FROM BILINGUALISM TO MULTICULTURALISM IN CANADA Carol Kahar
Vineland, Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada
Canada’s linguistic journey has been a long and fascinating one replete with accounts of English- and French-speaking immigrants, and then a massive post-Second World War influx of 750,000 between 1946 and 1952, most of them settling in the province of Ontario. Unlike the French and English populations, the newer immigrants have not had their languages and cultures embedded in our constitution. Thus, the birth of multiculturalism as national policy in Canada. My province, Ontario, received many of these post-war immigrants from Europe, including the many who were dispossessed and displaced for political reasons, and others for economic reasons. That posed the predicament of how to integrate these diverse families and their cultures into Ontario society. That challenge has continued through the years to currently include most recent immigrants from war-torn countries, such as Syria. During the past decade or more, Canada has absorbed at least 200,000 immigrants annually. Until recently, the federal and provincial governments have failed to address what is perhaps the largest socio-cultural and linguistic controversy in Canada, which involves the First Nations, the indigenous populations (both Amerindian and Inuit). The first European settlers and their colonial and post-colonial governments and agencies initially did their utmost to suppress these native cultures and to discourage the use of indigenous languages. There are more than 70 indigenous languages across 12 language groups currently spoken in Canada. In 2016, an estimated 260,550 people were speaking their indigenous language. The overall number of indigenous language speakers has grown by 3.1 percent in the last 10 years. Political activity to sustain and resurrect these indigenous languages and cultures has intensified amid much controversy, litigation and even occasional violence. Clearly, it is beyond the scope of my informal and personal narrative to address major fundamental issues of language policy. My stories and adventures, both humorous and serious, follow... First encounter with bullies In 1946 I met a young Greek girl who attended my elementary school in Toronto. We were both in primary grades at the time. She had next to no English as her family had just arrived from Greece. I befriended her and we began walking home from school together every day. Helen (an apt name for a Hellenic) and I came to enjoy one another’s company. One day several bullies from a grade 8 class (about 13 to 14 years old) came from behind us, chorusing: “Go back where you came from! We do not want you here!”
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