I'm from Toronto. I was born in North York and grew up in Ontario. Fifty years ago it was very difficult to find your way to get basic services from private or public institutions in Ontario. There was this ethics of language that existed at the time, which has totally transformed itself over the last 50 years.
We are in a battle of survival, a battle of identity, and a battle to define ourselves. That accentuated itself when the Quebeckers no longer were French Canadians, but only became Quebeckers. I had to redefine myself as a Franco-Ontarian, as a Franco-Albertan, as a Fransaskois. We had to redefine ourselves. It is always a struggle to reinvent yourself in a new environment.
The challenge we faced was one of fighting to have equality. That does not mean that we wanted everything in both official languages on every front, but to be able to perform in the society and with public institutions in the choice we wished to have in terms of language.
When you're an immigrant your battle is your own personal survival. It's your own identity. It's your own need to make a better life and to make sure your kids have a better life. You do not necessarily participate in the same struggle to progress in terms of a battle of the language versus a battle of a good life, a more enjoyable life, and a quality of life for your kids. They may share the same fundamental linguistic capacity to communicate, but they don't have that history and that struggle to get where we are today.