Quebec is injecting $1.5 million into promoting the French language in Montreal over the next three years.
Although the metropolis is officially a French-speaking city, it’s where English is used the most in Quebec and officials want to change that.
“What we want is that French becomes the language of the heart. That it becomes the common language,” said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante.
The money will go towards cultural and learning activities, including a program for new immigrants to learn French.
“We will look at culture, museums, things that are very connected to the city and we will use French language to make sure that they learn new words and that they can enter some locations they cannot enter otherwise,” says Olivier Bertin Mailleux from the Paul Gérin-Lajoie Foundation, one of the organizations receiving funding.
The goal is to make people fall in love with French, including Anglophones.
“I remember Josh Freed in the Gazette saying you know, Anglos in Quebec, we have a particularity, we’re the only ones who go to the ‘dépanneur’. I think what we have to do is to foster this common proudness of the French language,” said Dominique Ollivier, the city’s executive committee chair.
While French is the official language of Montreal, the largest number of English speakers in Quebec live in the city. Statistics Canada reports more than 1.2 million people use English as their first language.
Officials say the goal isn’t to put down other languages but to encourage the use of French, because it’s in decline.
The latest census data shows that the percentage of Canadians who predominantly speak French at home fell slightly.
It’s one of the reasons Quebec introduced Bill 96, the French language law reform that restricts access to government services in English.
“I think we can promote French language as our common language and still respect the right of traditional and our Anglophone community here,” said Jean-François Roberge, Quebec’s French Language Minister.
The Mouvement Québec Français, an organization dedicated to promote and defend the French language, says the money is not enough, adding that the government should instead inject more money into French language universities and further tighten language laws.
“It’s crumbs going towards little measures,” says Maxime Laporte, the director of Mouvement Québec Français.
Roberge says he is aware this investment alone won’t stop the decline of French, but he says every effort counts.