What Do French-Canadians Expect of Ontario?

MR. JOLLIFFE:

Everybody knows almost one-third of Canadians are officially classified as being "of French ethnic origin" and many more have French ancestry. It's easy to forget however, that about one-quarter of the French Canadians do not live in the Province of Quebec: at the 1961 census there were 1,300,000 in other provinces, and of these about 650,000--or one-half--lived in Ontario. Today there are probably three-quarters of a million French Canadians in Ontario, and many of them have been here a long time. We should remind ourselves not only of their historic role in Eastern Ontario and the Windsor area but of their great part in opening up the vast lands and treasures of Northern Ontario. They have always been an important part of Ontario life and amidst all the tumult generated in some other quarters, I do not think we have heard enough from them or about them. Our guest can fairly be described as their leading spokesman and certainly one of our leading citizens.

Mr. Roger N. Seguin, Q.C., was born in the nation's capital, son of a prominent member of the Ontario Bar. Educated at Universities of Ottawa and Montreal, he was called to the bar in both Ontario and Quebec and became senior partner in a large Ottawa firm. He has been a director of the Radio Canada--the C.B.C.--Federal Savings and Loan Corporation, Ottawa Gas and many other companies. His record of public service is outstanding: among many other things he has been Chairman of the Ottawa Separate School Board and a Governor of the University of Ottawa.

He is perhaps best known as President of L'Association Canadienne Francaise d'Education d'Ontario. At its recent convention in Ottawa, he somewhat reluctantly accepted re-election. At the same time the organization broadened its scope and changed the name; it is now L'Association Canadienne Francaise d'Ontario or the French Canadian Association of Ontario. M. Seguin will discuss today what French Canadians expect of Ontario.

M. SEGUIN:

I have indeed been honoured when I was invited to address this distinguished representative gathering.

At the beginning of my address, I would like to thank you for the privilege of speaking to you about a subject that has been dear to my heart for many years.

I would like, with your permission, to speak on French Canadians in Ontario. You have heard so much, of late, about the "French in Quebec." Would not the "French in Ontario" constitute a welcome change? Two reasons have impelled me to select such a title.

First of all--and let there be no mistake about it--I am not a French Canadian from Quebec, but a French Canadian from Ontario. In Ontario I was born and, the Good Lord willing, in Ontario I will die. In Ontario I expect to spend the rest of my life.

In the second place, I claim to have some knowledge of the French Canadian situation in Ontario after spending more than half a century in that province. I hold no brief for Quebec nor, for that matter, for any of the French minorities of Western Canada. But I am the president of the French Canadian Association of Ontario and have been for the past six years. My association was founded sixty-eight years ago, primarily for the purpose of obtaining an educational system for Franco-Ontarians on a par with the public schools, and I am therefore the mouthpiece of a society representing more than 650,000 French Canadians of Ontario, about one tenth of the total population of the province.

The Ontario French Canadian minority is by far the largest of all the French minorities in Canada. In that minority are to be found as many French Canadians as those living in Western Canada and the Maritime Provinces combined. By the way, the number of English Canadians living in Quebec is slightly--just slightly--lower than the number of French Canadians in Ontario. For all practical purposes, the English Canadians in Quebec may be considered equal, in number, to the French Canadians of Ontario.

Now, in the course of the last few years, a question has often been asked in English Canada. I have heard it dozens of times. It can be stated in a few words: "What Do French Canadians Expect of Ontario?"

It is an easy task for me to state the grievances and objectives of the French Canadians of Ontario. These grievances and objectives do not necessarily coincide with those of the French minorities in Western Canada and the Maritime Provinces. But they certainly are not at right angles with them.

They can be summed up in one sentence: the French Canadians of Ontario demand, for the education of their children, at the primary, high-school and university levels, the same rights and privileges--no more but no less--than those rights and privileges that have been enjoyed, for almost a century, by the English Protestant minority of Quebec, and to have later in life the same cultural and economic opportunities.

