I am of the view that languages are the door to success and prosperity.
This term, sir, I teach a class called international business in English. We have 127 students in the class. I teach the same class in the French language. We had a discussion about language two weeks ago in the course. I asked the students, “How come you guys can only speak English? You're here at Ottawa U, and I teach in French every single class that you guys have in English in this faculty. Why are you guys not taking the class in French? You're entitled to write your exams and your papers in the language of your choice.”
It's a matter of first creating that notion that language is a positive thing and that people have to make that necessary effort to get there. When you are from a foreign society, it's already part of your society, your environment, but for a lot of people here, unless it's part of their curriculum, they're not going to make the effort to learn the other official language.
I can see it because I teach, for example, business law this term in English and French. I say, “Guys, do your paper in French even though you're in an English class. Try to understand, you want to work for the federal government, you want to work on national institutions, you want to travel, you want to represent business.” I never get more than one or two papers out of a hundred that will be in the other language.
The problem is not that I don't value...it's that individuals need to be brought to believe that language is an asset that complements them and that completes them. Because we're in a North American anglophone-majority society, people don't see the necessity. That's why they don't get that notion of learning the other language.
What we also notice is that those who go for a third language also improve in the two official languages. Why? Because if you're going to speak a third language, Spanish or German for example, or whatever other language depending on where you're looking at, you want to make sure that you can still be proud to say I speak French and English, because it complements you. An employer who can see you speak three or four languages will give you priority in the hiring because it demonstrates talent, capacity, initiative, and also something that they don't have. It's a plus value to have more languages because it's also an economic benefit. When you teach that to students they all say, “Yes, well done”, but they're not going to move.