CPF Magazine Winter 2020 Issue

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CPF EVENTS Officially A Conference Marking 50 Years of Linguistic Duality and Education in Canada Je suis fier d’être un canadien bilingue BY GORDON CAMPBELL WINNIPEG, MB I was fortunate to be invited to speak at this conference held in Gatineau, November 21-13, 2019, co-hosted by the Association for Canadian Studies, Canadian Parents for French and the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. The event brought together different public sectors involved and concerned with Canada’s two official languages. It was a unique opportunity where, not only educators, but civil servants, policy writers, university students and researchers were able to speak together about Canada’s linguistic duality, Canadian perceptions about language learning and official language bilingualism. DAY 1 The first day of the conference started with a keynote presentation by Matthew Hayday, history professor at the University of Guelph, who started by saying that he was also present 10 years ago at the 40th anniversary of the Official Languages Act and added that “so little has changed in regards to second language education”. Hayday noted the main challenge for immersion education is finding qualified, trained, bilingual teachers – those who have an understanding of immersion and second language pedagogy, are knowledgeable about the subject matter they are teaching and are also able to speak French fluently. Prof. Hayday emphasized that research points to the fact that students can learn in an immersion program to the same extent that students can learn in an English program, but that adequate support and resources need to be in place to support struggling learners. If adequate supports are not provided, teachers will struggle to accommodate all learners, students will leave the program and the myth perpetuates itself. 12 CPF MAGAZINE WINTER 2020
CPF EVENTS Nancy McKeraghan, CPF National President Prof. Hayday also spoke about what it means to be bilingual and how Canadians in different parts of the country view bilingualism. Definitions are changing. In some instances the word Francophone now is meant to include all people who speak French and or live in the French culture. This brought an interesting perspective to the ensuing discussions. As someone who does not speak French as a first language, can one or does one consider themselves to be Francophone? One participant working in Quebec identified as a Franco-Ontarian. French was her first language. She felt that although she was perfectly bilingual and working in Quebec, she was still not integrated into Quebec’s society and culture. She was proud of her “identité de francophone minoritaire” and hopes that in speaking to people in Quebec they grow to realize that there are many Francophone people living outside the province who speak French as their primary language of communication. DAY 2 The keynote speaker, multi-disciplinary Franco-Ontarian artist/musician Yao, born in Ivory Coast, informed us that the largest French speaking city in the world is now Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He stated that when he is in Africa, he identifies simply as a man. In North America he first identifies as a black man, then as a black man from Ontario who speaks both French and English. Labelling who we are becomes an issue, but as language learners, identity is an issue. One Indigenous participant reminded us of our euro-centric viewpoints, and that both English and French were the languages of colonizers. The Official Languages Act does not consider indigenous languages, although we are beginning to accept and appreciate the importance of these languages to the Canadian mosaic. We speak about a linguistic duality, but there are so many perspectives and definitions that we need to broaden our understanding of the plurality that is Canada. DAY 3 This day began with a viewing of parts of the film “Bi” a Radio-Canada documentary about bilingualism in our country. Although about bilingualism, the film could not be made bilingually, or even sub-titled in English, because Radio-Canada would not fund the project if there was too much English content. Yao also referred to this challenge in the artistic community. If a French artist works with an English artist and there is too much English content then funding is not available to support the project. Media personality Tasha Kheiriddin, reinforced the idea of the two solitudes within the journalism profession in Canada, with very few journalists understanding and working in both English and French. Producers are often not interested in looking at projects from outside of the majority culture. The film pointed out some of the challenges in immersion education, but unfortunately did not look at the many positive stories from across the country, where a young population of immersion students are changing the definition of what it means to be bilingual in Canada. I felt the film, although raising many significant issues with regards to bilingualism, immersion education and identity, lacked a perspective from Western Canada, particularly Manitoba and its many successful immersion programs. In a panel discussion following the film, Graham Fraser, former Commissioner for Official Languages, spoke about the success of the French immersion program, but also about the challenges of immersion educators responding to the needs of all children. I asked him if he was familiar with Tara Fortune’s work “Struggling Learners and Language Immersion Education”, an excellent resource for all educators which dispels so many myths about second or additional language learning. French immersion educators must work diligently to dispel myths about immersion education and advocate for increased supports to help all students with their learning. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of such dynamic and relevant discussions about bilingualism, identity and Canada’s linguistic duality/plurality. “ Si on me donnait un seul vœu, ce serait de parler toutes les langues qui existent et qui ont existé à travers les années. Juste à cause de la richesse culturelle que tu pourrais acquérir. » – Yaovi Hoyi (Yao) CPF MAGAZINE WINTER 2020 13
Page 1 and 2: WINTER2020 Magazine $6.95 • FREE
Page 3 and 4: Magazine CANADIAN PARENTS FOR FRENC
Page 5 and 6: What Are Immersion Students? Franco
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CPF Magazine Winter 2020 Issue

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