The historical roots of Canada have developed from two communities: one English-speaking, the other French-speaking. Together with the peoples of other language groups, these two communities have moulded the shape and character of Canada. Historically and traditionally, English and French are the two working languages of the Canadian people. For this reason, when discussing the linguistic question in Canada today, we are talking of these two languages.

The French-speaking community in Ontario has always looked upon education as one of the most important forces, if not the most important, for its survival as a cultural group. Education in his mother tongue permits the Franco-Ontarian to receive the values of his society and his way of life in the same way an English-speaking Ontarian does in schools where English is the language of instruction and communication. Both for himself and his children, the Franco-Ontarian wants to preserve his language, customs and culture as an integral part of Canadian life.

This natural desire is not an attempt to draw a curtain around or to shut out the overwhelming presence of English-speaking North America. On the contrary, the desire of the Franco-Ontarian to live in a French milieu is perfectly harmonious with the equal desire to contribute fully to the cultural, economic and technical progress in his province and of his country.

I have found the report of the Ontario Advisory Committee on Confederation of which I am a member, on the question of French-language education, to be of great value. I am quoting their historical summary as it presents the problem in a clear and concise fashion.

"The use of French as a language of instruction in Ontario dates from the early days of the French settlements. Before Confederation, particularly in the period of the Union of Upper and Lower Canada, French-language and English-language primary schools were established without much debate. The first official permission given by the Council of Public Instruction for teaching in a language other than English came in 1851. The Council stated that persons who applied for teaching positions could substitute a knowledge of French or German grammar for English. The effect of this ruling was to sanction 'the exclusive use of French (or German) in any of the schools of Upper Canada.' A letter dated April 28th, 1857, from Dr. Egerton Ryerson, Chief Superintendent of Education in Upper Canada, to the Trustees of School Number 3, in Charlottenburg, expressed the official attitude of the day towards French-language instruction."

Because there was so little difficulty surrounding the use of language for instruction in schools, the Fathers of Confederation did not specifically deal with the matter in drafting the British North America Act.

It was in the 1880s, when increasing numbers of people moved to Ontario from Quebec, that controversy over language began to develop. In this same period, action was taken by the Government of Ontario to declare that English was to be the official language of instruction "except where impracticable by reason of the pupil not understanding English."

As you are aware, the language issue erupted in Ontario in 1912 with Regulation 17 which forbade the use of French as a language of instruction after Form One. During the 1920s and 1930s, by compromise and agreement, steps were taken which have resulted in a pattern of instruction in the French language at the elementary school level which has proved to be workable, if not always completely satisfactory to all concerned. In recent years substantial progress has been made in providing equality of educational opportunity at the elementary level.

Over the years, and especially in recent years, the use of the French language in Ontario schools has been increasing rapidly. But this has been largely as a result of the historical status of the language in Ontario and is based upon precedent and established custom. In 1968, by Bill 140, the Ontario Government recognized French as a language of instruction and recognized the right for French-speaking ratepayers to obtain French classes when the number of pupils was sufficiently large to establish such classes.

The separate schools system is still handicapped from the fact that in Ontario, ever since Confederation, there has been no adequate machinery for an equitable division between public and separate schools of ever increasing amount of school taxes paid by corporations and public utilities. According to Section 65 of the Ontario Separate School Act, a corporation may require a part of its property and business to be rated and assessed for separate school purposes. But there is nothing mandatory about this provision. For all practical purposes, corporation taxes go to public schools.

In February 1963, Premier John Robarts of Ontario established a new system of grants for education called the "Ontario Foundation Tax Plan." It took effect in the calendar year 1964. It is a major step "towards a fuller equalization of educational opportunity" for every child in Ontario.

For the Roman Catholic ratepayer of Ontario, this new Plan marks the beginning of an era of justice and therefore the end of a century of injustices with reference to corporation taxes.

