Fraser reports. No, the official languages one...
Graham Fraser released his first annual report as Commissioner for Official Languages today. I've spent the day writing about the history of official languages policy, and haven't had a chance to read the full report yet. The highlights, however, are damning. Fraser is deeply critical of how the Harper government has undermined Stéphane Dion's 2003 Action Plan for Official Languages, and for cutting the Court Challenges Program, one of the key legal tools that has historically been used to secure minority language rights in Canada.
Someone is also asleep at the wheel in the Conservative optics department. The government has announced that it will not replace Guy Lauzon, chair of the House of Commons official languages committee, after he was voted out in a joint vote by the three opposition parties, who had lost confidence in him. This is not the sort of story that a government wants to have on the same day as the Official Languages Commissioner is criticizing its record.
More to follow later... In the meantime, Paul Wells has some good analysis.
Labels: bilingualism, Commissioner of Official Languages, Graham Fraser
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posted by Matt @ 3:35 pm
6 comments
6 Comments:
Three cheers for the PM - finally someone is standing up for unilingual anglophones rights unlike the Fiberals who are only interested in their "entitlement funds" I wonder how their "beer & popcorn" money is holding out.
www.languagefairness.ca/
www.languagefairness.com/opinions.php
Rights of unilingual anglophones? Rights? Matt, could you send him a copy of your book?
Matthieu,
Alas, the gang at Canadians for Language Fairness are disciples of Jock Andrew, the man whose conspiracy-theory book title - Bilingual Today, French Tomorrow: Trudeau's Master Plan and how it can be stopped - provided the inspiration for my own. I don't think they're inclined to believe a word that I write.
Matt,
Just checked out their website. Triste...
Triste? I call it profoundly disturbing.
Oh, it is disturbing, don't get me wrong. However, it looks like the website (and the movement) has a hard time attracting young people ("Young Canadians, we need you!"). I wonder why...
The website also contains a PowerPoint presentation which has so many factual errors that it's scary. The author even goes on to say that he has never met a bilingual anglophone. From what planet do these people hail?
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