[Alty]

There's a big debate going on in my neck of the woods right now. The debate is: Should immigrants applying for Canadian citizenship or permanent residence be required to have a working knowledge of English or French, the two official languages of Canada?

The main question is whether this is discrimination.

Here's one of the articles on this subject;

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source...lZeE4w&cad=rja

So what do you think? If people immigrate to an English/French (I have to say, the French thing isn't really an issue in the majority of Canada) speaking country should they be required to speak either of those languages in order to gain permanent residency?

My thoughts. I am an immigrant. In fact, I'm not a Canadian citizen. I do have permanent residency here, and obviously I speak the English language, and I know a few naughty phrases in French. ;) When my parents moved here they didn't know enough English to even go shopping. They learned. They took classes. They went to the library, with me, and got books in order to learn. At first they couldn't get jobs in their field because of their lack of English skills. I remember going with them to the offices they cleaned, because janitorial work was all they could get, even though both of them had college degrees. But, they learned, and eventually they were employed in their fields.

Nowadays, when the phone rings and it's a solicitor, nine times out of ten the persons English is so bad that I can't understand a word they're saying. Our internet provider phoned the other day, left a message. We played it back 20 times and still the only words we understood were Hi and Telus. This is a person making calls to English speaking customers.

So I have mixed feelings about this. I do think it's important to learn the language if you're going to live in a country not your own. I don't think you should expect people to conform to you, because you're the one that chose to move to this country. I do think we have to patient with people that are new to this country and the language, and the majority of Canadians are very patient.

The thing is, there are resources out there for immigrants. Most of them are free, all so that they can learn the language, the laws, and everything else about this country, yet there are still people that have been here for 15 years or more and they still can't speak English. My parents took advantage of those classes, and all the other resources available because they wanted to be able to live here and work here.

The thing that really bothers me is that the non English speaking Telus operator that called the other day, took a job away from someone that actually did make the effort to speak the language we speak in this country. Should I expect to go to China and get a job phoning Chinese people when I don't speak Chinese?

So what are your thoughts? Should it be mandatory to learn the language if you want to make Canada your permanent home?

[Wondergirl]

Yes, I definitely would not be insulted if I had to learn a country's language, even if it IS Canadian. :D

We have the same problem in this country with Spanish-speaking immigrants demanding (and we readily provide) legal materials/street signs/books in their language. It's a perfectly lovely language, but it's not the primary language we speak here. If I moved to Mexico, I would have basic Spanish under my belt and would do my best to learn more.

Is this another instance of the feeling of entitlement?

[Alty]

Yes, I definitely would not be insulted if I had to learn a country's language, even if it IS Canadian. :D

We have the same problem in this country with Spanish-speaking immigrants demanding (and we readily provide) legal materials/street signs/books in their language. It's a perfectly lovely language, but it's not the primary language we speak here. If I moved to Mexico, I would have basic Spanish under my belt and would do my best to learn more.

Is this another instance of the feeling of entitlement?

I feel the same way. In fact, I've been in these immigrants shoes. Admittedly I was a young child and picked up the English language very quickly, but it wasn't as easy for my parents. They were both in their 30's when we came to Canada.

Still, they were determined to learn because this was the country they chose to live in. They didn't gripe when they had to work as janitors because they didn't expect to get jobs without knowing the language. They worked their butts off and were just really grateful to be in this amazing country. Not that Germany isn't a great place, but here their dreams were more realistic and attainable.

My dad worked for German speaking people for over 25 years, but, he had to deal with the public, so he needed to know English. He paid it forward all throughout his life. Many times when he hired people he would hire immigrants (not only Germans, but immigrants from all over) because he remembered how hard it was to get started here. His only requirement was that they speak English well.

The fact is, there are resources, all free, to learn English here in Canada. There's no reason for any immigrant not to learn. There's also no reason for companies to be hiring people that deal with the public to be choosing people that cannot speak English.

It makes me a bit mad. I've been in this country since I was a child. I'm now 40 years old. I'm not a citizen, but I'd like to become one. I will be required to pay, and to take a test. When I looked into it I saw that the test could be taken in English, French, or the language of your choice. Why? You're in an English/French speaking country, so why are there more options? If you cannot take the test in English or French (again, French isn't really the language spoken in the majority of Canada, but is still considered one of our official languages) then I really don't think you should be allowed to have citizenship.

[smoothy]

I think anyone who wants to immigrate anyplace should be required to have some degree of fluency of the major lanquage of that nation.