However, from a strictly sociological perspective, some say that nothing much would change because things are going badly. We have to say that that is somewhat true west of the Ottawa Valley. What is striking—this is linked to the value attached to French in the Canadian public domain—is that francophones outside Quebec west of the Ottawa Valley coming from Acadia, for example, become assimilated at the same rate as immigrants and Franco-Americans. In other words, the symbolic status of the language does not slow down this immigration.
On April 17th, 2008. See this statement in context.