i think this article is missing the point.
when you live in ottawa, you pretty much only have one economic opportunity, and that's working for the government. if you want a job in the government, you'd better be bilingual. so, what's happening is that the economic realities of the region are creating a pretty strong push factor to get kids into immersion - because people know that if their kids can't speak french, then they have no future in the city.
they don't need an education campaign to promote the benefits of the english system; so long as the only serious employment opportunities in the city are in government, you're going to see this continue. i don't want to "blame" it on the federal government's bilingual policy, but if the region can't diversify it's economy away from government then it's the truth of it - you'll never get a decent job if you're not fluent in french.
i didn't go to immersion, and in fact i thought learning french was a waste of time - something i actually don't regret. that doesn't have a lot to do with why i moved. my french is rusty, but it's workable. i could pass a test. i legitimately just didn't want a government job. i didn't want the 9-5, the responsibility, the social obligations...
and, i don't actually think the language issue was at the heart of the barriers i faced in employment. stated tersely, they didn't seem to want me there any more than i wanted to be there; i didn't understand the culture, i didn't have the experience, i didn't fit in and they knew it.
my parents got into a hugely nasty fight about this, though. my father is fluently bilingual, and expected his children would be. my mother was born in saskatchewan, and wanted me to grow up with an english identity (despite not having any actual english ancestry, to my knowledge - she's norse and finnish and irish and welsh and scottish, but not actually english). in the end, she got to make the choice, but he deeply resented her for it, and i never really developed enough of a french identity to take an independent interest. i was growing up in the onset of globalization. why can't we all speak one language? why do we need to have dozens of them?
i didn't go to immersion, and in fact i thought learning french was a waste of time - something i actually don't regret. that doesn't have a lot to do with why i moved. my french is rusty, but it's workable. i could pass a test. i legitimately just didn't want a government job. i didn't want the 9-5, the responsibility, the social obligations...
and, i don't actually think the language issue was at the heart of the barriers i faced in employment. stated tersely, they didn't seem to want me there any more than i wanted to be there; i didn't understand the culture, i didn't have the experience, i didn't fit in and they knew it.
my parents got into a hugely nasty fight about this, though. my father is fluently bilingual, and expected his children would be. my mother was born in saskatchewan, and wanted me to grow up with an english identity (despite not having any actual english ancestry, to my knowledge - she's norse and finnish and irish and welsh and scottish, but not actually english). in the end, she got to make the choice, but he deeply resented her for it, and i never really developed enough of a french identity to take an independent interest. i was growing up in the onset of globalization. why can't we all speak one language? why do we need to have dozens of them?
my perspective hasn't meaningfully changed. i still don't want to work in the government. and, if i were to learn a new language today, french wouldn't be the one i'd be most interested in. i think i'd rather learn greek, or maybe russian.