Can Bilingualism Work? Attitudes Toward Language Policy in New Brunswick

Ian A. Andrews is a high-school social sciences teacher and editor of the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association’s Focus.

New Brunswick is Canada’s only officially bilingual province; therein
lies the focus of this book. It is an attempt to analyze how the
majority anglophone and minority francophone communities in that
province feel about bilingualism and issues and government policy
associated with linguistic difference.

In 1982 Bernard Poirier and Michel Bastarache produced a document for
the New Brunswick government entitled Toward Equality of Official
Languages in New Brunswick. In 1985 an Advisory Committee on Official
Languages accepted briefs and organized public hearings throughout the
province dealing with reactions to the Poirier-Bastarache report. A
total of 309 briefs were submitted—142 in French, 146 in English, and
21 bilingual.

Steele, a graduate student in political science at Ottawa’s Carleton
University who grew up in New Brunswick, performed “a qualitative
study of opinions and attitudes of francophones and anglophones towards
provincial language policy in New Brunswick” based on these briefs.
She also interviewed several public officials, researched relevant
literature, and presented her findings in thesis form.

The book is a well-documented scholarly work for which Steele received
a master’s degree. It points out the differences that exist between
New Brunswick’s linguistic communities. Written before the emergence
of the Confederation of Regions Party as the official opposition to the
governing McKenna Liberals, this thesis underlines the hostilities
concerning civil-service employment and bilingual requirements felt by
extremists in both linguistic communities. The attitudes toward duality
in educational services are explored in detail.

Because New Brunswick is a microcosm of Canada (approximately 30
percent of its residents are francophone), this work will provide
informed insight as constitutional issues threaten to disrupt and
dismember the country.