Evidence of meeting #92 for Official Languages in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was students.
3:35 p.m.
Instructor, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, As an Individual
I'm not sure if you read the book written by the former commissioner Graham Fraser, but he addresses this phenomenon.
There was a group of students from the Ontario city of Kingston, where I'm from, who learned French in an immersion program, but when they went on a school trip to Quebec City, they were too embarrassed to speak the French they learned in Kingston, in their immersion program.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
They should not have been embarrassed to speak French in Quebec.
3:40 p.m.
Assistant Principal, Grandin Catholic Elementary School, Edmonton Catholic Schools
A number of times, when I've tried speaking French, especially in Quebec or Ontario, people would respond in English. Every time I speak French—
Now I live my life in French every day here in Alberta. My friends are francophone, I work in French, but when I leave the province—
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
People speak to you in English.
3:40 p.m.
Assistant Principal, Grandin Catholic Elementary School, Edmonton Catholic Schools
Yes, and it's really sad, considering how long I spent studying French and becoming proficient. People correct me and sometimes make fun of my accent. It's completely normal to feel like this.
I used to work at the ministry. It's sometimes hard to interact with people who come from other provinces and speak French so fluently. In those situations, we feel embarrassed because we're professionals, and yet we can't say a sentence without making a mistake. I think the same thing happens wherever we travel, regardless of the country. Speaking with francophones is intimidating.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
But you should never feel that way.
3:40 p.m.
Liberal
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
You should come to La Pocatière. In fact, I urge all my colleagues not to go to cities like Quebec City to learn French, because there are too many English-speaking tourists. There is only one person in La Pocatière who speaks English, and that's my wife. So there's no risk.
I'm joking, but the point is, it's a lot easier to learn French in a truly francophone region, especially a rural area, than in a tourist region. No one should be afraid to speak the other language.
3:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis
Thank you very much, Mr. Généreux.
That concludes our meeting today in Edmonton.
Your contributions will be invaluable to our report. On behalf of all my colleagues, I thank you very much for this discussion and dialogue.
Please don't leave right away. I would ask members to move to the back so we can take a group photo.
The meeting is adjourned.