tridus
in
canpolitik
Language Laws
In Quebec, a child is in french school and doing very poorly, so his parents are schooling him at home now. They want to send him to an english school, which they have been told would be better for the child.
But a court ruled that they can't do that, because it violates the language law. Since the father was educated in a french immersion class in an english school, they consider him a francophone and won't let him send his child to an english school. The mother is an immigrant and basically doesn't count so far as the law is concerned.
I'm hearing this on the radio right now, and some of the details are appaling. The court didn't bother to ask questions such as "does the child actually understand french?". They didn't ask the teachers, experts, or anything. They also didn't allow the Federal Official Languages Commissioner to testify, not recognizing his authority to enforce minority language rights under the Charter of Rights. Their main concern was "we think you're a francophone, so your kids must go to french school".
The question here is if Paul Martin should intervene and wield his Charter of Rights club to protect something other then gay marriages. I say that he should, if he cares about the thing so much, he should actually enforce it. But since we're talking about Quebec, he will cower in fear and do nothing.
What disgusts me is that if this were happening in Ontario and a family wanted to send their child to a *french* school but weren't allowed to, the Government would be all over it. I mean lets be serious here, they will investigate Don Cherry for talking about visors, but they won't protect english children.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is a reason why I don't support the Liberals. (its also why I'm not a fan of official bilingualism, inevitably it actually translates into shoving french down the throats of english Canada, but doesn't do anything in french areas)
But a court ruled that they can't do that, because it violates the language law. Since the father was educated in a french immersion class in an english school, they consider him a francophone and won't let him send his child to an english school. The mother is an immigrant and basically doesn't count so far as the law is concerned.
I'm hearing this on the radio right now, and some of the details are appaling. The court didn't bother to ask questions such as "does the child actually understand french?". They didn't ask the teachers, experts, or anything. They also didn't allow the Federal Official Languages Commissioner to testify, not recognizing his authority to enforce minority language rights under the Charter of Rights. Their main concern was "we think you're a francophone, so your kids must go to french school".
The question here is if Paul Martin should intervene and wield his Charter of Rights club to protect something other then gay marriages. I say that he should, if he cares about the thing so much, he should actually enforce it. But since we're talking about Quebec, he will cower in fear and do nothing.
What disgusts me is that if this were happening in Ontario and a family wanted to send their child to a *french* school but weren't allowed to, the Government would be all over it. I mean lets be serious here, they will investigate Don Cherry for talking about visors, but they won't protect english children.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is a reason why I don't support the Liberals. (its also why I'm not a fan of official bilingualism, inevitably it actually translates into shoving french down the throats of english Canada, but doesn't do anything in french areas)