Demographer argues OQLF not needed because French is not threatened

CTV Montreal: In Court: Sign law unconstitutional? Small business owners are claiming they've been harassed by Quebec's language police. Maya Johnson reports.

A former sociology professor from UQAM says the idea that the French language is threatened in Quebec is a myth perpetuated by bureaucrats who have their own agenda.

Calvin Veltman made the statement while testifying in a court challenge against parts of Bill 101.

He said that based on his expertise as a linguistic demographer, he feels the oft-repeated notion that the French language is threatened in Montreal and Quebec is simply not true.

Veltman with immigration policies that favour the growth of the French language, including immigrants from other provinces who either already speak or who are interesting in learning French, have reinforced the language in a province where it was already very secure.

Veltman said that provincial demographers, civil servants, and politicians who promote the idea that French is threatened do so to push their own agendas, which in many cases can be the protection of their own jobs.

As an example, the researcher said that bureaucrats could never say the French language is secure because that would mean there would be no purpose for the Office quebecoise de la langue francaise, and the agency could be dissolved.

Veltman is tesifying as part of a court challenge against the policies that restrict the use of English and other languages on signs in Quebec.

The defence lawyer in the case, Brent Tyler, is known for challenging aspects of Bill 101, contending that it violates human rights and has no effect on boosting the French language or the French population.

"People do not make love more often and have more babies, die faster or later, or immigrate or decide not to immigrate based on the language of signs," said Tyler.

He expects the case will end with him once again arguing before the Supreme Court of Canada.

"Of course look -- the judge can go against this. It's seven years to get to the Supreme Court and that's where this case is going eventually. So we'll see. We've had a very fair hearing so far and hopefully it continues," Tyler said.

In the afternoon the government presented its own expert witness, migrational demographer Marc Termote of the Université de Montreal.

Termote said in court, as he has said in the past, that in Montreal the use of French is declining in Montreal because immigrants use and maintain their mother tongue, even if they speak French in public.