Youth and students

RECORDED VOICE (FRENCH)

LHA Radio is proud to present this special edition of the Anglais French Show with the Commissioner of Official Languages, Mr. Graham Fraser.

MICAH

Hey, I'm Micah and I am one of the hosts of the Anglais French Show.

JONATHAN ( IN FRENCH)

I'm Jonathan, the other host of the Anglais French Show.

NICK

And I'm Nick, the technician for the Anglais French Show.

MICAH

Hello everybody we are on the air live.

JONATHAN (IN FRENCH)

You are listening to the Anglais French Show.

MICAH

And we are joined today by Mr. Graham Fraser. We'll be talking to the Commissioner of Official Languages after this song.

MICAH

Let's start a radio program and let's broadcast it on Fridays, and with the idea of Anglais French. Bilingual, completely bilingual, interchangeable language radio broadcast.

MICAH

We also read in your biography that you've written a couple books and the one that tweaked our interest was "Sorry, I Don't Speak French." Can you tell us a little bit about that one?

GRAHAM FRASER

Well, I was a journalist before becoming Commissioner of the Official Languages and I spent 10 years in Quebec covering Quebec politics and it was a chance to really pull together, all of what I had done, looking at language policy both in Quebec and in Ottawa over the years. And I was groping for a title and suddenly the idea came to me that I would use that phrase that Francophones so often hear when they try to get service in French, which is "Sorry, I don't speak French."

RECORDED VOICE (FRENCH)

LHA Radio is proud to present this special edition of the Anglais French Show with the Commissioner of Official Languages, Mr. Graham Fraser.

MICAH

Obviously with your enjoyment of the French music and the French culture and you're fluently bilingual, you obviously have an opinion on multilingualism. What would you say the advantage of multilingualism is?

GRAHAM FRASER

Well one of the things that is clear is that it is easier to learn a third language than it is to learn a second language because I can literally site to you young people who have gone off to India to work on solar projects and learn Hindi, who have gone to Vietnam, worked on water projects and learned Vietnamese, who have taught English in Japan in expatriate positions. Friends of my son's who live in Berlin and have learned German-they all learned the other official language first. So learning French for an Anglophone, learning English for a Francophone is a bridge to the rest of the world, it's not a barrier.

MICAH

And that's what we're trying to promote. We're trying to promote the bilingualism; the fact that you should we're trying to promote be learning both languages! It's going to help you in the world; it's going to help you out to learn both.

GRAHAM FRASER

Is it possible to learn another language while maintaining your own culture and identity? I think that absolutely. I was speaking recently to a professor at the University of Ottawa who said that, just because you learn how to swim, doesn't mean you forget how to walk.

MICAH

Oh boy... (laugh) It sounds like you're very passionate about your job and that's nice to see.

JONATHAN (IN FRENCH)

As Commissioner of Official Languages, what role do you play in protecting the French language?

GRAHAM FRASER

My role is to report to Parliament on the compliance or non-compliance of federal institutions regarding the use of both official languages. That means, for example, that if a citizen is unable to receive service from a federal institution in French, he or she can file a complaint with us; we will investigate and put pressure on the institution to improve its service to citizens. One of the things that has been a really pleasant surprise for me has been the discovery of the energy and the vitality of the minority francophone communities across the country. Now do they have challenges, absolutely, same way as the English minority in Quebec has challenges but they are not just a few little tiny places across the country.

MICAH

We are in Montréal, Quebec we're in Saint-Laurent, at a high school. It's called Lauren Hill Academy. There are English schools in Quebec, it's a surprise to many but there are English schools in Quebec (laugh).

JONATHAN

The best part is it's bilingual.

JONATHAN (IN FRENCH)

The French course is mandatory.

MICAH

For everyone, even the Anglophones.

MICAH (IN FRENCH)

Everyone at the school takes the French course.

MICAH

You say that the language, both official languages are being honored in Canada?

GRAHAM FRASER

Yes I think that increasingly people are embracing the idea that, as a country with two official languages, this is an asset, this is a value, this is something that is not only part of our constitution and part of our charter of rights and freedoms, it is the value that increasingly people cherish whether they speak the other language or not.

GRAHAM FRASER (IN FRENCH)

I think it is extremely important that youth in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada recognize the vitality of Quebec life, of Canadian life, and that there is no contradiction between Quebec pride, a Québécois identity and Canadian pride, or Quebec pride and a Canadian identity. A person can have multiple identities without complex, without contradiction, and I think that this adds to our collective lives.

MICAH

Well we'd like to thank you very much, it's been a pleasure to have you on the air with us today.

GRAHAM FRASER

It's been a real pleasure for me, thank you very much.

JONATHAN (IN FRENCH)

We have been speaking with Canada's Commissioner Official Languages.

MICAH

On LHA radio

JONATHAN (IN FRENCH)

The Anglais French Show

MICAH

Have yourselves a wonderful day.