Bill 115

Okay, so Quebec just passed a law (Bill 115) which allows for allophones (people from outside of Quebec) to attend english schools. In the early 90's they passed a bill (Bill 101) that required all citizens who immigrated from outside of the country or residents whose parents did not attend English school to attend French school. Fine. So Bill 115 basically cancels out Bill 101. English is a universal language and needs to be spoken when dealing with other countries (like the US), so it makes perfect sense that the Liberal Party in Quebec would allow for immigrants (and citizens) to attend English schools. Well, the French school board doesn't agree. Here's an example of how they're handling it:

My 16 year old step son wants to participate in his school's Variety Show this year. He has a band and wants to perform in the show. This is great! Well, not really. Just this past week he was told by the school that if he wants to perform a song it HAS to be a french song. They will NOT allow anyone to sing, play, perform any form of English art. They're allowing for english ONLY if it's like 10% of the song or something like that.

WTF!?!?!? Um, hello - can you say unconstitutional? What happened to freedom of expression? Oh and let's not forget that Canada is a multi-lingual and multicultural society. What's next? Are they going to gather up every students iPod and erase all english songs from them? I cannot believe this! So how can we take a stand - or better yet, how can the students take a stand?

Solution: My step son has decided to audition using a french song, get accepted into the show and then when he gets up on stage on the night of the Variety Show he will begin by playing the required song, and mid-way through the song will change from the french song to the english song he wanted to play. Good idea! I figure he will probably get in trouble for this, maybe even suspended. Worth it? Totally.