent in Québécoise society as before. The separatist opposition party, Parti Quebecois (PQ), has highlighted this issue this past week. Some of the stories publicizing this issue include an article that stated a family wasn’t able to receive assistance in French at a downtown Montreal hospital that caters to the Anglophone community as well as a request that sports team Montreal Canadiens hire a new general manager who can speak French. The PQ argues the need to have wall-to-wall French, so that the language is less likely to diminish in ranks.

“People are being conditioned that there needs to be wall-to-wall French as an objective all over Quebec,” said Jack Jedwab, executive director at the Association for Canadian Studies, in an LFPress article. “It’s creating and feeding insecurity,”

There are others who hope that there is a more moderate approach.

“This is more of a rear-guard action of an older generation,” remarked Daniel Weinstock, philosophy professor at Universite de Montreal, and specialist on issues involving language and identity, in the LF Press article. “I think there is more of a demand for an even-handed approach to language issues – we don’t need to apply shock therapy to the anglo community.”

To read the original article, click here.