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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 762

Part of Session 100: Montreal, a francophone, anglophone and multilingual city (Other abstracts in this session)

Evaluating Indices: How should Montreal's linguistic identity be assessed?

Authors: Weinstock, Daniel M.
Submitted by: Weinstock, Daniel M. (Université de Montréal, Canada)

After years of relative peace on the linguistic front, Montreal has yet again become a flashpoint for linguistic tensions in the Province of Quebec. Many Nationalist scholars and politicians fear that the city is becoming "more Anglophone", a fact that threatens the Francophone nature of Quebec society as a whole, since roughly half of the province's population resides in the Greater Montreal region.

On the face of it, this fear is suprising: after all, the language legislation introduced by the nationalist Parti Québécois in the late 1970s requires of all immigrants settling in Quebec that they educate their children in the French school system. Though the law contains loopholes that have been exploited by a small number of mostly well-to-do immigrants, the vast majority of immigrant children acquire fluency in French through their education and socialization in francophone schools.

Nationalist critics of the present linguistic regime recognize this fact, but argue that Montreal's anglicization is the result of the "linguistic choices" made by immigrants in those areas that are unconstrained by language laws. They urge that where immigrants are free to choose (for example in the area of post-secondary education), they are to too great a degree opting for anglophone institutions, with the result that Montreal is succumbing to the the trend toward anglicization. Some argue that language laws ought therefore to be extended to institutions that they have heretofore not convered, in order to limit the degree to which linguistic choice obtains.

This paper will address three interrelated questions. It will do so from the normative perspective of political philosophy, informed by recent research on Montreal's linguistic profile. First, I will inquire into the appropriateness and justification of various indices used to measure the linguistic profile of the city. In particular, should the linguistic nature of the city be determined by the ability of citizens to function in French in public institutions, or should crtieria also consider what has traditionally been thought of as the private language use of Montrealers? Second, to what degree, if at all, should Montreal's identity as a traditionally multilingual city be allowed to function as a counterweight to the presently dominant Nationalist discourse that sees Montreal primarily as a determinant of Quebec's ability to survive as a French-speaking society. In other words, should civic identities such as that which characterizes Montreal (and other similarly situated cities) be given any normative weight? Finally, on the basis of these reflections, I will draw some conclusions as to the moral and political justifiability of strenghtening the language regime that presently obtains in Montreal.