SOPHIE,

We understand your position, and you are an excellent debater. You have done well to learn English in the French dominated Quebec, and you are truly a bilingual Canadian. However, you should not expect that all Anglophones in the rest of Canada will learn French and become bilingual. This is why we maintain that Canada is not really a bilingual country.

Given the current state of affairs, it is our belief that Quebec should separate into it’s own country for French people, and that the rest of Canada should become officially English. We can no longer afford such expensive programs as “official bilingualism”. Quebec has told us this very clearly, since it refuses participate in the “bilingualism” program.

A friend of mine is routinely denied employment in the fed govt, because she is unilingual English. IT BREAKS MY HEART TO SEE HER CRY.

Once the discrimination and artificial quotas have ended, we will stop fighting, and I believe that then French and English people in Canada will truly be able to have respect for each other.

Sincerely,
Amanda Coribeaux (for Rob Brown)
Canadians Against Enforced Bilingualism (CAB)
Ottawa, Ontario
613-276-2139

Hello everyone in Ontario;
I have been watching this debate for the past few days. While I sympathize with you, poor Sophie, as you seem to have few allies in this fight, I also suggest that you have to accept the fact that the numbers defending your position are clearly representative of the percentage of defenders that you have outside of Quebec for your cause of enforced French language laws ~ indeed, likely even a smaller percentage outside of Ontario and New Brunswick. We, here in Alberta, have our own version of this battle going on. The difference, and I do feel sorry for those of you in socialist Ontario, is that our provincial government is willing to wage this battle on our behalf. (Type the words Alberta, French, and Court into Goggle and you will see the story.)
Thank you for your comments about your experience in the BC hospital, Sophie, as they demonstrate perfectly the problem, also maddeningly evident with our Alberta case ~ Francophones in this country are not prepared to be “tolerant”, a character flaw you and your friends repeatedly accuse Anglophones of; they are not happy to be provided, upon DEMAND, with a French interpreter, as I am absolutely certain that you would have been provided had you asked for it – forget the notion that you required it as we all here can tell that that is false -; they are not satisfied when the English majority bend over backwards to accommodate their language preference. They want nothing short of forcing their language into every corner and facit of Canadian life. And, as is evident from this Russell Township issue, they are not even satisfied with forcing public institutions to conform to their slavishly self-indulgent bilingual language program, but they insist upon imposing it upon private businesses, as well. IF this causes these businesses undo and unnecessary hardship, so much as to even cause them to go broke, why would they care – does a bully ever care about those they can force into compliance, defeat and humiliation? Do we think Rupert Baudais of Alberta cares about tolerance, Sophie? Do you think he cares whether or not he puts the Alberta taxpayers to huge expense and inconvenience; do you think he cares whether his misplaced and dishonest (I assure you every French speaker in Alberta also speaks and reads English, and IF he doesn’t he has an interpreter at his beck and call evey minute of the day) stated objective to protect “the rights of all French speakers in Alberta” costs taxpayers billions of wasted dollars; do you think he cares about anyone or anything other than his own self-absorbed, narcissistic desire to prove that he has the power to lord it over hundreds of millions of Albertans and Canadians simply because he can. We can only hope that our government wins its appeal but we are realistic ~ sense has not won over socialist stupidity in our Supreme Court for a long time now here in Canada. So, Sophie, do not preach from your pious pulpit to the rest of us about “respect” when you and your French friends care little for mutual respect and friendship. You have weilded political power in this country for a century. Now that people have become less and less cowed and intimidated by the liberal press blugeoning every dissenting opinion with constant name-calling (as is happening here) of racism, zenophobia, red-necks and on and on you whine and appeal to our “respect”. You exhort us, and Galganov, not to boycott your French businesses because that is unfair, according to your convoluted logic. Unfair, how is this unfair, I ask? Indeed this is the exactly appropriate target. If these businesses would speak up and stand on principle and tell their political benefactors on city council where to shove their language double-standards and their undemocratic actions and insist upon the application of the democratic principles of free choice and freedom of expression then there would be no need for the Galganovs of this country to have to march and protest. To suggest that his actions are misplaced is patently ridiculous – they are exactly correctly placed. It sounds as if he is a bit heavy-handed in his approach but that is what happens, Sophie, when one is ruled by force and fascism – you tend to go a little over-the-top in defending your right to peaceful and equal co-existence. So, place the blame where it belongs – with the goons at city-hall and the businesses and people who force their hand, not the angry response of the disenfranchised majority.
My daughters have been educated in French (Immersion) for the first 10 years of their public school life. I made this choice for them for several reasons – the language is a beautiful and international language, the more languages that people know the more choices they will have in their lives, but most of all, and what an indictment of Canadian freedom this is, I knew that without becoming fluent in French in Canada they would be forced to live their lives, if they foolishly choose to remain here, as second-class citizens – I knew this for certain as I was kept out of a federal job in tourism many years ago, one which I was highly qualified to perform, because I could not communicate fluently in French despite having a developing, if rudimentary, conversant ability with the language. I was not prepared, despite my principles, to limit my daughter’s career choices.
I admit, I am an Alberta separatist. Truthfully, I am more of a Quebec speparatist than a western separatist. But, while we may have a number of disparaging words about Quebecers here in Alberta, they do not include the word “stupid”. If anything, Quebecers are smart, very smart – much smarter than we naive Albertans. They have made the rest of us play by their rules for a century by manipulating, bullying and threatening. They will never separate when they can have their cake and eat it too right where they are ~ as the bullies of Canada. Why would they quit now ~ especially when they can always get repeated socialist Ontario governments to play along because, for some unknown reason Ontarions think they are better-served by allying themselves with Quebec than the west. So having to resign myself to the inevitable fact that my much-coveted dream that Quebec will leave Confederation will never occur I now work for Alberta separation. In the meantime my children must survive and the only way they can do that without ten strokes against them is to speak French – so I have prepared them wiith at least a hope at a level playing field.
One last thing, Sophie – your saying that youth are embracing bilingualism simply does not make it so. Our Alberta government has embraced French immersion and has increased its biligualism education budget every year for a generation now. Alberta and Ontario have been paying for French-language education in this country forever with money sent around the country by our federally-sponsored “for the benefit of Quebec” (like everything else) equalization program. Despite the fact that Alberta has the greatest number of French immersion programs per capita in Canada enrolment in these programs have been eroding consistently year after year. And what do our French-supporting politicians do? They ignore the facts and force the rest of us to keep throwing more and more money at the program regardless of the overwhelming evidence that the writing is on the wall – Albertans want to educate their children in the language of trade and commerce, not the language of love.
Good luck to all of you freedom-fighters in Ontario. Yours is the good fight and the righteous fight and, with support from the rest of us, you will undoubtedly prevail.
Sharon Maclise
In Defence of Freedom

