Leonard Jones must be rolling over in his grave.
The former mayor of Moncton, N.B., made a national name for himself as a rabid opponent of bilingualism in the late 1960s and early 70s. He did everything in his power to keep Moncton's large French-speaking Acadian minority in its traditional place, i.e. seen but not heard (at least in its native tongue). He refused to provide city services in French, and took the New Brunswick government to court over its bilingual language laws.
But for all his reactionary bluster, Mr. Jones's anti-French crusade collapsed under the weight of cultural and economic reality. Yesterday, Moncton declared itself Canada's first officially bilingual city, meaning the city is now legally obliged to provide all its bylaws, documents and services in both French and English. The move reflects Moncton's remarkable progress in a single generation from Mr. Jones's atmosphere of intolerance to a vibrant centre for the co-existence of Canada's two official languages.
The designation is a good fit for Moncton. Francophones make up one-third of its population, and French has assumed an increasingly prominent role in the city's artistic, educational and commercial institutions over the past 30 years. Moncton's economic revival in the past decade owes much to its bilingual nature, which attracted dozens of companies to set up national call centres in the city and do business by phone with customers in both languages.
While we applaud Moncton's formal recognition of the vital role of its francophone community, we can't help but wonder why another, more prominent Canadian city hasn't shown similar leadership in language rights. We speak of Ottawa.
Ottawa, like Moncton, has a large and vibrant French-speaking community. French and English play major roles in its culture, commerce and education. Like Moncton, Ottawa owes much of its economic health to its well-educated, bilingual population.
Unlike Moncton, Ottawa is the nation's capital, the home base for Canada's bilingual ideal. It is the place where political leaders from both language camps have worked for the past 135 years to mould a nation based on principles of dual languages and cultures. Yet Ottawa is not, officially, a bilingual city.
The civic leaders of Ottawa look conspicuously out of touch in failing to formally entrench language rights for their prominent French-speaking population. The city owes much of its heritage, character and prosperity to both French and English. It's time Ottawa recognized this and showed the leadership we expect from our capital.