DESPITE hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the Canadian government on bilingual education since 2003, when the bilingualism goal was set, half of all Canadian high school students will “probably not” be bilingual by the year 2013. Recently released 2006 census data from Statistics Canada indicate that bilingualism rate among high school students is declining, CanWest News Service has reported.
Bernard Lord, the Canadian federal government’s bilingualism advisor, said although he was still gathering information as to why the drive toward bilingualism appeared to be faltering, he believed parents bore a front-line responsibility. “Parents decide if their children will learn one language, or two, or three,” Lord said. “The government has a role to play in education, but at the same time parents have the first responsibility.”
In the course of his consultations, Lord visited Halifax, Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver, meeting with representatives from French and English minority communities, academics, representatives of the private and volunteer sectors and government observers. “The people that I met are people that care deeply about Canada. They feel that bilingualism is a fundamental value of the country, and it’s an asset for the country. They love both languages and these are people that are determined to make sure that we continue to build a strong future for Canada,” Lord said.
According to Lord, the idea of Canada as a bilingual country is not outdated and there’s no reason to stop striving toward that goal. “The government accepts that it will function in two official languages, English and French,” he said. “It’s great when people speak both languages. It’s even better when our children speak more than two languages. Language is a passport in the 21st century.”
Lord is to report his findings and make recommendations about how much money the Canadian government should spend on bilingualism policy to Canada’s Minister of Official Languages Josée Verner in January 2008.
