Alberta’s linguistic ignorance
Brook Van Ham, Contributor
The French language predates English in Alberta. However, aside from four municipalities, Alberta is considered unilingual, lacking the constitutional requirements and everyday fundamentals found in officially bilingual provinces.
French force
Large Albertan cities tend to have significant pockets of Francophone communities, such as Edmonton and Calgary.
The two major cities have around 72 per cent of the Franco-Albertan population.
There are over 300,000 Francophones who consider Alberta home.
How many times have you seen job postings inquiring about workers who can speak French? It is often cited as an effective skill to add to a resume.
However, how applicable is it in a province that seems to offer little real support for the language?
Maxx Eirich, an officially bilingual student at the University of Alberta, spent most of his school years in the French immersion program.
“It being one of Canada’s national languages really betrays how often Alberta includes the language on a large scale anywhere,” Eirich says.
There have been several occasions when Eirich was asked about his ability to speak French, but it never came up again or served him in the workplace.
French education
Where warranted by numbers, section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees primary and secondary education in French.
The experience is often described as isolating, especially when Francophone schools are strictly French or when natural segregation occurs.
“In a school of a thousand or more students at any given time, we had very little direct opportunity to exist in a shared space with other students outside of the program,” Eirich says.
Forming a difficult-to-navigate landscape. In reality, it is often a single hallway or a few rooms that cut off the connection to the rest of the school.
French-speaking students often feel secluded, despite the role the language plays in Alberta’s history.
The systemised isolation of the French program takes away from the incredible learning opportunity it provides students with.
“As I experienced it, it had a lot of pain points that I always felt could have been resolved if the school system and government had taken better care to address them,” Eirich says.
The school curriculum Eirich had experienced stayed mostly the same since 1998.
It was updated in 2023, but the large gap between changes could raise concerns about its applicability and relevance to current circumstances.
Will the current curriculum stay largely the same for another 25 years?
Layering cultures
The growth of Alberta’s Francophone population mainly relies on migration from other provinces and countries.
Often meaning that French speakers within Alberta belong to overlapping minority groups.
Around 25 per cent of Franco-Albertans are local. At just one per cent lower are those born abroad but now part of the Franco-Albertan community. Then, 50 per cent are Franco-Albertans from other places in Canada.
There are eight Métis settlements in Alberta. While French is not their dominant language, it is a large part of their history.
Michif, a language which emerged through interaction and intermingling, is a blend of Cree and French. Tying the unique history of the language in once again.
This is one of many factors that lead to history and groups feeling stifled in their own homes and communities.
When looking at the demographics of French speakers in Alberta, they are often shaped by more than one minority group. Adding to the intricate division felt by many Franco-Albertans.
Lousy linguistic laws
In 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada reshaped the language act. For French services in Alberta, there is no constitutional obligation.
There are rights regarding the ability to speak French, but courts in Alberta often have less to offer in terms of accessibility for the language.
At times, French speakers are left in court with a translator, with limitations on oral communication and other implications.
Requests are required in advance for many entirely French legal proceedings, and courts are not always able to oblige.
Different branches of legal cases have different regulations. Criminal cases are best when ensuring everything is provided in either language; provincial and civil cases have significantly less guaranteed.
Relying much more on the location, situation and availability.
This is one of the ways Alberta has promoted its unilingual policy. There is a push towards English dominance in the province, despite French being so deeply rooted in the province’s history.
The real challenge is in the provincial systems and communities. What is sustainable, inclusive, promotional and realistic for Alberta?
“The simplest part of this experience is the language itself,” Eirich says.
Woven into many foundations of Alberta seems to be marginalising factors for French. Is the unilingual status simply another label or something that could be reconsidered?