Dealing at some length with the corporate tax adjustment in the new plan, Mr. Robarts said Roman Catholics have complained, "it must be admitted with some justification," about their inability to direct the spending of their share of corporate taxes." For the first time in the history of Canada, a prime minister of an English-speaking province has made such an admission. According to his statement, Roman Catholics of Ontario had "some justification" in denouncing a system whereby all the school taxes of corporations went to public schools, to the detriment of separate schools. This century old "blemish" will, at long last, begin to disappear with the new plan.

On that matter, I have the official figures for the academic year 1968-69. These figures change from year to year but the proportions between them remain fairly constant.

During the academic year 1968-69, 26,477 pupils attended the Ottawa public schools; 28,496 the separate schools. A majority of 2,019 for the separate schools.

The cost for the education of the public schools was $16,820,000.00; the education of the separate schools cost $14,590,000.00. The education of separate school pupils cost $2,230,000.00 less than the education of public school pupils with 2,019 more pupils.

Now these separate schools of Ottawa could have been closed, at the beginning of the academic year 1968-69 or in any year, and the catholic school population transferred to the public schools. Nothing in the educational law of Ontario prevents separate school supporters to close down their schools and send their children to the public schools where they would have to be accepted.

I have no definite data for other Ontario cities which have separate schools. But since they all have less money to function, all other things being equal, it follows that they also save, every year, a good deal of money, like the Ottawa Separate Schools. It means, therefore, that the saving is achieved by paying less salaries to our teachers and that our school buildings are deficient in many ways by not having laboratories, gymnasiums, cafeterias etc... .

L'Association canadienne-francaise de l'Ontario has always been convinced that to be competitive and to achieve their full potential in a highly industrialized, modern society, the French-speaking youth of Ontario must be in a position to develop their French culture and Christian heritage within an educational system which is adapted to their environment. The Ontario school system seeks to ensure equal educational opportunities for all. At the secondary level, however, up to January 1st, 1969, only the needs of English-speaking Ontarians were satisfactorily met. Unfortunately, French-speaking students at that level did not benefit from an education suited to their needs, and consequently they did not enjoy equal educational opportunities. The parents had three alternatives open to them prior to January 1st, 1969:

Firstly, they could send their children to the public, academic or technical secondary schools where English was the language of instruction and communication. Approximately, 10,000 French-speaking students attended those schools and some are still attending because it is now too late to change to French-speaking secondary schools. These students lose their competence and mother tongue and will be unable to qualify for the French sector of our two bilingual universities.

Secondly, in some districts, parents can send their children to existing public high schools where a few academic subjects were taught in French. Those students could retain a certain cultural competence in academic subjects. This is not the case, however, in technical schools.

Thirdly, parents could send their children to bilingual and denominational private secondary schools where French was the language of communication and instruction in several subjects. These schools offered only the Arts and Science courses and certain commercial subjects. The operation of these schools in the face of steeply rising operating costs represented a considerable financial burden for both the parents and the private schools themselves because the latter's share of taxes and governmental grants are terminated at grade 10 and were calculated on elementary school scales only.

In other words, although we have been paying secondary school taxes, we did not have any school system of our own, neither technical schools, nor schools of commerce.

As things stood, prior to January 1st, 1969, the secondary school systems did not develop French-speaking Ontarians as part of a system suited to their needs and financed from public funds. In an era when Grade 12 education is considered a minimum, the rate of drop-outs among our young people causes us very deep concern. According to a recent survey, the number of drop-outs in grades 9 and 10 is twice as high among French-speaking Ontarians as it is among English-speaking students. Another most alarming situation is that few French-speaking Ontarians can benefit adequately from the present technical schools and Institutions of Applied Arts and Technology. Yet, now, provision must be made due to the fact that about 60% of the French-speaking school population would likely follow technical courses suitably adapted to ease the transition from the primary to the secondary level and to ensure an environment designed to encourage students to continue at school. We, therefore, stress again the fact that if the secondary school programmes are not properly adapted and if a large proportion of young French-speaking Ontarians can not qualify themselves academically or technically, the remainder of the population will have to pay the cost of social and other services for these very people who, being underprivileged in terms of schooling and income, produce less and need most.

