Use Bilingualism To Fight Trump: CRERAR
The spectre of U.S. President Donald Trump and his threat to make Canada the 51st state should make Canadians think carefully about the fact our country currently has two official languages.
Bilingualism is an asset and we should devise a plan to encourage all Canadians to becoming fully bilingual.
High-school history taught us that England and France fought a seven-years and then a hundred-years war. No surprise then that when French and English settlers moved to North America in the 16th century, the feud continued. Eventually the bloody rivalry turned into a mostly political affair with French Canadians holding tight to their French heritage.
Recently, however, polls show that French Canadians have begun to feel a stronger bond with the rest of Canada and their feelings towards “being Canadian” are beginning to blossom. We can attribute this in large part to Trump’s mindless rants. Accordingly to grow this revitalized Canadian spirit we should all become competent in both of Canada’s official languages. Since most Americans don’t speak French, having been taught Spanish as a second language in high school, it will become more difficult for Trump and his ilk to envelop Canadians into their circle of influence.
Most people who live in Europe are at the very least bilingual while many speaking three or even four languages. If we are going to be forced to become more reliant on European and perhaps even South American countries as trading partners, we might as well start by adopting a language many Europeans already speak. Since French is Latin-based, it would only be a hop, skip, and jump to learn Spanish, Portuguese and Italian which also derive from Latin origins.
Let’s begin to move Canada permanently away from the isolationism of Trump’s (and other people’s) U.S. vision and become true global partners.
Howard Crerar is a project manager and has worked in the software industry for three decades.
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Trump has a way to deal with pesky bilingualism when/if he takes over Canada.
Just this past week, he signed an executive order making English the official language of the US. This will result in the cancellation of all government-funded Spanish-language programs including those for newcomers, in schools and in social services. People will no longer be entitled to receive service in Spanish from any government service. This will be a barrier to Spanish speakers who may not be able to pass the citizenship test if they have to answer only in English.
With a similar stroke of a pen, he would no doubt end any acknowledgement of French and of Indigenous languages in Canada.
One of Trump’s infamous executive orders would easily take care of forced bilingualism.
Donna,
I think Howard’s point was that we should be adopting voluntary bilingualism. It would enrich us both as individuals and as a country.