When I look at our speeches in French, I think of Titanic. To the musicians who played the violin on deck while the liner sank.
What's the point of alerting you to the English spoken at Tim Horton's when we're on the brink of disaster?
I read a document this week that completely disturbed me. And I don't know if I can get over it.
- Listen to the Durocher-Dutrizac meeting with Sophie Durocher QUB radio :
It's a drowning!
I'll let the numbers speak for themselves and quote large excerpts from this document that shocked me so much.
“The French Language Commissioner, Mr. Benoît Dubreuil, presented his report “Temporary Immigration: Voting French” in the National Assembly today (February 14). It presents a detailed and up-to-date portrait of the knowledge and use of French by non-permanent immigrants, including work permit holders, study permit holders and asylum seekers.
In addition, he presents an assessment of the effects of the increase in temporary immigration on the linguistic situation. Thus, this increase would explain a significant part of the decline in French as a known language and as a working language since 2016. “In 2016, there were 86,065 temporary immigrants in Quebec. As of October 2023, that number was 528,034. I estimate that about a third of these people do not speak French. However, most of them speak English and use it mainly at work,” explained Mr. Dubreuil.
The language situation among those eligible to study was particularly worrying in 2021. In fact, 44% of them predominantly used English at work. In the Montreal census metropolitan area, almost 53% of foreign students worked primarily in English. Furthermore, in 2022, 48% of people who received work permits after graduating did not speak French.
According to the Commissioner's analysis, most of the temporary immigrants who need to learn French have not enrolled in the courses offered by Francisation Québec. In addition, participants do not spend enough time learning French fluently. “According to my calculations, between $11 and $13 billion would need to be released to cover the costs associated with learning French for all non-permanent residents who do not speak the language,” explained Mr. Dubreuil.
- In 2021, 33.4% of temporary immigrants were unable to hold a conversation in French, i.e. 60,635 people aged 15 and over.
- From 2021 to 2023, the non-French non-permanent population would have virtually tripled.
- The proportion of Quebec's population unable to converse in French would have reached about 7.2% in 2023, compared to 5.6% in 2016.
ARE YOU BLIND?
On Wednesday at QUB, researcher Frédéric Lacroix told me: “We lack adjectives to describe the French drowning in Quebec.”
And all the while, columnists at La Presse or the director general of the French-speaking Canadian section of Amnesty International call us “xenophobes” when we say that Quebec’s identity is under threat!
Isn't the French language at the heart of our identity?
The French language commissioner's damning figures don't give you goosebumps?