Addressing a small crowd last Friday as part of the Students' Society's Francofête celebrations, Canada's Official Languages Commissioner Graham Fraser asserted that working knowledge of both English and French should be an entrance requirement for Canadian universities, or at least a part of the curriculum.
"If the engineering faculty were to say that they would stop teaching students computers, that their employers would teach them, then no companies would hire McGill graduates," Fraser said. "It's paradoxical that Canadian universities are not teaching their students both official languages."
SSMU Francophone Commissioner David-Marc Newman agreed with Fraser, stating that it would not be difficult for prospective students to meet second-language requirements.
"Most school systems across the country have courses in French or in English, depending on the province, and I don't see what would change much about requiring people to take Grade 12 French as a requirement for entry into university. In the same way in Quebec, requiring English in high school or CÉGEP before entering university. I don't see that as a problem, especially on the English community's side," he said. "One of the problems in Canada is that we have an asymmetrical bilingualism, wherein the proportion of people who are bilingual is greater in the francophone population than in the anglophones."
While his talk was titled Bilingualism in Canadian Institutions, Fraser also delved into the history of francophone and anglophone relations in Quebec before discussing his work and giving suggestions on what institutions can do to increase language duality. Over the course of his speech, Fraser switched effortlessly between both languages.
Despite his criticism of most Canadian universities, Graham praised McGill's commitment to bilingualism, citing the Faculty of Law's language requirements and the fact that students in all faculties can write exams and papers in French. Newman, however, said the university is actually not as dedicated to bilingualism as Graham perceived.
2008 Woodie Awards
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