The French-speaking minority community can't wait to meet Rachel Bendayan

Barely appointed Minister of Official Languages, Rachel Bendayan sparked strong reactions by not answering a question on the preservation of French in Quebec. However, in the West of the country, it is the survival of French in a minority environment that drives people's minds.

Several organizations say they do not know Rachel Bendayan, but that they will do their best to explain to her the situation of Francophones in the West.

We will give the runner a chance. She has, if I understood correctly, a French-speaking father. [et] an English-speaking mother so she knows linguistic duality from the insidesays Marie Nicole Dubois, president of the Federation of Francophones of British Columbia (FFCB).

Rachel Bendayan actually comes from an exogamous family. I experience this linguistic duality and I know how important it is, it is part of the wealth of Canadadeclared the minister.

This Jewish lawyer, who has been the target of acts of anti-Semitic vandalism in the past, and who recently went through a concussioncomes from a Moroccan family that immigrated to Canada.

In 2022, she paid tribute to immigration. “We all know that in Canada and Quebec, immigration is an asset. Immigrants bring us a lot, especially when we are experiencing a labor shortage. »

Make the minister aware of the situation in the West

Marie-Nicole Dubois says she does not know level of knowledge of the minister on official language communities in a minority situation given that she is in Quebecand more specifically the situation in British Columbia.

We are different from other provinces, we do not have a French-speaking stronghold, we are scattered everywhere and that means that, when we provide services, we must ensure that they are given to us for our vitality and not in terms of numbers, because otherwise it won't work. So it will be up to us to roll up our sleeves, then explain to him, to make him understand our reality.

While Rachel Bendayan is also named Associate Minister of Public Safety, the president of the FFCB said that it is rare for the Minister of Official Languages ​​to only deal with this issue. Somehow, we will hope that she has the fiber, the interest in this issue.

During a press scrum on Friday, the member for Outremont, elected in 2019 in a riding that she brought back to the Liberal fold, did not respond directly to a question on the decline of French.

The most recent census confirmed that French continues to decline across the country. The proportion of Quebecers who mainly speak this language at home increased from 79% to 77.5% between 2016 and 2021.

I think that my role as Minister of Official Languages ​​is to ensure that we maintain bilingualism, to ensure that the English-speaking minority in Quebec is protected and that the French-speaking minority outside Quebec is protected. so that bilingualism is protected throughout the country and that we maintain the linguistic duality that we have and of which we are so proud.

For its part, the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada (FCFA) congratulated Rachel Bendayan on her appointment. She says she doesn't have had the opportunity to have contact with the new minister, but looking forward to get to know him.

The ideal would be that we could have a meeting with the new minister in January to discuss the realities and issues of our communities, particularly with regard to funding from the Action plan for official languagesand on how she sees her responsibilities and what her priorities will be.

The FCFA reminds at the same time that 18 months have passed since the new Official Languages ​​Act came into force and that in the absence of regulations to implement it, few federal institutions have changed their ways of doing things to comply with it.

The organization says it is concerned that the regulations will not be adopted before the next election.

The FCFA and the FFCB also congratulate the new President of the Treasury Board, Ginette Petitpas-Taylor, who held the position of Minister of Official Languages ​​at the time of the modernization of the Official Languages ​​Act.

“I find that the appointment of Ms. Ginette Petitpas-Taylor to the Treasury Board really comes at the right time, [car] it is she who will be there to bring the adoption of the regulations to fruition,” rejoices Marie-Nicole Dubois.

With information from Anaïs Elboujdaïni and The Canadian Press