With the passing of Bill 141 by the Government of Ontario, it is now our view that such a secondary school system, as approved by the Department of Education, will constitute a major step to ensure the development of young French-speaking Ontarians, so that they may play their full part as Ontarians and Canadians in a modern economy and society.

Although my Association has asked for French-speaking schools, we are of the opinion that the secondary school graduate must have obtained a knowledge of English so that he will be able to communicate effectively with his English-speaking compatriots, to compete on the labour market and to take part in the political and social life of his province and his country.

On the university level, we have two bilingual universities in Ontario, the University of Ottawa which is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in our province and Laurentian University in Sudbury. Having obtained our secondary schools, we now feel sure that we will be able to send sufficient numbers of students to our two universities in order to assure their survival.

In 1964, negotiations took place whereby the University of Ottawa became eligible for full participation in provincial government grants along with the other universities of the province. Since then the University has been able to plan its expansion to meet the requirements of the future. Both Laurentian University and the University of Ottawa receive grants to assist them to meet the costs inherent in carrying on programmes in both English and French.

In the area of Teacher Education, there are two bilingual Teachers' Colleges operated by the province. One is in Ottawa and a second bilingual Teachers' College was established at Sudbury. In the latter case, a new College building financed wholly by the province is now under construction. This college will continue to train bilingual teachers for the French language elementary schools.

Negotiations are nearing conclusion with officials of the University of Ottawa whereby a new institution to train both elementary and secondary teachers for French-language schools will be provided by the Department of Education.

On the educational television side, we are of the opinion that educational television can offer an excellent means of maintaining and perfecting the French language and culture. The French section of the Educational Television Branch should be flexible enough to venture into any worthwhile educational enterprise. It should, at the same time, have a responsibility for the production of a great variety of educational programmes for pre-school, in-school and adult viewing and the promotion of the French-language culture in all its aspects.

To achieve these goals in the production of all programmes it will be necessary to use the best French talent available and set high forms of spoken French as well as provide the necessary educational and technical staff needed to plan, supervise and produce programmes.

Any provision for the expansion of educational television should take into account the necessary facilities both for production and broadcasting in the French language throughout the province.

So much for education, and in concluding this phase, may I quote Tim Creery of Southam News Service:

"The right to an education in French is the key to the survival of the French Canadian culture and way of life in Canada and hence the key to a Confederation in which French Canadians would want to remain."

This now brings us to the cultural side of the French Canadian future in Ontario. In not having had the school facilities, we did not develop culturally as we should have and this was realized by the Ontario Advisory Committee on Confederation, which recommended to the Prime Minister of Ontario that a survey be made as to the participation of Franco-Ontarians in the artistic and cultural life of Ontario.

A grant of $50,000.00 was made to the Franco-Ontarian study committee and a very detailed survey was produced by the said committee, its main recommendation being that the Government of Ontario establish a Franco-Ontarian Council for cultural orientation comprising of ten French-speaking members appointed by the Prime Minister, representing the different French regions of Ontario on the one hand, and the various artistic and cultural disciplines, on the other. This Council would be directly responsible to the Government of the Province.

We are also asking the Provincial Government for a permanent secretariat to be composed of a director and a coordinator in charge of five field officers. The role of the Council may be defined as follows:

(a) to operate a cultural promotion service;
(b) to develop a cultural policy for Franco-Ontarians;
(c) to provide funds for new cultural or artistic projects;
(d) to pursue the research initiated by the "Comite francoontarien d'enquete culturelle."

