Thank you, Mr. Chair.
In 1971, the demographic weight of those who speak French at home in Canada was 25.7%. In 2016, it was 20.5%. According to the projections, it will be 17.8% in 2036, which is fewer than 14 years away. In other words, 65 years after the passage of the Official Languages Act in Canada the country's francophone glacier has melted and lost 30% of its volume.
In English-speaking Canada, with the exception of Quebec, the demographic weight of those who speak French at home was 4.3% in 1971 and 2.3% in 2016. According to the projections, it will drop to 1.8% in 2036.
The net anglicization rate for francophones in Canada was 4.8% in 1971 and 5.8% in 2016. The net anglicization rate for francophones in English Canada was 27.4% in 1971 and 40.1% in 2016.
In Quebec, the demographic weight of French as the language spoken at home went from 83.1% in 2001 to 80.6% in 2016. It will drop to 74.4% in 2036, according to the projections.
On Montreal Island, the demographic weight of French as the language spoken at home was 56.4% in 2001. Fifteen years on, it was at 53.1%, meaning that French will soon be the minority language there.
And lastly, the demographic weight of Quebec in Canada went from approximately 28% in 1971 to approximately 23% in 2016. According to the projections, it will be approximately 22% in 2036.
Francophones used to be the vast minority among those who spoke European languages in Canada. Here we are now, a few centuries later, on the brink of folklorization or even extinction. In his day, former Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier was already prophesying that the dominion would be a tomb for the French fact. And the great Pierre Bourgault talked about “a slow cultural genocide”. Beyond incendiary words, no matter what is said or done, Lord Durham's program is well under way. Slowly but surely, it is becoming a reality. You have to admit that Lord Durham is patient.
We, the old Canadians, have had enough of regression. Enough of always being even more “minoritized” and increasingly “provincialized”.
The question is: can we really reverse the trend? Given the current state of affairs, I don't really think so and I believe even less in your measures. However, we can still theorize. What might we do, in theory? In theory, we would have to make French the only real official and common language of Quebec, and wherever there still are significant agglomerations of francophones, including everywhere within the jurisdiction of the central government. But you won't do that.
In theory, what's required is a break with Canadian-style official bilingualism, which is, objectively, a fiasco. What is needed instead is a Swiss-style model. The only official language for statutes and the courts in Quebec should be French. In other words, section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1982, would have to be amended accordingly. That's something else you won't do.
What is required is for Quebec, within its borders, to have all jurisdictions with respect to immigration, language, culture and communication. Only knowledge of the French language should be required to become a citizen of Quebec. Or have you already said no to that.
As for the language of education, the “Canada clause” should be removed. Canada ought not to be able to use its spending power to interfere in fields of Quebec jurisdiction in ways that are to the detriment of French.
Subsidiarily, the kind of linguistic and institutional segregation that gives English public institutions in Quebec a clearly privileged status that is practically colonial, should be ended, as should the millions of dollars per year of overfunding for anti-Bill 101 lobbies.
Furthermore, francophones in English Canada should have the same institutional rights and privileges as Quebec anglophones. The Attorney General should henceforth abstain from ruling against Bill 101 in court, for example. In fact, the 1982 constitutional diktat should be erased and followed by a return to the bargaining table to start over from scratch.
What's left? In the current state of affairs, if Canada really cared about the French fact more than it cared about political unity, I think that what we would be looking at would be an amicable divorce, a velvet divorce, like the one that occurred in the former Czechoslovakia. Personally, I recommend divorce.
That's all I have to say for this evening. To tell the truth, I don't think we have much to say to one another. I'll speed things up for you. Moreover, it strikes me that it has been a long time now since Quebec and Canada have not had much to say to one another about the essentials, no matter how those who willingly wear blinders feel about it. For the love of French, let's stop wasting our time and money pretending.
Thank you.
Good evening.