Torontomatic

Well the numbers are in and a recent poll indicates that “81 per cent of those surveyed support the idea that Canada is a bilingual country”. If Canada really wanted to be bilingual they should have made it a mandatory requirement for children in school many years ago. Now some of you are probably saying right now, no way; but here me out on this one. In Ontario, French is learned up to grade 9 where you then have the option to drop it (unless that has changed - starting to feel a bit old myself). As a High School student, I was quite happy to drop the language. However, I live with the regret of making that decision. I am now trying to “re-learn” French, which is quite difficult. When the for-fathers of our Country made these choices I wonder if they thought about the future implications of their decisions. If we all knew French and its culture and made it a part of Canadian culture, would Quebec really want to leave Canada? With a better appreciation of French culture maybe we would all ‘just get a long”?

Well this is where ‘multiculturalism’ comes in. Now everyone wants their own culture to be recognized. ATM machines show languages, other than our two official ones in Toronto. I do not blame various visible minority groups from promoting their language and culture, since we in Canada allow it. I do not blame Banks and corporations, since it is good for business.

I will save talking about Quebec culture for another day because it is a worthy topic, but do you blame Quebec when they enacted sign lawn, ensuring that all signs were in French? I cannot. You see, in a sense, multiculturalism has caused every group to promote their own language and culture, at the expense of Canadian heritage (whatever it is now). Children, in public schools, have been offered extra courses to learn their own language, from Cantonese, Urdu, Punjabi, and a host of others. I am not saying that they shouldn’t, but tell me can Canada continue in this fashion for years to come without a bit of fracture to the fabric of our society? So what is Canadian heritage or culture now? What is it being shaped into? Maybe a “melting-pot” is a better model for Canada? Culture is still respected, but you are Canadian first. So we will continue with this live experiment and hope that the future of Canada is bright and clear.

By: Torontomatic