This Council would be an organizational body designed to initiate programmes and that, as such, it might only be required for five or six years. At present the Province of Ontario Council for the Arts (POCA) has not made any really substantial grants in support of French-speaking culture in Ontario, because there are not enough activities of a sufficiently high artistic calibre to qualify. It would therefore be the function of this new Council to foster cultural activities to the point where they would qualify for POCA money.

Civilization and culture are a citizen's highest fulfillment in the natural order. They are the prime justifications of social life. Physical accomplishment, economic prosperity, security and social harmony are all directed to the intellectual development of man, a rational animal and the king of creation through the strength of his intelligence and willpower. It is in this development that he finds the satisfaction peculiar to his spiritual nature.

On the economic side, our grievances are to the effect that we have been ignored by large and small corporations when it comes to employment. We are asking that, when qualified to the equivalent of our English-speaking colleagues, French-speaking Ontarians be considered for employment in a sufficient proportion, so that we will have equitable representation. Our largest and only economic claim in this province presently is through the credit unions (Caisses Populaires) which have on deposit $80,000,000 in this province. They have helped thousands of Franco-Ontarians to make purchases of furniture and chattels and many thousands more by lending them on mortgages in order that they may become residential owners.

We have, of course, within our French-speaking population, a certain number of people who have achieved economic success, more particularly in the building industry in the City of Ottawa, but we are very weak in other domains.

May I be permitted to conclude with two quotations. The first is from a peer among Canadians: The Right Honourable Vincent Massey. At the Biennial Conference of the Association of Canadian Clubs, held in Charlottetown, on June 1, 1964, the former Governor General of Canada gave an address from which I would like to underline the following excerpt:

"The greatest contrast, of course, between the American nation and ours is that the United States is a country of one language and one culture and Canada is a country of two languages and basically two cultures. Let me say, quite frankly and humbly, that it has taken us in English-speaking Canada a long time to realize that there are two cultures in this Country and that our French-speaking fellow citizens were here first ....

"It must, of course, be remembered that more than a quarter of our population comes of neither French nor British stock. We welcome the cultures which these people have brought with them; we value the rich contribution they make to our national life. We, however, have two founding races, French and English in origin, their languages and cultures having a special and permanent place in the national scene. This is an historical fact, not a political judgment."

Such is the message of a former Governor General of Canada. On January 1, 1964, we all received another message from another former Governor General of Canada. Canadian unity was the theme of Governor General Vanier's New Year message. After having referred to Anglo-Saxon and French cultures as a source of mutual enrichment for Canadians, the representative of Her Majesty the Queen said:

"It is inconceivable that the heirs to the two great western civilizations--Anglo-Saxon and French--should be unable to find a brotherly way of life based upon respect for rights conferred by history, a respect also for conventions freely accepted nearly a century ago but adapted to the exigencies of our time. The future of Canada is intimately allied to this fabulous double heritage."

My fondest hope is that my presence here today among you, and my message to you, may have contributed, even in a very small way, to the furtherance of a new Confederation having as its guiding star not only toleration, but brotherly love, not only justice but magnanimity, not only strict adherence to the letter of the law, the "letter that killeth," the letter that, for the last century has almost killed Confederation, but total inspiration from the "spirit" that might open up the era of a Canada becoming, from sea to sea, in every way, shape and form, a promised land.

Arthur Lower, in his "Colony to Nation" (1953, page 333), said:

"Confederation obliterated the English conquest. The Act symbolized an agreement between the races to live and let live .... French-speaking Canadians could only point to one or two specific clauses in hard legal support of their 'rights,' but their claim would be that these were but 'the evidence of things unseen,' the crystallization into law of understandings reached behind the scenes .... In Confederation, English and French, after a stormy courtship, took each other for better or for worse . . . and it must, like other marriages, create a reasonable degree of equality between the contracting parties."

Thanks of the meeting were expressed by Mr. James H. Joyce.