Winter Olympics French Language Usage At Issue

Anyone who doubts that language issues are divi­sive would be surprised by the latest flap about the amount of French language usage in the Winter Olympics cere­monies in Canada. According to a story in the Toronto Star, the Heritage Minister of Canada and the Premier of Quebec expressed dissat­is­fac­tion with the place of the French language in the enter­tain­ment activities.

An update in the London Daily Exchange reports that the Official Language Commissioner is launching an inves­ti­ga­tion. The Official Languages Act of Canada names English and French as the offi­cial languages of the country and provides for legal reme­dies if the oblig­a­tions of federal insti­tu­tions in promoting these languages are not met. Curiously enough, the offi­cial languages of the Olympics are French, English and the language of the host country. So appar­ently there was enough French for the local Olympics Committee but not for some of the Canadian offi­cials present.

As you can imagine, colum­nists and everyday citi­zens have been weighing in on both sides. The Globe and Mail had a sympa­thetic opinion piece and a sports blog site carried an opposing opinion. Reader comments have included a wide variety of opin­ions, not neces­sarily predictable ones based on Anglophone/Francophone lines, as to whether lack of French was an issue. One site even has a poll as to what the Olympics languages should be. It will be inter­esting to see where this goes.

Photo © Paul Binet | Dreamstime.com