“Anglo Reality Check” was Global News’ four-part series looking into the reality of life for Anglophones in Quebec. The series aired in November 2012.
MONTREAL – Robert Waghorn is a stay-at-home dad and has been since he lost his job six months ago.
“Job hunting in this downward economy is already difficult,” Waghorn told Global News.
But Waghorn faces a reality unique to English-speaking Quebecers.
“I’m climbing an uphill battle,” he said. “I’m an Anglo and the job market is a lot harder in this climate.”
Name bias
Waghorn is perfectly bilingual, but often, that is just not good enough.
Companies are not only looking for “fluency” in French, but French as “mother tongue.”
Waghorn’s said that his very English name doesn’t help.
“You don’t hear it directly. I’m sure if I had submitted my French résumé with the name Rejean Tremblay there’s not a doubt I would get a lot more opportunities here in Montreal for sure.”
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No head hunter would talk to Global News on camera, but many told us that their biggest challenge comes with companies outside Quebec.
These companies are concerned about how they’re perceived, so they won’t even look at a candidate who doesn’t have a French name.
Newcomers
Julie Kristof knows firsthand how difficult it can be to land a good job when you have an English name and an English accent when she moved back here from the Maritimes.
Her job hunt presented challenges she wasn’t expecting.
“It makes me question how long do I have to be here until I’m considered a Quebecer. Are my kids going to be accepted as Quebecers?” she asked.
“Does it really matter that I speak French with a tiny bit of a French accent, really? Does it?”
Language politics
The recent political climate isn’t helping.
While the Parti Quebecois government has been taking steps to try and limit English in the workplace, earlier this month, the party’s new education minister, Marie Malavoy, called English a “foreign language.”
The comment sparked outrage.
“When you see certain members of the PQ government calling English a foreign language, well, it’s not a foreign language in Quebec,” noted Anne Lagace-Dowson, journalist, political analyst and director general of the anti-bullying Tolerance Foundation.
“There have been Anglophones here since the very beginning of the colony and they are buried in the cemeteries here.”
Tough job market
“The tough job market for Anglos is an unfortunate reality, but it’s the price you pay to live here,” Josh Freed, a Montreal-based journalist who often writes about life in Quebec, told Global News.
“The lucky people are the people who get to stay in Montreal. The lucky people are the people who can find a job,” he said.
“But it’s not easy to feel lucky when you are searching out new job opportunities and feel like there are too many obstacles blocking the way.”
“I agree with protecting the French language to a certain extent,” said Waghorn.
“I certainly have reservations with extremities of the Bill 101 law and what Pauline Marois and her government want to do.”
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