MONTREAL – For many years, it was the norm that English was the dominant second language throughout Quebec’s primary and secondary francophone schools.
But if recent school enrolment trends continue, that linguistic status wil no longer be the case. English will be replaced by Arabic. And it could happen as early as next year.
According to figures that were released last week by Quebec’s Ministry of Education, there has been a sharp increase over the last five years in the number of students enrolled in Quebec’s French schools whose mother tongue is Arabic. It increased from 12,731 students in 1999-2000 to 18,084 in 2004-05. On the other hand, the number of English-speaking students increased from 17,313 in 1999-2000 to only 18,649 in 2004-05.
The explanation for this growing trend is twofold: the province’s immigration policies – which benefits applicants from francophone countries – and provisions from the language law Bill 101, which makes it mandatory for children of newly-arrived immigrants to Quebec to attend French schools.
“The English-speaking population is not growing,” said Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies, in an interview with The Jewish Tribune. “And with Quebec continuing to accept more immigrants from Arabic-speaking countries, especially those that have French as a second language like Algeria and Morocco, parents of those families are sending their children to French school by law; it is clear to see why Arabic is quickly eclipsing English as the main second language in those schools.”
And this demographic trend shows no signs of slowing down. Jedwab adds that according to recently released figures from Statistics Canada, the Arabic population of Montreal, in which the majority are Muslim by religion, will be greater than all other religious groups combined by 2017. In 2001, there were more than 96,000 Muslims in Montreal; it’s projected that it will grow to more than 128,000 people by 2006 and nearly double that figure to more than 227,000 by 2017. Almost 30 per cent will be school-age children 15 years of age and younger.
Jedwab also says that Montreal’s Jewish community – which will experience a downward population trend in Montreal from more than 92,000 in 2001 to just over 76,000 in 2017 – should not be worried about this upward shift in the city’s Muslim population. In fact, it will have a more positive effect in relations between the two religious groups.
“It’s a normal evolution, in which Quebec is constantly attracting a wide variety of ethnic groups to settle in the province,” he said. “The Muslim community is becoming an increasing influential group here. A situation like this one can only encourage – and compel – the city’s Jews and Muslims into participating in an enhanced dialogue between them, especially about the role of religion in Quebec society.”
And in light of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision last Thursday, which established more relaxed criteria for immigrants and native-born Canadians who move to Quebec from other provinces to allow their children to enroll in English schools, it won’t strengthen – or weaken – the English language’s tenuous hold as the province’s number two language, in the event of an increased enrolment in English language schools by immigrant (allophone) families.
“The Supreme Court’s decision will have no impact whatsoever. In fact, the only thing it will do is retain the linguistic status quo here,” said Jedwab. “The only setback as a result of the court’s decision involves the freedom of choice cases, in which the court decided against francophone parents who wanted to send their children to English schools.”
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