Mean-spirited view on bilingualism

Re: No, bilingualism is not about discrimination, Oct. 6.

As a bilingual person, columnist Brigitte Pellerin should be congratulated for her perseverance in learning a second language. Her pride in this achievement is deserved as she is a part of fewer than one in five Canadians (17.5 per cent) who claim this status.

Her article relates to Angus Reid's tweet that Canada suffers for having to draw from a very small pool when choosing political and federal public service leaders. She believes that all Canadians have the opportunity to learn a second language and the fact that they do not is a problem that rests with them.

Her first objection to Reid may require a little clarification.

By reducing the pool of leadership candidates to less than 20 per cent of the population, we are excluding many women, Indigenous people, recent immigrants from non-English/French speaking countries, people from Western and Eastern Canada, etc. How many exceptional individuals have been overlooked because of their linguistic profile will never be known.

Her second objection relates to opportunity. While some support is available to learn the second language, quite often the incentive is not equal across the country. Unilingual anglophones can work and study in 80 per cent of Canada. Unilingual francophones do not have this option as they are limited to 20 per cent of the country.

Graham Fraser, past commissioner of official languages, said “Canada is a country with two unilingual majorities: Some 60 per cent of francophones do not speak English, and some 90 per cent of anglophones do not speak French.”

Pellerin, however, makes a point that is truly shocking in 2020. She states, “Of course complaints about bilingualism are anti-French.” The attempt to raise this connection is mean-spirited. Does this suggest she believes pro-bilingual commentary is anti-English?

I hope not.

Dwight Duthie, Ottawa