I justed wanted to comment on some of the things that Dije has written in this blog.

First of all in general it never ceases to amaze and disgust me the extent to which Canadians have been successfully dumbed down to point they have forgotten basic democratic principles. It seems Canadians use the term “democracy” as a buzz word or some old tradition but not something they actually practice or even seem to have any familiarity with anymore. Principles such as freedom of thought and conscience, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression. REMEMBER THOSE.

Now to Dije’s comments.

“Last I checked, Russell Township is part of a democracy and as such, the town council is well within their rights to pass such a by-law. If people disagree with the by-law, there are mechanisms both provincial and/or federal that one can use if they believe it to be illegal or an infringement of rights.”

No actually Dije the town council is not within its rights to deny citizens basic rights that are garanteed not just by the charter but endowed to us all by our creator, whoever you beleive that is. This is what Galganov’s law suit is about and he is using those mechanism of which you speak.

“It’s also a very different situation. Taken as a whole, in North America, French is a small fish in a big lake of English. French is not a threat to any Anglophones way of life in Ontario (even in areas where English is the minority).”

French is a threat to everyones rights and way of life, when in the pursuit to Frenchify Canada peoples basic democratic freedoms, the right to express oneself as one chooses, as is the case here, are usurpped by governments in favor of peddling the French language.

“A mob of angry Anglos intimidating and Nazi saluting, calling for a boycott of Franco businesses (with the help of the president of the Chamber of Commerce!) is EXTREMELY disgraceful to this Anglophone.”

What is truely disgraceful is the extent to which Canadians have allowed their democracy and indiviual rights to be diminished in the pursuit of all things French and collective.

Galganov’s lawsuit is a win-win situation for us. If he wins then our rights are up held. If we lose it is the end of the charter and all things in the charter. If the government is not going to uphold the most basic of rights in charter then it can uphold nothing in the charter. The government will not even be able to uphold its own legitimacy.

Michael Collins

“We have a weapon in our arsenal that is more powerful than any, OUR REFUSAL”

Sharon- Wait, so now I’m being attacked purely because I’m French. I don’t see your problem with me, in particular, I have been polite and respectful when replying to comments that weren’t, and I have done my best to understand your perspective. You don’t appear to have given mine a second thought. I wash my hands of this debate.

Robin Brown and Amanda Coribeaux- You know, I am an anomaly within Québec- a working class francophone who believes strongly in federalism. I do my best to show my peers what we deny ourselves by denying ourselves the rest of Canada, I try to show the benefits of learning English. Most anglophones I have met had added to my cause: the anglophones of this country, I tell my friends, are all people, like you and I, and they believe in a united Canada .
You can’t turn back the clocks, sir. I tell my friends that we cant change the defeat of montcalm, and you, likewise, can’t change Wolfe’s victory or his governments attempts at assauging their guilt for the conquest by assuring french would always have a status as a minority language (it only became official in 69)
I apologize, to you and to my separatist friends, that things didn’t work out however you wanted them to. But we have to deal with the reality. I can see that my vision, however, and the vision of many of my peers, of a strong, united Canada, a home for people from across the world as well as for the english and the french will never meet yours. I bid thee good night.

JURISDICTION OF SIGNS:

THE SIZE AND MATERIALS OF SIGNS are a municipal jurisdiction, but NOT THE WORDING since this falls under “freedom of expression” which is a provincial or federal jurisdiction, as defined in the Charter of Rights.

http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/charter

Sincerely,
Rob Brown
Canadians Against Enforced Bilingualism (CAB)
Ottawa, Ontario
613-276-2139